The Mines View Park in Baguio City is one of the more popular tourist attractions in the City of Pines, though definitely nowhere near as popular as Burnham Park in the city center. Mines View Park is named that way because it gives the visitor a view of the locations of the city’s gold and copper mines and the surrounding Cordillera mountains.

You can rent binoculars cheap for a few pesos and have your picture taken with the view for a small commercial fee from the photographers there in case you forgot to bring your camera. Often there are Ibaloi people, the natives of Benguet, at the tourist spot in their native costumes for you to take pictures with. In the parking area, there are extensive rows of stores where you can buy souvenir items like Baguio’s famous strawberry jams, peanut brittle, wood carvings, and bead necklaces.

Photo by Eric Molina. (CC-BY-2.0)

The mines in the areas surrounding Mines View Park were formerly operated by Benguet Corporation. The mines have long been closed and nowadays, the only view you’ll see are extensive residential areas blanketing the valleys. Several years ago, local boys used to stay on the steep slopes below the observation deck to catch the coins thrown to them by the amused tourists. This practice has since been banned by the city government because it’s dangerous for the boys.

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