1 week in the Philippines – El Nido and Coron Island – Palawan – Welcome to the place of your dreams!
Southeast Asia has something special. To me, no matter where you travel, it always feels at least slightly similar to home. However, when you go to Southeast Asia it feels like being in a totally different world. The people, the smells, the vibe, the body language, the landscapes or even the animals. Everything is so different.
After visiting Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar and Malaysia it was about time to visit the Philippines. Actually, I had always wanted to go but the Northern Hemisphere summer coincides with their typhoon season so I had never really found a good timing.
This year it seems that all the planets aligned to make it happen. New direct flight from NY, Thanksgiving week and a number of personal events that made me really want to go crazy and buy a plane ticket to the other side of the world
The trip was incredible. I had one of the best weeks of my life and I decompressed like no man’s business. Had the chance to do some of the coolest dives in my life and was stung by the mother of all jellyfish. It was an amazing trip with two friends that now feel like family and met incredible people with amazing life experiences.
What can I say? Just go to the Philippines, you will not regret!
The Philippines – El Nido and Coron Island in 1 week in a nutshell
Fly to Manila and catch a domestic flight to El Nido, in Palawan. There, go diving, island hopping, get a motorbike and navigate the island, eat fresh fish and get a one-hour massage everyday for 10 USD.
Then take another plane or boat to Coron and head to Coron Island. Book your stay in the most special place in the world, Paolyn Boathouse, where you will be leaving on top of a floating boat-hotel in the middle of a dream-like pristine-water lagoon. Taste the delicious food, do island hopping, dive some WWII shipwrecks, kayak, paddle board and enjoy a magical place.
Once it is over,
The details
I would say that 50 percent of my time dedicated to planning the Philippines trip was dedicated to deciding where the hell we would go. There are so many options! So many places of so many different types that it is extremely hard to make a decision.
The reason we decided to go for Palawan only is that we only had one week and we wanted to concentrate the trip on beaches, diving, island hopping and water sports since we have a hiking-heavy upcoming trip in Christmas.
I was a little bit concerned that I would find the trip too beach-intensive. But absolutely not! I enjoyed every minute of the trip and I really think we made the perfect choice for a one week trip.
So first, let me give you some background of The Philippines, such an amazing country.
Some interesting facts about The Philippines
- The Philippines is a Southeast Asian country in the Western Pacific. It comprises over 7,000 islands. The capital is Manila and the currency is the Philippine peso.
- It has a population of over 100 million and it is one of the fastest growing countries in the world.
- The Philippines are named after King Philip II of Spain.
- It is the only Christian nation in Asia. Over 80 percent of its population identifies as Roman Catholic.
- While there are about 150 individual languages in the Philippines, the official ones are English and Tagalog (local Filipino).
- The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River in Palawan is the second longest underground river in the world.
- In the island of Camiguin, there are more volcanoes (7) than towns. The island has the most number of volcanoes per square kilometer in the world.
- Jellyfish Lake in the Philippines contains more than 13 million jellyfish.
- Manila, the capital, is considered to be the most densely populated city in the world.
El Nido (Days 1-4)
El Nido is a section of the Palawan Island. It is known for its white-sand beaches, coral reefs and as the gateway to the Bacuit Archipelago, a group of islands with steep karst cliffs.
Apart from the extreme beauty of the surrounding islands, there are a ton of amazing dive sites.
So what can I do in El Nido?
- Island hopping to the Bacuit Archipelago is one of the most popular activities. There are four tours: A, B, C, and D. There are a ton of companies. A good option is to do a combination tour so you can see more sites. Also, if you can get a private tour starting a little earlier or later than all of the others, that will be great to avoid the other tourists. There is a company that is in high demand and my friends that tried it, loved it (
KrakenEl Nido). Cost varies from 1200 to 2500 PHP.
- Kayak expedition to Seven Commandos beach or to Cadlao.
- Spend the day in one of the beautiful beaches in El Nido. My favorites are Nacpan, Duli, and Maremegmeg.
- Rent a motorbike and drive all around the island. If you end up your ride right before sunset you will get some amazing views and colors. If you start early enough, you can combine this with the beaches and one of the waterfalls.
- For surfing, the best beach is Duli beach.
- If you are in the party mood, there are also some party boats where you can get drunk under the sun with a bunch of party animals. Check Yellow Mellow.
- And last but not least, diving! This is a great place to dive and there are many decent dive centers. I’d suggest you check Palawan Divers (Link). Some of the top dive sites can be found in the Helicopter Islands, Twin Rocks or South Miniloc’s Cabbage Coral.
Any other stuff to do in El Nido
- If you want to arrange private excursions, arrange transportation, check ferry schedules and that type of stuff, check out El Nido Boutique and Art Café. They even have an AirSwift desk.
- Once you finish your daily activity I would encourage you to take a one-hour Filipino massage. The cost is about 10 USD (yes! That is not a typo). There is a place where they give great massages right in front of the El Nido Boutique and Art Café, next to the Café Athena.
- There are some very good food options in the island. Two that I really liked were Café Athena and Happiness Beach Bar.
Coron Island (Days 5-7)
This section of the trip needs some background. So first of all, who was the genius that decided to name a place Coron and the island right next to it Coron Island? No idea, but it is a bit confusing. So basically, you need to fly to Busuanga, which is the main city of Coron and from there, go by boat to Coron Island.
You can stay in Busuanga and have that as your headquarter but I would strongly not recommend it for two reasons. First, it is quite an ugly place. Second, in Coron Island, I found possibly the most unique and special accommodation I have ever stayed in on my travels. Get ready because here comes a true hidden gem.
So how did we find it?
My good friend Marta was hiking in Peru and asked me to buy a ticket for her if the price went below 850USD, which happened and I did. This turned out to be a key event in our trip as her addition was legendary! I was quite busy at work and I asked her if she could figure out the plan and accommodation in Coron Island. She is an action girl and an absolute go-er. Two days later she told us that she had already booked everything.
Indeed, she said that we would be staying in a hotel-boat in the middle of a bay. I was like huh?! Is that a good idea? Maybe I should have checked myself. I was so damn wrong! She basically found the coolest place ever.
This place is called PaolynHouseboat (AirBnbLink, BookingLink, TripAdvisorLink).
What is it?
Basically, this Italian genius called Paolo, was sailing the world for 6 years until he got here. He fell in love with the beauty of the lagoon and had the crazy idea of merging the best of a boat and the comfort of a home and then turn it into a hotel.
In order to accomplish this, he had to deal with all sorts of issues. To name a few, he had to introduce himself, bring presents and negotiate a long-term lease agreement, with the local tribe of the island (Yes a tribe… no electricity or anything alike), import all sorts of boat machinery from Europe, hire and train local personnel, arrange the logistics to start a restaurant and all sorts of services in the middle of the water to name a few.
The result? You will be floating in the middle of a pristine-blue water lagoon, eating great food and being treated like a king. In this place it feels like the world could end, and you wouldn’t even notice.
Quite frankly, I don’t want to ruin the surprise so I would simply strongly recommend you to check it out. Yes, it is more expensive than most options in the area but the value for money is way better. When you see this place after coming in through Busuanga you will understand…
So what was the plan in Coron Island?
There are a ton of things you can do here. For us, Paolo organized absolutely everything. He even arranged three masseuses to come to the boat and give us a message!
You don’t even need to worry about the food because every evening the staff will ask you what meals you want to do aboard the next day and you will select your preference out of an incredibly varied menu for breakfast, lunch
Among the options that you have, I will name my favorites:
- This place is very famous for diving. There are many shipwrecks from WWII. Specifically, we saw a Japanese submarine hunter and an artillery cargo ship. Maybe not the best conditions for beginners as currents are strong and visibility is limited but absolutely amazing.
- You can get a kayak or a paddle board for free from the houseboat and just discover and explore the island. You are likely to be
completely by yourself in this paradise. Simply incredible.
- You can do island hopping here too and there are a ton of amazing beaches and lagoons worth visiting.
- Did I mention massages?
Some useful hints
- Unlike other countries, in most places, you will need to pay cash. Therefore, make sure you take some good cash and change it either at the airport (generally worse exchange rate) or in El Nido or Coron.
- Jetlag! For me, there was a 13-hour time difference. My advice is for you to sleep on the trip to the Philippines as much as possible and on the plane back as little as possible. I personally decided to take a sleeping pill. I am not sure how unhealthy that could be but being sleepless for 30 hours can’t be much better. Immediately change your watch time and don’t ever think about what time it is back home. Use melatonin the first couple of days and you are all set. Jet lag was not a problem at all for us.
- While you will fly to and from Manila we decided to not devote any time to the city. There is a lot to see and this is a massively densely populated city. If you have extra time or haven’t seen other large Asian city you can always spend some time in Manila but if you don’t, don’t worry about it for a second.
Itinerary logistics – How to move around The Philippines?
Getting there
To get to the Philippines from abroad, you have to fly to the capital, Manila.
If you happen to fly from NY like I did, good news! Philippines Airlines just opened a new line that flies directly from JFK to Manila in 16 hours and a half and back in about 15 hours. Not only that, it is a brand new plane with great onboard service and I only paid 835 USD for a round trip. Frankly, considering the distance, this is a really good deal!
Prices vary a lot depending on the dates as this new line doesn’t fly every day. So make sure you
From Manila to El Nido
There are a number of ways to get to El Nido. Some years ago, it was necessary to fly to Puerto Princesa(South El Nido, in Palawan) and find a ride that took about 5-6 hours.
Luckily, a couple of years ago they opened a new airport in El Nido, so you can fly directly from Manila to El Nido in about 1 hour 15 minutes.
This is not the typical flight you will find in Kayak and all those. The local company that runs this flight is called AirSwift. I took 2 flights with them and they are legit (https://air-swift.com/). Cost is about100-130 USD for a one-way flight.
They have a number of domestic flights and from Manila you can fly to several places. One interesting point is that you can fly directly from El Nido to Boracay (Caticlan airport). So if you don’t want to visit Coron, doing El Nido plus Boracay is a great option that also works very well logistically.
Finally, remember that once you land in Manila, you will need to change terminal to take a domestic flight. Believe it or not, the different terminals are not as close as one would think. There is a free bus that takes you from one to the other but it may be super full and doesn’t depart until there are enough people so make sure you leave some leeway time for your connecting flight (i.e. 30-45 minutes extra).
From El Nido to Coron
- FastFerry – there are a number of companies that offer this service. Trip time is usually 3 to 4 hours and cost is 30-40 USD. Montenegro Fast Ferry is the best-known company for this service (Link)
- Plane– you can fly with AirSwift to Busuanga airport, which is in Coron. Cost is60-90 USD for a one-way flight. Flight time is 25 minutes.
There is also the normal ferry but you don’t want to take it. They tell you that it takes 5 hours but it actually takes at least 8 hours and the cost is not much lower i.e. about 20-25USD.
It is up to you what’s best. My personal view is that if you go for a week, time is much more valuable than money. Also, weather conditions may affect ferries much more than planes. I personally went for the flight and it was super easy and quick. Also consider that this is a micro airport so you get there 45 minutes in advance, wait on a living room and jump to the plane as if it wer a bus.
From Coron to Manila
So it is time to go back to Manila and head home… Definitely a sad moment. At least it won’t be hard logistically. All you need to do is take a 1 hour 20 minutes flight from Coron (Busuanga airport) to Manila.
The airlines that make this flight are Cebgo / Cebu Pacific and Skyjet. Cost is about 100-150 USD for a oneway flight. You can either visit the airline website (maybe better) or search the flights in Kayak, etc.
