Le Coq Bleu Homestay in Suello Village ties into the Ibagiw Festival through owners’ focus on Cordilleran crafts, tied heritage, and welcoming local creative spirit that defines Baguio. The homestay reflects the same values the festival celebrates. Ms. Chantal’s breakfasts rely on local produce, traditional smoked meats like kiniing, and French cooking techniques shaped by her own background. This mirrors Ibagiw’s push to show how culture evolves through personal stories and shared skills.
The homestay itself functions like a lived-in gallery. Vintage pieces, collected objects, and thoughtful interiors create an environment shaped by taste, memory, and intention, much like the creative spaces featured during the festival’s crawl. Le Coq Bleu Homestay also offers travelers a slower, more intimate experience, resonating Ibagiw’s encouragement to engage with Baguio through immersion rather than passing appreciation.
In this way, the homestay extends the festival’s narrative. It becomes another chapter in the city’s creative identity, showing how food, design, and personal hospitality can carry the same cultural weight as visual arts, performance, or craft.
FRENCH X IGOROT X K______?
Le Coq Bleu’s name adds another layer to its link with the Ibagiw narrative because it pulls together two cultural threads that shape the space. The “coq” points to France’s national symbol, a nod to Chantal’s roots and the French character seen in her cooking and interiors. The “blue rooster” also speaks to the Philippines’ own rooster culture, where cockfighting holds historical and social weight across many Cordilleran communities. By choosing a name that meets at this intersection, the homestay mirrors what Ibagiw celebrates: how identities mix, shift, and influence one another in everyday life.
The name reflects a meeting point rather than a contrast, much like the festival’s creative exchanges. French breakfast techniques blend with Cordilleran produce. Local stories sit beside European sensibilities. The result is a space that feels stitched together through lived experience, not concept. In the context of Ibagiw, Le Coq Bleu becomes another example of how Baguio’s creative scene continues to grow through personal histories, borrowed influences, and the constant exchange between local culture and global touchpoints.
As for Chantal, being a resident in Baguio for decades (longer than in Metro Manila), she embraced the Cordilleran way of life. She converses in Tagalog fluently, few in Ilocano. As she proudly declares, I am Half French-Half Igorot.
And did you know, she is married to a Mr. Pangilinan hailing from Macabebe, Pampanga – a CABALEN!
THE FEATURED IBAGIW ARTISTS
As with Ibagiw Festival participation, Chantal welcomed masterpieces of significant artists. On the walls beside the main door were works by Roland Bay-an and Zylan Yvonne Blando, two artists whose voices reflect deep familiarity with the city. Mr. Roland Bay-an is a Filipino Impressionist painter from Baguio City, known for his paintings of scenic Benguet landscapes and everyday life. He is a member of the Pasa-Kalye Group of Artists and often uses a quiet, earthy palette of soft greens, warm browns, and grays. Zylan Yvonne Blando is a Filipino actress, graphic designer, and visual artist from Baguio City, known for her abstract paintings.
ABOUT THE HOMESTAY
The Dining Hall and Living Room felt like a lived-in French country home crossed with a Baguio mountain lodge. Warm wood wraps the walls and ceiling, giving the room a snug, cabin feel. Every surface is filled with curated objects like blue-and-white ceramics, copper pans, framed art, antique mirrors, clocks, and small curios. The collection is dense but intentional, creating a museum-like intimacy. A long wooden table anchors the room, set for a shared meal, with mismatched chairs that add charm.
According to Ms. Chantal, the homestay has two rooms that can host up to 3 each maximum. There is an attic room and a villa room downstairs. The homestay is located in a quiet residential village with characteristic steep winding roads.
I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS
It feels like stepping into someone’s private retreat. The kind of space shaped by years of collecting, editing, and caring. I could last hours at this very spot. The table setup is intimate and scaled for conversation, giving the sense that time slows here. It’s a corner designed for connection, for long talks over coffee, for observing the other side of Baguio. Nothing feels staged. Everything feels lived in. And that’s what makes it so special for me.
THE ATTIC ROOM I WILL PATTERN WITH SOON
This room feels like a carefully kept memory box. The sloped ceiling creates a snug hideaway mood, with light bouncing off white panels and exposed beams adding character. The bed anchors the space with a bold tropical quilt that brings warmth and color, while the vintage trunk used as a side table, framed calligraphy, and bamboo fan accents add layers of personality. Every corner carries a sense of collected life, from the jars and trinkets to the extra single bed layered in soft blankets. The robe on the door and the mix of lodge-style textiles make the room feel lived-in and inviting, like a private retreat made for curling up on a cold Baguio evening while the pine trees sway outside.
How about the other rooms? The Foyer? The Villa? I’ll leave the imagination to you, or best, BOOK A STAY!!
CHANTAL’S WAY TO YOU – LE PETIT-DÉJEUNER
And the start of the experience, Chantal’s way of cooking and serving breakfast. I started with the apple compote and it tasted gently sweet, the fruit soft but not too mushy. My interest followed the Kiniing Omelette where the smoky meat shaped the flavor of the eggs and added a steady savory flavor. The cooked pears offered a subtle silky, mellow sweetness that balanced the stronger notes on the plate, no tartness. The French bread was surprisingly super moist, its soft crumb carrying generous pieces of cheese, while the croissant brought a light crackle on the outside and a tender center with clean buttery layers, I loved adding more slices of butter. The strawberry salad added freshness, its bright acidity clearing the palate between bites.
Sharing a different story dining, one of Ms. Chantal’s guests preffered to eat breakfast elsewhere instead of the homecooked meals, only to find out they ate in famous fastfood chain which isn’t a usual nod from Chantal who champions local cuisine.
To cap our breakfast, a strong French press brew rounded everything out, full-bodied and earthy, grounding the whole spread with a deep flavor that felt true to the highlands. Aroma itself already kicked my alive.
LEAVING IS SAD, EXTENDING IS LIFE
Another venue is calling the team and we need to hurry. Leaving such hospitality is a pinch in the heart, and yes, soul. Ms. Chantal made her way in us with her genuine French-Igorot care and accommodation. She treated as if her extended family – very traditional Filipino like. With this experience, I wish that homestay could follow her model, her branding, her style and her love of tourism.
With only a limited space at Le Coq Bleu, she can only host limited guests to maintain the quality and comfort. By the way, she has her own lovely pooch hidden behind doors. We could here the barks – wished I could have pet this furry friend.
CONTACT LE COQ BLEU HOMESTAY BAGUIO
- Address: Suello Village, Baguio City 2600 Philippines
- Email the host: chantaleliane@yahoo.com
- Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/p/Le-Coq-Bleu-Homestay-100064158575136/
- AirBnB Garden Cottage Link: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/787080956122268478?source_impression_id=p3_1763955972_P3BOoijRBhrEDzm3
- Google Map Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/KBzBkVrZsYeuLVHP9
