groupie under this majestic waterfalls
Hulugan Falls is located at Luisiana, Laguna - Philippines. It is one of the tallest waterfalls near the Metro. It towers over 200+ feet which is near the height of the top 10 tallest falls here in the country. For the record and as far as I remember, this is my first waterfalls trip ever and I am really happy we did this (thanks guys lol).
If you plan to go here from Manila, it should take you around 2-3 hours' drive to get to the jump-off point (waze-able). The jump-off point is located along the Cavinti-Luisiana road which actually has Baguio feels because of the road-trail similarity and view experience. I bet you'll agree with me here once you experience it first hand lol.
So when you arrive at the area and go along this one-directional road, there will be some people meeting you at a "check-point" zone (the captain's house) which they will assign you a tour guide (if you haven't coordinated in advance - feel free to use these numbers to inquire: 09213865215 or 09289759752) and lead you to the registration area.
entrance at the registration area
In here, registration is priced at P30/person and a short orientation happens. You can rent life vests for P50 each if you need to and ask unlimited questions if you like to. If you are wondering how much per tour guide regularly costs? Well, they just made this bulletin announcement for everyone. Its P500/guide good for every 5 guests/tourists.
By the way, the earliest any group can start is around 7:00 AM guided with the local patrols while the regular tour guides are deployed from 9:00 AM onwards.
tour guide floor rate
That is the price floor so tips will be entirely up to the group.
Once everything is settled, the exciting adventure begins! Trails here are interesting as the area features 3 major waterfalls which means you will be traversing streams of flowing water that make it different from most of our ordinary hikes.
NOTE: You have the option to take a tricycle from the start of the concrete trail to the beginning of the rough trail. We paid P60 for it for 5 pax including our guide.
platform-bridges made by bamboo
And most of the time you will be crossing bamboo platform-bridges to avoid the muddy parts of the trail. Don't worry, you won't die when you fall but it will just make you take your bath earlier than expected haha!
water trails
Remember to put those comfy footwear on and make sure it is just fine to dip them in water. I can just imagine the time if we visited this place with the water flowing extremely strong.. Great thing our timing was perfect with just the right conditions to make our experience very convenient.
The first waterfalls (1 of 3) you'll see if you follow the usual trail is this, Talay falls.
Talay falls
This area is a great place to rest or take your 5s if needed. Why? Because just beside it is an area that subtly recommends it lol.
resting stations
Not far away from here as well are some of the unique features this trail has to offer. This super inclined area filled with huge boulders will be on your way which you have to go over using help from a rope. How exciting right?
ascend using a rope
Of course, after some hardships come its rewards. You may start sweating heavily at this moment but that is what makes this trip worth it. The second waterfalls should be in view already after like a 5-10 minutes of pushing through another set of different obstacles.
The second waterfalls (2 of 3), The hidden falls
The "not-so" hidden falls now
The beauty of this falls is just exponentially better when you see it firsthand. It may seem small from this photo but it's really not. The better news about this is that you can go and feel all of the gushing water down there yourself. Just be careful about stepping on those gigantic stones one by one. It can really get slippery and you will be sliding your way down to the bottom of it in no time. So, are you ready for your bath no.2? Haha!
Anyways, you won't really get bored with the trails they got here as it is really diverse when it comes to views. Who wouldn't be if you are surrounded by these kinds of environments?
channels of water
dusty yet neat trails
don't forget to look up too
One of the indicators that you are near the main attraction is that when you start going downhill continuously. If you see the dreaded descending stairs in an open area, that's it! It will let you feel the mixed emotions of nearing to the pot of gold but must go through hundreds of trails first in the form of those unending stairs going down.
200 feet stairs
Though in our case, we were hyped (especially this man above na naligung-ligo na haha!). Why? Because we can already see the towering falls from here! Wohoo! It's actually a great idea to look at it from time to time to stay motivated so I suggest you do it too.
Hulugan falls from afar
And after a dehydrating, knee-destroying, and tiring effort of traversing the different trails ahead, we have arrived at the foot of the rainbow. YES! All of those work is worth it once you get here. All those negative feelings will go away instantly as you get awed with a view like this.
The third waterfalls (3 of 3), Hulugan falls
Hulugan falls
You can actually say that you have arrived at the foot of the rainbow literally if you watch the video below. The magnitude of its size and height is just dwarfing. The iconic tree beside it just adds drama to it making it very stage-worthy (Avatar feels). We stayed for like an hour here to take everything and feel everything we can as to its actually rare for us to see and be in a place as beautiful as this one.
groupie under Hulugan falls
We brought the drone with us and it delivered big time! Although there was no GPS signal leading us to control the unit manually.. the beauty of the place is just too grand to ignore. The shots were just majestic. This is by far our best-produced drone video yet so don't miss out on watching the video here:
With a minimal budget of around P500/person, this is just a no-brainer deal everyone should take. Let me simply summarize it below for you:
Sample computation for a group of 4: (multiply everything by 4)
P125 - Private car (sharing varies)
P75 - Gasoline (price varies)
P45 - Toll (depends on your route)
P30 - Registration
P15 - Tricycle ride (optional)
P125 - Tour guide (minimum)
PXX - Food
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P 415 - TOTAL (+/-)
