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Twin Lake or Lake Balinsasayao and Lake Danao
Negros Oriental

I never thought that Twin Lake or Lake Balinsasayao/Lake Danao in Dumaguete was actually near. I've lived in Dumaguete for 3 and a half years and spent the most part of my high school there. I studied in a Catholic school and there was a point where we stayed in Amlan which is a 30-minute ride to and fro school. I never knew that we could just pass by the place whenever we could. However, I wasn't really able to visit great places to travel since I didn't have the budget and I didn't have the budget (no, that's not a typo). 

This time, I had the opportunity to visit Negros Oriental from Cebu for business and a little sight-seeing. We went to Casaroro falls during one of the last visits and I made sure I'd be able to drop by the famous Lake Balinsasayao at this point.

I just wanted to create an entry on how we got to the Twin Lake to help out other travelers who might fancy the places to see in Dumaguete City.

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Doi accompanied me on a weekend and we travelled from Cebu to Dumaguete and stayed at Harold's mansion. From Harold's you can coordinate with the hostel to take you to the place however since there were only two of us, we just went there by ourselves. We hailed a bus on the highway that took a 20-minute ride going to the point where we could ride a habal-habal (a driver with a motorbike) that would take us up on the mountains and into the lake.

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When we rode the bus, we didn't really know if we could just see the sign to take us to the lake. However, we inquired from the conductor to halt the bus whenever we would reach the landmark. The conductor told us that it's not hard since there's a big sign on the highway that will tell you where you can drop off. Here you can actually see the Twin Lake Signage just beside the road.

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Usually, you can take an off-road vehicle so that you can drive your way up the mountains to the lake. But we didn't have wheels so we hired a bike instead. It takes 45 minutes for you to reach Twin lake from the stop-point from the highway but that also depends on the speed of the bike.

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stopover

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horse and lake

I thought the road was really crazy but it wasn't that tough. We did encounter some stones and rocks, ground and gravel but the ride wasn't rough at all. We stopped over in order for us to register our names and then pay the registration fee. We took some pictures of the place as it was very well set that I thought that the body of water beside it was the actual lake. It was just a prelude on what we were to expect later on. But the stopover for registration was already a nice place to have a picnic.

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rocks and registration

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overlooking the view

When we reached the place, we had to walk some more steps down to get to the body of water. We got lucky because when we reached the lake, there was a local travel show (ABS-CBN's "Trip na Trip") that was featuring Dumaguete for their next episodes. 

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on the left is Jason and some crew.

I got to see Kat de Castro and Jason from PBB do some spiels and I saw the cameramen and the setup as well. I am inclined to media and I like to work behind the lens one of these days that's why I made all the fuss. Anyway, I wanted to have my picture taken but we were shy so we passed up the opportunity.

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reaching the center point between the two lakes. on the rightmost is Lake Danao (the other side)

We paddled our way to check out what's in the other side of the lake. It was pretty tiring too, we thought it was just near but it's actually far. You also have the option to just trek to the other side but we didn't really want to as the trail isn't as visible as it was. But we did see some foreigners/adventurers who really opted to hike to the other side.

We left our valuables to the folk which is a bit of a problem for me since I was hesitant to leave my belongings to them. But what the heck, I didn't want to lose my gadgets in case we would trip over. When we got back though, everything was intact which is really great. 

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The water was cold! haha-> like that's a surprise. 

I went for  a swim to satisfy the water-lover in me. I had to; it would be totally useless if I were to go there and just stare at the green water. Doi just sat and watched me while I enjoyed myself. In any case, if you haven't brought anything, you can still dry your clothes on the motorbike ride back to the highway.

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It would be great to go to this place out of the blue with a group of friends and just go for a dip just because you feel like hanging out and chill with the cool air and some bottles of beer. Since we didn't bring in some booze, I just dove countless times. 

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I just want to create a How to Guide to get to Twin Lake since my  How To Guide in the Caramoan islands did help a lot of people in some ways. Click on the pictures to enlarge a bit.

Expenses:
P20 – Bus Fare from Dumaguete city to the Stop-Point (20 minute ride)
P200 per person – Motorbike ride (back and forth – each trip is about 40 minutes long)
P10 – Entrance fee to the lake
P100/hour – Kayak Rental (they also have a small boat but I forgot the price. hehe)


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soloflightEd.com is a travel blog by Edcel Suyo. He enjoys performing headstands and crazy stunts during his trips in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Now based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and working to earn a living, he takes time to enjoy the city and travel during weekends.
For updates, Like his page on Facebook or Follow him on Twitter.
For questions, advertising, and other concerns, shoot an email to ed@soloflighted.com.


31 comments… add one
  • Nice! i always wanted to go there!
     

    • Edcel

      haha. this was a long overdue trip. 🙂

  • astg! cool au handsome!

    • Edcel

      handsome! himo na imo website woi.

  • colleen

    hello, pwde ka over night sa twinlake?hehe pls rep!tnx
     

    • Edcel

      colleen: not so sure, don’t think so. 🙂

  • em-em

    I have heard so much about it since my university days.  now that my daughter is in college and i get to visit her often, i thought of Lake Balinsasayaw again.  Your entry is truly helpful. Keep it up!

    • Edcel

      @em-em: no problem! glad to be able to provide you some good information! 😀

  • windelyn

    hello..maganda b tlaga dun,,hnd! tlaga aq nkpunta dun,,.,

    • Edcel

      @windelyn: yep Twin Lake is nice. The water is cold and refreshing. 🙂

  • sharon

    Thanks for the info..i'd surely go to this place one of these days. your blog is one of the best! i'm going to fofrward this to some friends!=)
     

    • Edcel

      @sharon: ey no problem! glad you found my site useful! thanks for dropping by! 😀

  • Bench

    ganda naman ng place, your blog is so helpful.  We're planning to go there this coming december.  Thanks a lot.

    • Edcel

      @bench: ey, thanks a lot! glad I was able to help give out information! 😀

  • frencel

    Nice Blog….masarap bang magsolo flight lang?

  • Dan

    Thanks for the informative post about Twin Lake.  My wife and I are visiting her family in Cebu next week and I want to take a bird watching trip to Twin Lake and Casaroro Falls.  Nice blog.

  • richjhoy

    maaaaay gaaaaaad! i suppppeeeer love your blog, i suppppper love traveling, like all my savings went to traveling expenses. i schooling pa thats why cant really go far places or experience more. but this time got my inspiration for traveling, thanks for the blog ha? damn! suppppper nice. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA (mabuang nako)

  • how much is the estimate cost kung mag overnigt then how much
    is the highest and lowest price of the food.

    please reply cuzz we want to go there next week…

  • Katie Dondzila

    Where did you get the bus at? I am in the city center, also is the motorbike 200 each way or 200 round trip?
    Thank you
    Katie

    • Hi, bus heading out of Dumaguete would be fine. Any bus out of Dumaguete heading to Bacolod (Tanjay, Bais, etc.) — as there’s only one road going out.. As for motorbike. yes, it was for two ways.

  • joy

    hello , hmm from here to twin lake.pila travel pay ?
    thank you 🙂

  • Thanks Ed! Ganahan ko molaag ani puhon. Tanjay amoa so this isn’t that far!

  • Neko

    Hi! Are we allowed to bring food? Or cook food there? Like sugba and stuff 🙂

    • Hi. Last time i checked (long time ago) it wasn’t that regulated. There’s an entrance fee and there’s sort of a cafe. So apologies, can’t really answer…

  • Gelai

    Hi, is it possible to bring our own car going to the landmark of the twin lake and park there? Planning to bring car and drive ourselves from Dumaguete City going to the corner of the twin lake, park there and just ride motorcycle going up. Do you think this is doable?

  • Lee

    Is there any accommodation next to the lakes? Or is it possible to camp overnight?

  • Van

    Hi! Thanks for sharing. Planning to go there tom. Excited! Btw, is it safe to go there solo lalo na sa babae?

  • Sharon

    Hi! We will be viaiting Dumaguete this weekend and we are bringing our car. Do you think it’s possible to up to Balinsasayao with our car? Ford Escape po sya. Thank you.

  • Dan

    Nice. Detailed trip! Got the interest of going there.

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