🇵🇭 Camiguin: the volcano island of White Island, waterfalls and hot springs
Guide to Camiguin: how to get there, where to stay in Mambajao, the White Island sandbar, Mantigue, the sunken cemetery, Katibawasan and Tuasan falls, the hot and cold springs and the Hibok-Hibok volcano trek. Prices and how many days to stay.
Camiguin is known as "the island born of fire". It's small, you can drive around it in a couple of hours, but it has seven volcanoes, one of them still active, and within a few kilometres you go from mountain to white sand, from black sand to hot springs, from waterfalls to coral reef. Among the Philippine islands it's a case of its own: that mountainous landscape looks like nowhere else.
It's still not a popular spot with international tourists, and you can tell: simple places to stay, few foreigners, low prices and a genuine welcome. It's perfect if you're after nature, adventure and something real, far from mass tourism. And here too, the advice is the same: rent a scooter and explore on your own.
🗺️ How to get to Camiguin
- By plane: Camiguin airport (CGM) has flights from Cebu with Cebu Pacific. It's the quickest way in from the Visayas.
- By ferry from Mindanao: from Balingoan, an hour and a half by bus from Cagayan de Oro, frequent ferries take about an hour to Benoni.
- From Bohol: there's a boat connection from Jagna a few times a week, around 4 hours. Check the current schedules, because they change.
On the island: scooters at 300-400 PHP a day, or tricycles and the local "multicabs" if you don't ride.
📅 How many days to spend in Camiguin
2-3 days: one for White Island and the coast, one for waterfalls and springs, one for Mantigue or the volcano trek.
🛏️ Where to stay in Camiguin
- Mambajao: the main base and the island's capital, where you'll find most of the hotels, resorts and restaurants, very close to the pier for White Island.
- Yumbing: the coastal strip west of Mambajao with the beachfront resorts, quiet and handy for day trips.
- Sagay and Catarman: the south-west side, more remote and more authentic, for anyone who wants total isolation.
🏝️ What to do in Camiguin: the sea
White Island
A crescent-shaped bank of blinding white sand off Mambajao, with not a tree and not a scrap of shade, and the volcanoes standing behind you. It's a 10-minute boat ride, around 500-600 PHP per boat, split between you. Go early in the morning, before the sun gets brutal and the other boats show up, and bring an umbrella and water.
Mantigue Island
A green island with a white beach and excellent snorkelling along the reef, on the east side. You get there with 30 minutes of scooter or tricycle to the pier and a 20-minute boat ride, around 800 PHP per boat (12 €) to split. There's a small entrance fee for the marine sanctuary.
Sunken Cemetery
The cemetery of a village swallowed by the sea during the 1871 eruption, marked by a big white cross out in the water. You can explore it on your own from shore with mask and fins, among the corals grown over the old headstones, or by kayak. At sunset that cross is one of the most photographed spots on the island. Nearby you'll find the ruins of the old Spanish church of Guiob, destroyed by the same eruption.
Katunggan Park
A series of wooden walkways zigzagging through the mangroves along the coast, with huts hanging over the water that you can rent for a few hours and jump off. Quiet and barely visited.
💦 Waterfalls and springs in Camiguin
- Katibawasan Falls: a 70-metre drop into a cold pool deep in the jungle, a few minutes from Mambajao.
- Tuasan Falls: smaller, easy to reach and lovely, on the west side.
- Ardent Hot Spring: hot springs at the foot of Hibok-Hibok, in terraced pools in the forest. Perfect in the evening.
- Cold springs: the Bura Soda Water Pool, a pool of naturally fizzy water, plus Sa-ay Cold Spring and Santo Niño Cold Spring, big and crystal clear, ideal in the heat of the day.
🌋 Trekking Mount Hibok-Hibok
The island's active volcano, whose last eruption was back in 1951. The climb has to be done with a guide, around 6 hours up and down through the forest, hard work but with a view over the island and the sea that on a clear day is worth every step. You book it through the tourist office in Mambajao.
🍈 The Lanzones Festival
Camiguin is famous across the Philippines for lanzones, a small sweet fruit that grows on the island. In October it's celebrated with a festival of dances, parades and costumes made of leaves and fruit. If you're passing through then, it's a real fiesta, not something staged for tourists.
💡 Things to know before going to Camiguin
- Few ATMs, all of them in Mambajao. Arrive with cash. 👉 Withdrawing money without fees
- Accommodation is simple; high-end doesn't exist here yet.
- It's good to visit almost all year round: it's sheltered from most typhoons, and in the rainy season it stays deep green and empty. 👉 When to go to the Philippines
- It's one of the cheapest islands in the country. 👉 How much it costs to travel in the Philippines