The Hotness of Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring

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A year ago, I made the decision to lie low from filmmaking and explore other things, like travelling the whole Philippines. I reckon it’s also time to come back to blogging which I stopped doing a long time ago.

small waterfalls mainit hot spring philippines
Soothe yourself with Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring’s lovely tiny waterfalls.

I’ve only been to a few hot springs and when a friend told me about Mainit Sulfuric Hot Spring, I thought this would be my first destination as a warm up for my planned series of travels.

mainit hot spring maco compostella valley philippines
The spring is located on top of the hill.

Mainit is located in Maco, Compostela Valley, more than 2 hours travel by bus and habal-habal (single motor) from Davao City.

This natural sulfuric hot spring looks like a waterfalls, where water source is the active Mt. Leonard Kniazeff. The stones where the waters flow is yellowish, I later on learned to be stalactites.

mainit sulfuric hot spring maco compostella valley philippines
kids enjoying at mainit hot spring
Kids love it!

I went there on a weekday, a few days after the new year and I was expecting a quiet place with no people but it was the contrary. The resort is quite developed and it was a full house that day, mostly locals and families having their reunion. I had to take my videos trying to avoid people.

locals enjoying the temperature of mainit hot spring
The best way to enjoy the temperature is stay under the falls

Though the spring was not steaming when I was there, the water was hot enough to live up to its name. You need to be extra careful as the stone floor can be quite slippery and you need to let your body get used to the water’s temperature before fully soaking in.

teenagers enjoying themselves at mainit sulfuric hot spring
Locals spend most of their weekends at the hot spring.

Also, there’s a huge waterfall at the right side of the spring, a larger area where you can just lounge. They say the spring water has healing powers. No wonder there’s an area there where they offer massage for those who want to relax.

woman relaxing under the waterfalls
Water from the falls have healing powers, they say.
natural habitation at mainit sulfuric hot spring

HOW TO GO THERE FROM DAVAO CITY:

  1. Take a bus at Davao Overland Terminal in Ecoland. You can take any bus that passes by Mawab then you can drop there.
  2. At Mawab Terminal, hire a habal-habal (single motor) for P200 one-way. Better to hire the driver for a roundtrip. It’s quite hard to find a public transportation going back to Mawab.

NOTES:

  • Entrance fee: P10
  • Table rental for the day: P100
  • Massage for 1 hour: P200
  • Globe has no signal. No idea about Smart.
  • There are shower room and restroom.

I wasn’t able to visit Lake Leonard, 15 minutes from Mainit, but it’s worth a try. Here’s a travel video that I made for Mainit.

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