Mambukal Mountain Resort Bacolod: a tourist destination for nature lovers

Mambukal Resort in Bacolod City is a mountain resort and a popular tourist destination.  It is located just 40 minutes by private car from Bacolod City.  It is actually part of Murcia, a town just after Bacolod, and the resort is owned and managed by the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental.

Mambukal Mountain Resort - a popular tourist spot

For locals and tourists who want a relaxing and refreshing experience, Mambukal Resort Bacolod is a great tourist destination especially for nature lovers.  Its location just outside the city, and along the footslopes of Mt. Kanlaon, makes it ideal for those wanting a getaway, a day trip and bonding with nature.  Being 1,200 feet above sea level, Mambukal has a cool and green environment. 

There are many activities that one can do at Mambukal. Day trips and picnics are common but for those who want to stay longer, they have a lodge and cottages for overnight stays.  For those seeking a quiet and peaceful visit, avoid the weekends and holidays as the resort gets really packed.

It has natural hot sulfur springs where one can take a nice dip and have a soothing bath in its healing waters.

Take a dip at the warm sulfur dipping pool

For the more active and adventurous, a trip up the waterfalls is a must.  Mambukal has 7 falls and can easily be accessed by a short trek. 

One of 7 falls in Mambukal

There are guides who can take you up.  Swimming in the waterfalls is a fun and awesome experience.  It is very refreshing especially on a hot summer day. 

Breath taking Mambukal waterfalls

For the more brave, there are some parts of the waterfalls where you can jump into the cool waters below the falls.  

It's more fun in Bacolod Philippines!  

Other amenities and activities include 3 swimming pools, a bath house, boating lagoon, butterfly garden, bird and bat watching, zip line, wall climbing and canopy walk.  They have a convention hall, picnic huts and food kiosks or food court.

A visit to Mambukal can be topped off with a soothing and relaxing massage at The Blade Spa located within Mambukal Resort.  They offer body massage, foot massage, and more. The Blade Spa is beside the hot spring and overlooks the green and scenic natural park of Mambukal.

Getting there

How to get to Mambukal Resort:

From Bacolod City to Mambukal Mountain Resort is a short 40-minute drive by private car passing through Murcia town. Public utility vehicles or buses are available at the northwestern side of the Libertad Public Market. Jeepney trips to Mambukal are also available starting at 7:20 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is about Php35 per person.

There is an entrance fee to get inside Mambukal Resort, 50 pesos for adult, 20 pesos for child, and 15 pesos for light vehicle.

For rates, accommodations, and more information, visit their official website at http://mambukalresortnegocc.com/index.html

Vist Bacolod and Negros!

See this short video on the sights and beauty of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City...

The Bacolod Masskara Festival - A Celebration of Life!

The annual Masskara Festival held in Bacolod City every October is a celebration which has earned for Bacolod the title “City of Smiles”. The Festival was conceived in 1980 by a group of city officials, Arts Association of Bacolod members and some concerned citizens with full support from the city government and the Department of Tourism Field Office to enliven the usual City Charter Anniversary celebration which, at the time consisted of the routine flag ceremony, employees program and the afternoon civic military parade.


The word “Masskara” was coined by the late AAB president Ely Santiago from the two works “mass” which means “many or a multitude of the people” and the Spanish “kara” meaning “face”. The masks worn by the participants during the parade are always smiling. Masskara thus means a multitude of smiling faces.


Since its inception, the Masskara Festival is held every third weekend of October nearest the Charter Anniversary. It features a Masskara Street Dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorful masked dancers gyrate to the infectious rhythm of the Latin musical beat in a stunning display of mastery, gaiety, coordination and stamina.

Major activities are the beauty pageant, carnivals, drums and bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concert, agri-trade fair, garden show, to name few.

For a brief history on the Masskara Festival, check this out:
http://bacolodphilippines.blogspot.com/2009/01/masskara-history-and-information.html

Masskara 2009 Schedule of Activities

Bacolod City - Best Place to Live in the Philippines

Bacolod City is the capital and largest highly urbanized mid-size Philippine city of the province of Negros Occidental. Having a total of 499,497 inhabitants as of August 1, 2007, it is the most populous city in the Western Visayas Region. It is notable for its MassKara Festival held during October. Known for being a relatively friendly city, it bears the nickname "City of Smiles" and the "Football City of the Philippines". Bacolod City recently topped a survey by MoneySense Magazine as the "Best Place to Live in the Philippines".

A Brief History
The city's name is derived from the Hiligaynon word bakolod – meaning "stonehill" – since the settlement was founded in 1770 on a stony, hilly area, now the district of Granada.
Due to Muslim raids in 1787, Bacolod was transferred towards the shoreline. The old site was called Da-an Banwa, meaning "old town".

In 1894, by order of Governor General Claveria, through Negros Island Governor Manuel Valdevieso Morquecho, Bacolod was made the capital of the Province of Negros. Bernardino de los Santos became the first gobernadorcillo and Fray Julian Gonzaga the first parish priest.

The success of the revolution in Bacolod was attributed to the low morale of the local Spanish detachment, due to its defeat in Panay and Luzon and to the psychological warfare waged by Generals Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta. In 1897, a battle in Bacolod was fought at Matab-ang River. A year later, on November 5, 1898, the Negrense "Revolucionarios," armed with knives, bolos, spears, and rifle-like nipa stems, and pieces of sawali or amakan mounted on carts, captured the convento where Coronel Isidro de Castro y Cisneros, well-armed cazadores and platoons of civil guards, surrendered. Two days later, on the 7th, most of the revolutionary army gathered together to establish a Provisional Junta and to confirm the elections of Aniceto Lacson as president, Juan Araneta as war-delegate, as well as the other officials.

On March 1899, the American forces led by Colonel James G. Smith occupied Bacolod, the revolutionary capital of the Provisional Republic of Negros.

By virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 326, enacted by the National Assembly, Bacolod was made a chartered city on October 19, 1938.

In World War II, Bacolod City was occupied by Japanese forces on May 21, 1942. The Japanese commanding general seized the Mariano Ramos Ancestral House, home of the first appointed Presidente Municipal of Bacolod, which served as the seat of power and a watchtower over city. The city was liberated by joint Filipino and American forces on May 29, 1945. It took time to rebuild Bacolod after liberation. The city's public markets and slaughterhouses were rebuilt during the administration of former mayor Vicente Remitio from 1947 to 1949.

Location
Bacolod City is located on the northwestern coast of the Province of Negros Occidental. It is bounded on the northwest by the town of Talisay; on the east by the City of Silay; on the east and southwest by the town of Murcia; on the southwest by the City of Bago; and in the west by the Guimaras Strait. The global location of Bacolod City is 10 degrees, 40 minutes 40 seconds - north and 122 degrees 54 minutes 25 seconds - east with Bacolod Public Plaza as the benchmark.

Bacolod has a total land area of 16,145 hectares, including straits and bodies of water and the 124 hectare reclamation area; and is composed of 61 barangay (villages) and 639 purok (smaller units composing a village). It is accessible by sea through the ports of Banago; the BREDCO Port in the Reclamation Area, and the port of Pulupandan. By air, it is accessible through the Bacolod Airport, which is approximately three (3) (four is counting from the Lagoon) kilometers away from the center of the city.

Bacolod is ideally located on a level area, slightly sloping as it extends toward the sea with an average slope of 0.9 percent for the city proper and between 3 to 5 percent for the suburbs. The altitude is 32.8 feet or 10.0 meters above sea level with the Bacolod City Public Plaza as the benchmark. Bacolod has two pronounced seasons, wet and dry. The rainy season starts from May to January of the following year with heavy rains occurring during the months of August and September. Dry season starts from the month of February until the last week of April.

Source: Wikipedia

Masskara History and Information

The MassKara Festival is a week-long festival held each year in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province in the Philippines every third weekend of October nearest October 19, the city's Charter Anniversary.


Brief History

The festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. The province relied on sugar cane as its primary agricultural crop, and the price of sugar was at an all-time low due to the introduction of sugar substitutes like high fructose corn syrup in the United States.It was also a time of tragedy; on April 22 of that year, the inter-island vessel Don Juan carrying many Negrenses, including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City, collided with the tanker Tacloban City and sank. An estimated 700 lives were lost in the tragedy.

In the midst of these tragic events, the city's artists, local government and civic groups decided to hold a festival of smiles, because the city at that time was also known as the City of Smiles. They reasoned that a festival was also a good opportunity to pull the residents out of the pervasive gloomy atmosphere. The initial festival was therefore, a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City is going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph.

Features

The festival features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorfully-masked dancers gyrating to the rhythm of Latin musical beats in a display of mastery, gaiety, coordination and stamina. Major activities include the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, carnivals, drum and bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events organized ad-hoc every year.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MassKara_Festival

The New Bacolod Silay International Airport

As you land in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, fondly called the "City of Smiles", a new and spanking airport greets you. Finally, after a long wait, the new Bacolod Silay International Airport is now open and operational, welcoming guests, tourists, balikbayans, Negrenses and the like.

The new airport is located in Silay City, not far from Bacolod, once known as the "Paris of Negros Occidental". Silay is known for its old houses which attest to the grandeur and victory of the opulent sugar industry long before the great depression of the 80's.

Now, the new international airport serves the general area of Bacolod City, the capital city of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. This airport replaced the Bacolod City Domestic Airport located in Bacolod City proper. The Bacolod-Silay City International Airport inherited its IATA and ICAO airport codes from the former.

The airport is located 15 kilometers northeast of Bacolod City on a 181-hectare site in Barangay Bagtic, Silay City. The airport is the 3rd international airport in the Visayas and the 2nd international airport in the Western Visayas region, after Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Iloilo International Airport, and the 1st international airport built on the island of Negros.