How to visit the Kawasan Falls without a tour.

The Kawasan falls are arguable the most beautiful series of waterfalls in the Philippines and are the most visited of all the waterfalls. The are on the island of Cebu and can be reached from anywhere on the island but the closest place to visit them from is from Moalboal in the south west of Cebu.

The waterfalls are famous of their gatorade blue colour and for the canyoneering you can do from the various cliffs into the pool beneath.

Every corner or hostel in Moalboal will have signs for canyoneering tours and full day tours to the Kawasan falls which if you’re tight on money, tight ton time and hate tours like me you will want to dodge. The tours start from 1500 peso upwards and can be as much as 3000 peso from Moalboal. It is the perfect spot for canyoneering as Kawasan Falls in Cebu offers all the activities that compromise canyoneering: swimming, climbing, hiking, cliff diving and so much more.

This includes you transport, entrance fee, tour guide, lunch and equipment. The tours usually pick you up at 9 am and return somewhere about 3-4pm in the afternoon. I prefer having the freedom to come and go from a place as I please, save money and then have more time to do other activities or see something else.

I had also seen videos and photos of the falls without any bobbing red helmets and orange life vests and it with them too and figured I would much rather experience the beauty of the falls on my own with no hi vis vests and screaming tourists to ruin it.

• Tour
  • Cost: 1500 peso upwards
  • Time: 8.30 am- 4pm

• DIY
  • Cost: 840 peso
  • Time: 7.30 am- 10am

I hired a scooter from a guy on the Main Street in Moalboal from 300 peso for the day. It takes 30 minutes to drive to the Kawasan Falls from Moalboal and is very straight forward. Literally straight the whole way and you’ll see the signs for it on your left.

When I arrived to the carpark I was met my a local guide asking if I wanted a guide to take me canyoneering and to the falls. Technically you can go without a guide but you can’t canyoneer from the cliffs and it is a good way to support local tourism.

The local guys charged 500 peso to bring me to the series of waterfalls, equipment hire, take care of my things and let me park the bike for free in the car park. Usually parking is another 20 peso. The entrance fee into the waterfalls is 40 peso. I only had 1000 peso notes on me and getting change was difficult, especially early in the morning so bring change. I left Moalboal at 7.30 am, I had planned on leaving earlier but got caught having an amazing breakfast in Smooth Hostel. By the time I arrived to the main waterfall it was 8.30 am and there was only one other couple there. The place was deserted and it actually looked like it does on instagram.

The guide held my dry bag and took a few pictures for me before we headed up to the waterfalls and cliffs to jump off. With the tours you start at the river and follow it down, starting the canyoneering at the top and finishing with the main waterfall above. The only problem with this is by the time you get to the main waterfalls, it is full of people in helmets and life vest. If you’ve come to get some good shots, forget it. Even when I was coming back down an hour later from the series of waterfalls and jumps higher up, the main waterfall is quickly filling up with tourists.

I wore flipflops, not the best idea for canyoneering so if you have wet shoes, wear them. The jumps are between 5- 14 metres high. The highest one I did was 11 m. My guide offered to bring me further up to the biggest of the jumps but it would cost more. 11 m was enough for me and I was happy with the jumping I had done.

After an hour of jumping and having the place virtually to myself, I had my fill of cliff jumping and headed back to the main waterfall with my guide. I got in again to swim underneath the waterfall. If you want to swim past the rope and swim into the waterfall, you must wear a life vest.

If you are travelling alone and prefer to do this with someone else, the group canyoneering tours that do more jumping and hiking at a better option as you will meet loads of people and it’s a guaranteed great day out. If like me you’re happy to go alone and are tight for time, hire a scooter and a local guide and head yourself. I headed off to another waterfall after and still made it back to Moalboal by lunch time see the sardine run off the shore in the afternoon.

Things to bring:

• As little as possible.
  • Towel
  • Dry bag
  • GoPro or camera
  • swim wear
  • wet shoes
  • Small notes/ change
  • Mosquito repellent