Pines Kitchenette and Inn

Coming from a 12-hour bus ride from Manila where we took a midnight bus to Baguio and a morning standard bus to Bontoc, our first choice for the guesthouse was fully booked right before we arrived so we walked and scoured the town center for any decent place to stay and we ended up going to Bontoc's first lodge--the Pines Kitchenette and Inn. What is perhaps one of the proudest moments of the lodge is President Quezon's visit as a portrait hangs in the lobby, on the way to the upper floor where the rooms are. The staff was very accommodating and charming as they give you tips about where to go and so on. The food they serve is just enough for the price and we had some entertainment listening to other guests going on and on, on the karaoke machine before curfew hits. At PHP 300.00 a night, you get a 12 sq m room with one to two beds, depending on which one you choose, with a shared bathroom for the entire floor. However, some of the rooms on the Southern end, which my friend took, had an en suite bathroom. While some guests might poke at the age of the place, the wooden floors are well-maintained, but the walls can use a bit of cleaning up. And despite the shared bathroom having decent plumbing, the cleanliness can be improved. Our rooms were basically our own nests, as we headed to neighboring towns during the day, and the lodge is centrally-located: minivans and tricycles are a few meters from the doorstep while buses and cargo vehicles going off to other places park in front of the lodge. The market is within walking distance, as with places to eat and stores.