Baguio’s Burnham Lake reopens after yearlong closure

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Burnham Lake reopened to the public on Tuesday, coinciding with Baguio City’s 117th Charter Day celebration and bringing back boat rides at one of the city’s most iconic tourist attractions.

The man-made lake had been closed since October 2025 for a P480-million rehabilitation and improvement project.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Mark Lapid, Rep. Mauricio Domogan, Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan and other city officials led the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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The reopening came after the lake was enclosed by galvanized steel barriers as Tieza undertook extensive repairs and a makeover of the century-old attraction.

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The rehabilitation formed part of the national government’s broader program to modernize Burnham Park and other tourism destinations in Baguio.

READ: Boat rides set to return to Burnham Lake

The 33-hectare park, including its nearly 4-hectare lake, was part of the original 1903 Burnham Plan prepared by American architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham. The park was designed as one of the city’s major open spaces and remains among Baguio’s most visited public attractions.

Baguio was established as a mountain resort city under the American colonial government and was formally granted a city charter on Sept. 1, 1909.

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The rehabilitation of Burnham Park had been programmed as early as 2013 as part of a national tourism redevelopment initiative covering Baguio and Boracay. While the Boracay rehabilitation was completed in 2018, the Baguio project was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A P500-million allocation originally intended for the city was instead used for pandemic response measures.

Improvements

The work included the construction of a wooden boardwalk around the roughly 10-meter-deep lake, concrete benches that also serve as reinforced embankments, and improvements to the view deck. About 14 new boats had also been brought to the lake grounds.

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The lake normally holds about 34,000 cubic meters of water.

Returning concessionaires were previously asked to provide new boats instead of the swan-shaped boats that had long been associated with the attraction.

The Department of Tourism recorded 117,137 visitors arriving in Baguio from Dec. 15 to Dec. 31, 2025.

The city government, however, clarified that the reopening of Burnham Lake does not mean all areas of Burnham Park have reopened. Some facilities remain subject to safety assessments.

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Tieza is also validating city plans for the next phase of the Burnham Park rehabilitation, which will cover Children’s Park, Skating Rink and Rose Garden, where a bust of Burnham stands. —MAUREEN MATAYEW