The Most Beautiful Water Wonders in the Philippines
6 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful water wonders in the Philippines are Tubbataha Reef, Lake Pinatubo and Kawasan Falls. The list covers 6 lakes, waterfalls, islands and beaches. Last updated 14 October 2026.
The Philippines is an archipelago of more than seven thousand islands set on a volcanic arc at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the most species-rich marine region on the planet. Heavy tropical rain, porous limestone and young volcanic ground combine here to make water in every form: crater lakes, springs, turquoise falls, lagoons enclosed by karst and reefs that rise from deep ocean basins.
Tubbataha Reef, in the middle of the Sulu Sea, is a pair of remote atolls protected as a marine park, where sheer walls drop into deep water and reef sharks, turtles and manta rays gather. Lake Pinatubo is far younger: it formed in the caldera left by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, one of the largest of the twentieth century, and its water ranges from green to turquoise against grey volcanic slopes. In Palawan, Kayangan Lake lies among the limestone cliffs of Coron Island, so clear that the rock formations below the surface are plainly visible.
On Cebu, the Kawasan Falls tumble in tiers into pools tinted milky blue by dissolved limestone. On Mindanao, the Hinatuan Enchanted River emerges from a deep underwater cave as a short channel of intense sapphire blue before meeting the sea, while the Asik-Asik Falls in North Cotabato do not pour over a single crest at all: water seeps out across a wide wall of ferns and vines, falling in hundreds of separate threads.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tubbataha Reef | Coral reef | ✓ |
| 2 | Lake Pinatubo | Volcanic crater lake | |
| 3 | Kawasan Falls | Waterfall | |
| 4 | Hinatuan Enchanted River | River | |
| 5 | Asik-Asik Falls | Waterfall | |
| 6 | Kayangan Lake | Lake |
01 Tubbataha Reef
Philippines8.953° N 119.868° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
- UNESCO natural beauty
Anna Varona · CC BY 4.0 This is a true atoll system, built on an extinct submarine volcano on the Cagayan Ridge: as the old volcanic islands sank, the corals kept growing towards the light. The result is a shallow reef top that ends abruptly in walls dropping more than 100 metres into blue water, and those walls are what divers come for.
Did you know? In 2005 the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior ran aground here, damaging about 100 square metres of coral; Greenpeace blamed inaccurate charts and paid a fine.
02 Lake Pinatubo
Philippines · 21 km from Angeles15.130° N 120.350° E
Andre Lloyd Torres · CC BY-SA 4.0 Within months, by September 1991, rain had begun to pool in the new caldera. 5. 8 square kilometres and was measured at 95 to 115 metres deep in 2002, its colour shifting between turquoise, blue and green against the grey ash cliffs. In 2001 engineers cut a notch in the crater rim to lower the water by around a quarter, to protect the town of Botolan below from a sudden breakout.
Did you know? The centre of the caldera lies about 1 km north of where Pinatubo's summit stood before 1991.
03 Kawasan Falls
Philippines9.802° N 123.374° E
Andrewhaimerl · CC BY 4.0 The main fall is the picture most people carry away: a broad curtain of white water dropping into a wide round pool, edged with trees, where rafts take visitors in under the spray and swimmers dive off the surrounding rocks. From the lowest basin the stream continues to the Matutinao River and out to the sea in the Tañon Strait, a short distance downstream.
Did you know? The town of Badian takes its name from Kabadyangan, an old place name derived from the badyang plant that once grew there in abundance.
04 Hinatuan Enchanted River
Philippines8.457° N 126.360° E
2il org · CC BY 2.0 Beneath the pool lies a flooded cave system that is still being mapped. The first recorded exploration was made in 1999, and a more ambitious effort began in February 2010, when a team of three cave divers led by Dr Alfonso Amores found a concealed opening at a depth of around 30 metres. Later expeditions reached further chambers. On the sixth expedition, on 17 June 2014, Amores died of a cardiac arrest in a narrow tunnel about 40 metres down.
Did you know? Fish swim even inside the Mayor's Chamber, deep within the flooded cave beneath the pool.
05 Asik-Asik Falls
Philippines7.561° N 124.535° E
Jyppe A. Quidores · CC BY-SA 4.0 The falls sit on the slopes of Mount Ragang in the municipality of Alamada, in Cotabato province on the island of Mindanao. There is no visible stream above the cliff, and the most widely held explanation is that the water emerges from an underground river. At the foot of the face it gathers into a pool that drains into the Alamada River, which feeds the Libungan River and eventually the vast Liguasan Marsh.
Did you know? The photograph that won the 2013 national contest was taken by Ernestina Jacinta, in a competition run by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
06 Kayangan Lake
Philippines11.957° N 120.226° E
Myles Kadusale · CC BY 3.0 The water is brackish rather than fresh: roughly seven parts rain and spring water to three parts sea that seeps in through the porous limestone. That mixing keeps the community of life small and particular — crabs, snails, and fish that tolerate both salt and fresh. A cave known as Awuyuk opens off the lake, and floating bamboo rafts let visitors lie over the deepest part and look straight down.
Did you know? The slim fish seen from the surface are freshwater garfish, Xenentodon cancila, a needle-jawed species that copes with the lake's mix of fresh and salt water.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful water wonders in the Philippines?
- On our list, Tubbataha Reef ranks first, followed by Lake Pinatubo and Kawasan Falls.
- How did Lake Pinatubo form?
- Lake Pinatubo formed after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 collapsed the volcano's summit into a caldera. Monsoon rains filled the basin over the following years, creating a crater lake.
- Why is the Hinatuan Enchanted River so blue?
- The river is fed by an underwater cave system and is very deep for its width, with little sediment. The depth and clarity of the water absorb other colours and leave an intense blue.
- What is Tubbataha Reef?
- Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park protects two large atolls and the smaller Jessie Beazley Reef in the Sulu Sea. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and is a no-take marine reserve.
- How many lakes, waterfalls, islands and beaches are on this list in the Philippines?
- The list covers 6 lakes, waterfalls, islands and beaches.