La Trinidad

La Trinidad is a small town which serves as the capital of the province of Benguet which is part of the Cordillera Administrative Region of the Philippines. Tourists to the town mostly come from the neighboring city of Baguio.

La Trinidad is the country’s main supplier of strawberries. In 2004, it has won the Guinness title for the World’s Largest Strawberry shortcake. Aside from strawberries, it is also known for its vegetable and flower plantations

 What’s the point of visiting the strawberry fields of the Philippines if you miss the chance to see the actual plants? At the strawberry farm, you won’t only be given the chance to see them, you can also harvest them yourself. Strawberry picking season is from November to May. Prices vary, but it is generally twice the market price if you want to pick your own strawberries.

Aside from strawberries, La Trinidad is also a home to hectares of flower plantations, including the Bahong Flower Farm which is dubbed as the “Rose Capital of the Philippines”. If you are a flower enthusiast like me, you shouldn’t miss this place; everywhere you look is eye candy.

La Trinidad has its own interesting contributions to the colorful history of Benguet and the rest of Cordillera. The very name “Benguet” was once the name of limited area of what is now the La Trinidad Valley which in the course of time became the name of a larger territory and what is at present the Benguet province. At a certain time in early history, La Trinidad was relatively the most developed settlement in the Benguet area. In a way, it was the gateway from the southern lowlands into the mountain region. Due to its relatively more advanced development, La Trinidad served as capital of the administrative territory of Benguet during the Spanish era, the short lived Philippine Revolutionary government and the early period of American rule.

Recorded history about La Trinidad begins with Don Q. M. Quirante, one of the early Spanish explorers who ventured into the mountain region to search and obtain the precious metal of the Igorots. In 1624, Don Quirante who started up the Amburayan River came to what is now La Trinidad and found a large and prosperous community thriving around a lake. The lake was in the middle of what is now La Trinidad and on account of the people inhabiting its surroundings called the place “Benguet”.