Most packing lists for the Philippines are written for a beach. Baguio is about 1,500 meters up in the mountains, so a beach list will leave you cold, damp and shopping for a jacket in your first week. This one is written for the city you are actually going to, and for the campus you will actually live on.
Bring it, find it here, or buy it later
- Bring from home
- A warm jacket and two or three layers
- Something waterproof, from June to October
- Shoes with good grip for the slopes
- Your regular medication, in its original packaging
- A plug adapter and a power bank
- Your passport, return ticket and passport photos
- Some pesos in cash for the first days
- Already on campus
- Your bed, with bedding changed once a month
- Buffet meals in the dining hall, with a halal station
- Internet, on PLDT with a Starlink backup
- A laundry service three times a week
- Study halls and a fitness gym
- Your course books, for a small textbook fee
- Buy when you land
- Toiletries and toilet paper, which are not provided
- A local SIM card, in your first week
- Snacks and daily essentials at the Eco Mart
- An extra jacket at the night market, if you need one
Everything under Already on campus is waiting for you when you arrive. The laundry and the textbooks are paid separately.
The one thing everyone gets wrong
It is the cold. Baguio is mild in the daytime and genuinely cold in the evening by Philippine standards, and nearly everyone who packed for a tropical country ends up buying a jacket in the first week.
Bring a proper jacket and two or three warm layers, whatever month you arrive. A hoodie you can wear to class, something warm to sleep in and a pair of socks you do not mind wearing indoors will make the evenings much more comfortable.
If you are coming between June and October, add something waterproof. That is the rainy season, and it tends to rain hard and then stop. A light rain jacket is more useful than an umbrella on a windy slope, but either is better than neither.
Documents and money
Keep these in your hand luggage, not your suitcase.
- Your passport, valid comfortably beyond the end of your stay.
- A return or onward ticket, which airlines and immigration staff often ask to see.
- Several passport-sized photos for your study permit paperwork.
- Your enrollment and pick-up confirmations, saved offline on your phone.
Our admin team files your Special Study Permit for you, so you do not need to bring any forms for it. You only need the passport and the photos.
The visa and SSP guide explains the paperwork in full.
For money, a small amount of pesos for the first couple of days is enough. You can change some or use an ATM at the airport, and once you are settled there are banks and ATMs in the city.
What you can leave at home
Your room comes with a bed and bedding, and the bedding is changed once a month, so sheets and pillows can stay at home. So can laundry soap: washing clothes in the dormitory is not allowed, and an outside laundry company collects and delivers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, charged by weight.
You also do not need a suitcase of books. Your course books come from the academy for a small textbook fee, matched to the level you are placed in. And a beach wardrobe can mostly stay behind too. Baguio is a city of jeans and jackets, not shorts and sandals.
Study gear worth the space
A laptop or tablet earns its place. You will use it for self-study in the evenings, for recording yourself speaking, and for practice tests if you are preparing for an exam. Some of the tests you can take in Baguio are now computer-based, so practicing on a screen rather than on paper is a real advantage.
Pack a decent pair of headphones for listening practice, and a notebook you actually like writing in. Students who keep a vocabulary notebook through the whole course tend to use it, and students who plan to buy one later tend not to. Bring the plug adapter and the power bank too, because the drive up is long and a dead phone on arrival day is no fun.
Health and comfort
Bring any medication you take regularly, in its original packaging, with enough for your whole stay if you can. Pharmacies and clinics are close by, and the office can help if you feel unwell, but your own brand may not be easy to find.
If you get travel sick, pack something for the drive up. The last stretch of the road to Baguio is a winding mountain climb, and it is much easier if you take something before you set off rather than halfway up.
Toiletries and toilet paper are not provided, so bring enough for your first night. After that, the Eco Mart on campus sells daily essentials.
Before you close the suitcase
A packing list only covers what goes in the bag. The rest of arrival day is about getting from the airport to the campus.
The arrival guide covers the pick-up, the drive and your first days.
What your stay includes lists everything that comes with a course.
The honest downsides of studying in Baguio covers the weather, the hill and the rules in more detail.
