Lake Agko Mountain Resort - Kidapawan City

Lake Agko is the nearest jump-off point in climbing Mt. Apo via the Kidapawan Trail. Here, you can rest, prepare your food and take a dip in their hot spring pool with a beer in hand. Since we wanted to start our trek as early as possible, we decided to spend the night here since it is just a 10-minute walk down the Kidapawan Trail. 

Looking around online for this resort proved to be the most stressful part while I was making our Davao itinerary. There are not so much information about it or contact persons that you can call or talk to to inquire. I tried all the numbers I saw in the photos from only God-knows-when-it existed to no avail. Upon calling the Tourism Office in Kidapawan, they told me that we can just go there anytime since it was open daily. No need to book in advance but expect that the rooms are always full. We brought tents so no need for that.

 

resort entrance

How to get there:

Take a tricycle from Kidapawan Municipal Hall and ask the driver to bring you to the habal habal terminal. No need to worry about it since your guides/porters know how to get there. Then take a habal habal to Lake Agko for P250/one way/ 2persons + bags.

 

 

 

natural hot spring pool

We paid P35/person for the entrance fee, logged our names and talked to one of the personnel. We chose the open cottage for P250/night which can comfortably house 5-10 people. It includes a big table, 2 electric outlets and a light. It also has quite a number of pools where you can dip in but they are famous for their natural hot spring pool and their mud pool (which I didn't see, too tired to walk around). The resort is also famous for seminars and field trips. On the night of our descend, there were a lot of high school kids wallowing in the pool at 7 in the evening. It was 17 degrees. Tough eh?

 

  

Employees from the nearby geothermal plant also have their meals here. There is a canteen with ala carte meals and you can also choose frozen meats from this store and have it cooked your way. 

 

 

Overall, service is nice, fast and simple. But their restrooms needs a serious overhaul and maintenance. Since they use spring water, everything overflows and faucets are not functioning anymore. I had to ask the Boss to bring me my clothes after 15 minutes because there were no hooks or even nails where you can hang them inside the shower rooms. In spite of all of that, it is still the very best place to stay and rest before an arduous climb. :)