Compostela Valley is the country’s 78th province. With a total land area of 4,666.93 square kilometers, it is often touted as “rough, rugged and mostly undeveloped,” so much so that its tourism tagline is: “Conquering Compostela Valley.”
Here are the province’s points of interest:
- Kopiat Island. This 95-hectare island of powdery white sands can be reached via a motorized banca. Its unspoiled reef areas with rare beds serve as sanctuary for exotic tropical fish and endangered marine turtles, particularly hawksbill and leatherback.
- Lunod Island. Lush mangrove forests cover almost the whole island’s 17-hectare area, which is not far from Kopiat Island. Locals say that at night, the place turns into a magical wonder, as the whole area is lighted with fireflies. Also known as Saint Anthony Island, it is a 15-minute banca ride from the coast of Beach View Resort.
- Beach View Resort. This resort, in Pindasan, Mabini, has the widest vacant space for outdoor events among all beach resorts in the province. It also has the most modern cosmopolitan bar.
- Welborn’s Beach Resort Hidden Paradise.Located in Baybay, Magnanga in Pantukan, it has a wide stretch of sand in the beach for children and adults to walk and play. The sea bed is flat and there are no stones or corals that make bare walking dangerous.
- Bern Berioso Beach Resorts I and II. Situated in Manaklay, Pindasan in Mabini, these two resorts—not far from each other—boast of clear and calm waters ideal for a range of water sports. It has a function hall that looks like a ship. There is also a zip line which brings the rider into the sea water.
- Mainit Sulfuric Hot Waterfall. A must-see in Barangay Mainit in Mawab is the Mainit Sulfuric Hot Waterfall. If you have not seen a steaming fall in your life, then this is the area to visit. I tried to walk in the steaming water below the waterfall and indeed it was hot!
- Lake Leonard. In the highland barangay of New Leyte in Maco, visitors can be mesmerized by this lake, a caldera of Mount Leonard Kniasseff, one of the 22 active volcanoes in the country whose last eruption was reported in the second century A.D. The 200-hectare lake was used before as a dumping ground for mining wastes until the mining company ceased operation in the early 1990s. Today, the lake is teemed with tilapia.
- n Aguakan Cold Spring Resort. Located in Maragusan, it has an Olympic-size swimming pool, whose water comes from nearby springs. The water is touted to be “as cold as ice.”
- Kanlawig Hot Springs Resort. If cold is not your thing, then go to this resort which is not far from the Aguakan Cold Spring Resort. Here, you can enjoy swimming at the steaming hot water.
- Haven’s Peak. Also in Maragusan, it is a resort nestled on Tarago Hills facing the town. It takes more than 200 steps just to reach the top. Once you’re there, you get to see the whole town and the forest that surround it.
- Tagbibinta Falls. Maragusan is blessed with several waterfalls but this is the most famous among them. It has a series of seven falls, the first one measuring approximately 70 feet in height. “The falls was named as such because the place used to be the business center,” said Dennis B. Radin, the town’s tourism officer.
- Bulawan Junction. This provincial landmark reflects the province’s position as one of the biggest sources of gold and other valuable minerals in the Philippines. It is in Barangay Olaycon, about seven kilometers from the town of Monkayo.
- Laak Caves. Unofficial information puts the number of caves at more than 100. Most of them can be found in Barangay Sisimon and Barangay Andap.
- Mt. Tagub, Mt. Manurigao, Mt. Kandalanga Range. Visit an unexplored pristine world of nature. The three peaks are sites of national, regional, and local annual mountain climbs and nature watching during the Holy Week and the month of October.