The cool-and-dry months of December-February are the best time to visit because you can always count on the weather to not ruin your trip. The summer months of March-May are good too, if you don’t mind sharing the journey with a big crowd. However, call in advance because our guide told us that when it hasn’t rained for a long time, there’s a risk there’s very little water running, which may disappoint visitors expecting big splashes.Waterfalls are at their most stunning after the rain so don’t dismiss June-November just yet. The key is to visit in the rainy season but not immediately after the rain. The water becomes brown and murky, and the trail muddy and slippery. Give the trail time to dry. Don’t be like us. We did the 3-waterfall trek the day after a downpour in August, and I slipped twice, the second time sliding down a few meters. But that’s because I was wearing flip flops because I’m stupid sometimes (or most of the time, lol). Do not attempt to walk barefoot because it’s even more slippery.
While Laguna is most well-known for cradling the largest lake in the Philippines, it is also home to several waterfalls that punctuate the rivers that the lake spills into. Hulugan Falls is one of them.
Hulugan Falls
It was relatively obscure, known mostly to the locals, until word-of-mouth pushed it to prominence, attracting a growing number of tourists. “There was one day in summer when we had around 1200 visitors,” our tricycle driver said, although we failed to confirm it with tourism officials. If true, that’s remarkable for a destination that is relatively a newcomer in the tourism scene, something that is evident in the infrastructure in the area (or the lack thereof). We spotted only two stores in the vicinity and one set of public restrooms. (We hope it wouldn’t be too commercialized, to be honest.) Yet, in a short time since it was “discovered”, they were able to pave the road to a jump-off point much closer to the waterfall.
It’s hard to imagine how one waterfall could change the lives of the townsfolk. A road has been paved, a system has been set in place, and jobs have been created and boosted. But when we reached the end of the trail and had our first look at Hulugan, we understood. It was spectacular.
The cool-and-dry months of December-February are the best time to visit because you can always count on the weather to not ruin your trip. The summer months of March-May are good too, if you don’t mind sharing the journey with a big crowd. However, call in advance because our guide told us that when it hasn’t rained for a long time, there’s a risk there’s very little water running, which may disappoint visitors expecting big splashes.Waterfalls are at their most stunning after the rain so don’t dismiss June-November just yet. The key is to visit in the rainy season but not immediately after the rain. The water becomes brown and murky, and the trail muddy and slippery. Give the trail time to dry. Don’t be like us. We did the 3-waterfall trek the day after a downpour in August, and I slipped twice, the second time sliding down a few meters. But that’s because I was wearing flip flops because I’m stupid sometimes (or most of the time, lol). Do not attempt to walk barefoot because it’s even more slippery.
Luisiana,Laguna Falls 