Kawa Hot Baths

A kawa is a large cast-iron cauldron, and for generations they were used across the sugar districts to boil cane juice down to muscovado. When the sugar trade contracted in Antique, someone in Tibiao filled one with water, lit a fire under it and got in, and the result became the province's best-known attraction: visitors soak in the cauldrons, set outdoors on a hillside above the Tibiao river, heated from below by a wood fire that an attendant feeds and moderates, with herbs and flowers thrown in the water and the forest and river below in view. The temperature is adjustable by asking, and it is more comfortable than the visual joke suggests. Around Tibiao are the Bugtong Bato Falls, a series of seven tiers reached by a walk upstream, a fish spa and river tubing, so a day in the area assembles easily. Antique's western coast remains one of the least-visited stretches in the Visayas.

Highlights

• The iron cauldrons - old sugar kawa set on the hillside.
• The wood fire - the attendant heating from below.
• The valley view - the Tibiao river and forest below.
• The herb water - flowers and leaves in the bath.

When to go

November to May for dry roads and river activities. Late afternoon, so a soak follows a day at the falls. Book ahead at weekends - there are only so many kawa.

Things to know

It is a novelty as much as a spa - the cauldrons are shared or hired per unit and the setting is rustic. The temperature depends on the attendant, so say if it is too hot. Facilities are simple.

Nearby

Bugtong Bato Falls and the Tibiao river are minutes away; Malumpati Cold Spring at Pandan and Mararison Island are up the coast.