Aguinid Falls In Samboan Cebu: A Complete Guide

Aguinid Falls, located in the southern part of the island of Cebu in the Philippines, is a stunning destination for nature lovers. Set in the serene town of Samboan, the falls boast five tiers, each one offering a distinct experience. The waterfall cascades down into crystal-clear turquoise pools, surrounded by lush greenery, creating an enchanting atmosphere.

AGUINID FALLS: THE COMPLETE GUIDE

Aguinid Falls has become one of the most popular waterfalls on the island of Cebu. While it may never surpass the popularity of Kawasan Falls down the road, the Aguinid Falls trek is a great, adventurous activity for explorers of all levels. In this blog post, I’ll share everything you need to know about visiting Aguinid Falls.

HOW TO GET TO AGUINID FALLS FROM CEBU CITY

Getting to Aguinid Falls in Samboan from Cebu City requires a combination of road and local transport, and the trip typically takes about 3-4 hours depending on traffic. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Bus from Cebu South Bus Terminal to Samboan: Buses that head towards Bato via Barili are the ones that you should take. These buses pass through Samboan. The bus trip usually lasts around 3 hours or so. Buses typically leave every half an hour, starting early in the morning. Make sure to inform the conductor to drop you off at Samboan town proper or at the crossing going to Aguinid Falls.
2. From Samboan to Aguinid Falls: Upon arrival at Samboan, you can take a motorcycle taxi, locally known as “habal-habal”, to get to the entrance of Aguinid Falls. The ride should be quick and take around 10-15 minutes.

GETTING TO AGUINID FALLS FROM MOALBOAL

Traveling from Moalboal to Aguinid Falls in Samboan by motorbike is a convenient and adventurous option. The trip typically takes about 2 to 3 hours depending on the speed and the traffic conditions. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Starting from Moalboal: Start your journey from the Panagsama Beach area in Moalboal.
2. Route to Samboan: You will need to head south on the Cebu South Road. Continue on this road which will take you through the towns of Badian, Alegria, and Malabuyoc.
3. Arriving in Samboan: Once you reach Samboan, look for the junction with a sign that points towards Aguinid Falls. This junction is right before you reach Samboan town proper if you’re coming from the north.
4. Final Stretch to Aguinid Falls: Turn right at this junction and follow the road. You will soon arrive at the Aguinid Falls Eco-Tourism Park.

MY EXPERIENCE AT AGUINID FALLS

150km away from Cebu City is the region of Samboan. Here you will find three beautiful waterfalls and if you look harder you will discover many others. The three most popular waterfalls are Aguinid Falls, Binalayan Falls, and Dao Waterfall. You can easily do all three on one day as we did on our Samboan adventure.

When we arrived at Aguinid we first took lunch. It is a local tip to know that the restaurants/cafes at Aguinid Falls are the last cafes for a long journey down the coast. We enjoyed a great spread of different typical Filipino dishes and relaxed before getting ready to head out on the Aguinid Falls adventure.

Aguinid Falls costs 60 pesos as the entrance fee. However, your guides will be expecting a tip for their expertise along the way, which is their wage. You need to respect this system and understand that the tip is actually the wage of the guide and the entrance fee goes to the municipality/government who are the landowners of this natural asset.

Aguinid Falls is split up into multiple levels. The adventure used to take you to eight levels. However, since there were a few accidents and fatalities on the higher levels, you are now required to take a guide and you will only reach level five. Don’t worry this is more than enough adventure!

The first level will go largely unnoticed as it is just the ground floor or the river. However, from this point on each level offers a beautiful cascade of the milky blue water Cebu has become so famous for.

Aguinid Falls isn’t an adventure to one big waterfall. The adventure to the waterfall is the attraction. You will walk through the water, along with bamboo bridges and at one point scale straight up the waterfall aided by a strong rope.

Don’t worry it isn’t vertical. It is more of a 45-degree angle and not slippery at all. This is one of the reasons you have a guide with you. Keep an eye on your guide, they will probably run up this section without even touching the rope!

The milky blue pools continue all the way up the trail until you reach a pool where you can do a small cliff jump of a couple meters. This is only about 1 minute before the main waterfall at level 5.

After about half an hour we reached the level 5 waterfall, which pours down over the rounded waterfall. Caves inside can be explored and it is a great place for a refreshing dip.

You will definitely get wet on this hike so bring a dry bag or waterproof case for your phone. There are several sections where you walk alongside or even underneath the waterfall.

The staff at the entrance had a sign saying trash deposit 50 pesos. This meant if you took possible trash onto the trail such as plastic water bottles you had to pay 50 pesos and you would get your money back if you proved you had brought your trash out. They seemed quite proud of their trail. Some of my local friends also told me not to bother with an adventure bag here because it was maintained by the government.

As I have found all over the world, locals are often missing what is right before their eyes. They did indeed keep this trail in awesome condition. It was beautiful and the regular adventurer would not recall seeing any trash.

Along with our driver, I collected two bags of trash. Two Adventure Bags. We found more than ten flip-flops and lots of plastic bottles just yards off the trail in the bushes. The staff at the entrance were shocked and I think they will be doing a bit of a sweep shortly!