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

Bacolod Tourist Destination: The Ruins

A rather new, but actually very ‘old’, Bacolod tourist site is The Ruins. Situated amongst the farmlands in Talisay City, this heritage site is fast become a very popular Bacolod tourist attraction.

The structure of The Ruins is of Italianate architecture with neo-Romanesque columns, having a very close semblance to the façade of Carnegie Hall in New York City. In New England, they often were homes to ship’s captains. A belvedere on the 2nd floor, facing west, affords a beautiful view of the sunset in a glassed-in sunroom with bay windows.

The Belvedere

The view from the Belvedere at twilight

A brief history of the Bacolod Ruins

The mansion was built in the early 1900’s by the sugar baron, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson (1865-1948) and was home to his unmarried children with his first wife, Maria Braga Lacson (+1911), a Portuguese from Macau. The mansion was the largest residential structure ever built at that time and had in it one of the finest furniture, chinaware, and decorative items, as the father of Maria Braga was a captain of a ship that sailed across Europe and Asia and would cart with him these items. One of their daughters maintained a beautiful garden of lilies in and around the 4-tiered fountain fronting the mansion, all brought in from abroad.

Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson

One of the sons supervised the construction of the mansion making certain that the A-grade mixture of concrete and its pouring was precisely followed. The mansion met its sad fate in the early part of World War II when the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East), then guerilla fighters in the Philippines, burnt the mansion to prevent the Japanese forces from utilizing it as their headquarters. It took days of inferno to bring down the roof and the 2-inch wooden floors.


To this day, the structure still stands tall amidst sugar plantations and continues to awe both local and foreign tourists. Truly, a picture-perfect backdrop and a magnificent sight to see.


How The Ruins became a tourist destination

After literally being in ruins and practically abandoned, the mansion was left to the elements for several years. It wasn’t until last year, when some of the Lacson great grandchildren who inherited the land where The Ruins sits, decided to develop it. They fixed the surroundings and put up a café where they serve tapas, pasta, beef and lamb dishes and more. They also serve ice cold beer and wine.

View of the Garden

Since they opened last year, a lot of tourists and locals visit this tourist site which is so close to Bacolod. It is only about a 15-minute drive from the center of Bacolod City. It also a favorite venue for photo shoots as the remaining structure and its unique architecture and design details serve as a beautiful and magnificent backdrop.

The fountain and garden which has become a venue for events

The Bacolod Ruins, or Talisay Ruins as it is also called by some, has been a popular venue for Bacolod weddings, special events and parties. The most recent addition to this tourist spot is a mini-golf within the grounds of the site. The owners are continuously developing the area and adding new stuff to do so it will remain a top tourist attraction. Even for the Bacolod and Talisay residents and locals, it has become a place for family bonding activities and fun.


How to get to The Ruins

Option 1: Take the turn at Honda Cars in Talisay City towards the mountains. It’s a 2.4km stretch of farm road from the national highway. (You’ll need an off-road or SUV because the roads are rather rough and unpaved)

Option 2: Take the turn at the PEPSI bottling plant in Bata Subdivision towards the mountains. Enter the narrow road leading to Rose Lawn Memorial Garden, then, turn right and navigate the main road of Goldcrest and Octagon Villages. This will lead you all the way to The Ruins. (Follow the signs going to The Ruins starting from the road you turn into at the Pepsi plant corner)