Tips 👏
- El Nido town is small but not that small, also very touristic packed with bars and European folks.
- Everything within the town is do-able by walking distance and all services are available (ATMs, pharmacy...)
- Easy to rent a scooter on the same day.
- Easy to book scuba or boat tour the day before.
- The town is the most practical spot to stay on the island.
- Bring some cash during boat tour to pay for extra and buy some fresh beer to sellers in kayaks
- You don't need to pre-book airport transfer, super easy to get/leave from the airport in tricycle for about 200 PHP (fixed prices)
🏠 Accommodation
We stayed at The Funny Lion and it was amazing. Definitely on the high-end side which is reflected in the price, but super practical with great facilities.
The staff is super kind and the hotel is located a pinch out of the town which is perfect for avoiding late night noise but still only 5 min by walk (although close to a busy road). Breakfast is also fantastic (go egg station) and they provide complimentary clean beach towels.
If you're not on a budget, that's the place to stay on El Nido!
🚲 Getting there
We flew directly (1h30) from Cebu using AirSwift and didn't had any problems. Upon arrival it's actually super easy to get from the airport to the town via tricycle in about 10 minutes for around 300 PHP (fixed prices). Our hotel initially offered us a transfer option for more than a thousand, so tricycle all the way!
⏱ Duration
We stayed 4 nights and felt that was the good amount. As always there's always more things to do and see, but if you're well organised that's a good duration on this lovely spot.
❌ Miss
Taraw Cliff is the tall cliff overlooking El Nido town. Due to its sharpness, it's strongly recommended to go with a guide. We searched all over town and online, but it was impossible to find a guide last minute willing to bring us. We also read that due to some accident few years back, the climb is not allowed anymore. It's possible instead to do the Via Ferrata but it's not very high so we don't think it worth it for the view. Let us know if you managed to find a guide!
Boat tour 🚤
After an afternoon arrival at the hotel, we went for a walk in town in search of an agency to book a boat tour. As you might have read already online, there's four different boat tours offered in El Nido (A, B, C, D). They all differ slightly in terms of highlights but are in the same format. We went with Tour A since it's covering the most scenic spots, although folks recommended A & B or C & D. Price-wise all the agency in town are just re-selling tickets from boat operators so the agency matters little. We negotiated a private tour for 1200PHP per person (could have done better but too tired to hustle) at the super small agency next door of Palawan Divers. Tour was all-inclusive, with food & snorkelling gear.
We met the next day at 8AM in front of the agency, tried out fins on the beach (they tried to charge us again for the fee, Barbara's strong no made it free), and left the pier at 8:20AM.
We reached the big lagoon our first stop 30 minutes later. We paid an extra 300 PHP to rent a kayak to access the lagoon where we navigated around for about an hour. Super scenic spot with dramatic cliffs views and shallow waters.
We then made another 20 minutes of boat to arrive at the secret lagoon, accessible only from a little cute beach by passing in a small cave. Note that it's not always accessible based on the tide, and it's quite small and packed.
We then did another 20 minutes or so of boat and reached the snorkelling spot, pretty place but not many fishes to watch, before heading to a nearby beach for having an ok-lunch on the sand. Bought a couple of fresh lager to the funny sellers in kayak for 100 PHP each, and took a nice food-coma nap.
We then made our way back to town doing a last snorkelling and nap stop on a super cute beach on the way before reaching the city centre around 3PM, allowing us plenty of time to relax and book next day activities.
All in one it was a great tour, seeing lots of the cool landscape around without being too hushed. Private tour also rocked, because the captain could adjust the plan based on the crowds, and we manage to have more time on each spot.
Private beach & town 🏝️
Quite tired of all the travelling, we took the next day super chill. The hotel staff informed us they own a private beach free for guests, with free transfer. Barbara stayed by the pool, and I got picked-up at 11AM. Quick minivan ride to Corong Corong beach followed by 10 minutes boat and we reached the paradisiac private Papaya beach.
Super cool spot, with a tiny DIY bar, hammocks, free kayaks and paddle, benches and even a beach volley ball pitch. Also great snorkelling spots with lots of multicolour and tropical fishes.
Upon arrival, we walked around the town to organise our next day. We passed by Palawan Divers to book our 3-day dives, and then went to chill the the Piece of Sky rooftop for a couple of drinks watching the sunset on the bay. A quick massage, a fantastic dinner at DRYFT Fish (our cantina, must must try!) and a delicious crepe at Isa Pa we enjoyed the evening in town.
Scuba tour 🤿
Classic early wake up and met at Palawan Divers centre at 8AM. Quick usual briefing and equipment check before heading to the boat in the bay with a lovely and friendly group of folks! We reached our first dive stop around 10:30AM and started our one-hour adventure. While it was hot, sea was fairly cold, specially because we were in the shadows. Quick coffee, tan and boat ride after, we made our second dive around 11:30 before heading to a chill lunch with upbeat music on the boat. Note that kayak beer seller are following you so bring some cash (it worth it!). We made our last dive post-nap around 3PM and arrived back at the centre around 4PM before heading to a local bar to have a couple of beers with the other fellow divers.
While we had better dive in other places (Thailand!!) it was still very nice. We saw lots of huge sea turtle (1.5m long), tons of colourful fishes, small sea-horses and beautiful coral reels (but sadly no octopus).
Sadly our GoPro wasn't working so no pictures for this one. But if you're considering diving in El Nido, make sure to check out those guys, super friendly, reasonable prices and responsible (we had one guide for the two of us).
Surf and wild beach 🏄♂️
For our last day on El Nido, we wanted to explore a bit the northern part of the island. We went to rent a motorbike at the Estranghero agency in the morning for 500 PHP (all day). Note that they ask you to leave your passport but that's a common practice over there, no problems. We fulled the beast up for another 150 PHP, and made our way up north.
After about 1h of motorbike and some complicated sandy roads (go slow, we saw few tourist falling on the way), we arrived at the wonderful and wild-ish Duli Beach. I was keen to do a bit of surfing but it was years since I didn't, luckily the modest but a cool surf school (Surf and Skate Duli Beach) on the beach was offering gear and 1h lesson for 700 PHP with no booking needed. No brainer, signed-up for it and hit the wave with my private and super friendly local coach. The dude that rented us the motorbike was also there surfing with us! The spot was perfect for all surfer levels, with great waves and tons of space. We headed back to the school post-session for a well deserve beer & tan session.
We then made our way back, with a stop 20 minutes later at Napcan Beach. This is a much more touristic spot, with lots of restaurants, massage area, solar chair rental and all. We paid 20 PHP for parking our motorbike and an extra 500 PHP for a solar chair. Great view and wide beach! Although be mindful of the restaurants since we got food poisoning there.
We then rushed our way back to El Nido to avoid the night, and found lots of traffic when things can get a bit complicated to navigate. We gave back our motorbike, got the passport back and headed to our lovely DRYFT Fish for the last time.
Restaurants 🍲
- DRYFT Fish: Fantastic and cheap-ish hipster fish place with tartare, wrap and tacos. Fast-food-ish like with super cool vibes.
- Gorgonzola Pizza: Decent but noisy Italian, great if you're craving European food
- ISA Pa: Lovely little crepe spot
Hope this was helpful, you can ask us any questions on Instagram.