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Located on the northern tip of the island of Palawan is the very popular destination of El Nido. There are some gorgeous islands just off the coast of El Nido which are commonly visited by tourists. The beach town of El Nido is quite cute and quaint with many beaches to explore, however the surrounding islands are definitely worth seeing. We stayed in El Nido for 4 days, 3 nights with an additional night in Puerto Princesa to accommodate for the journey back to Manila. We spent most of our time relaxing and drinking on the beach and doing an island hopping overnight tour of the islands offshore.

Getting Here

Once again, getting to our final destination of El Nido was a trip in itself. From Cebu we flew direct to Puerto Princesa with Cebu Airlines, which is the main airport on center of the island. There is an airport that flies direct to El Nido, however flights are a lot more expensive and less frequent. So if you have the money and time to be flexible then definitely try to fly direct. The journey from Puerto Princesa to El Nido is minimum 5 hours, depending on a variety of factors. We did not book a shuttle in advance because the cost was quite a lot more  and a bit confusing versus just booking it once we arrived but convenience might be worth it.

Once we arrived at the arrivals terminal we found a shuttle service direct to El Nido, however usually the shuttles will not leave until the entire shuttle is filled with passengers so we ended up having to wait for over an hour to leave. We ended up paying our driver a little bit extra so we didn’t have to wait any longer. Unfortunately this is the case for how things are done over there, even for the return trip back so just make sure to add a lot of time for travel when planning your trip here (hence, a main reason why we had to cut El Nido a night short and stay in Puerto Princesa for a night so we didn’t miss our flight back to Manila!).

• Cost for flight: $60 USD one way

Accommodation: Our Melting Pot Hostel

In terms of location, the town of El Nido is extremely small so anywhere you stay will be close to beaches and restaurants. Our hostel was centrally located with comfortable beds, free morning breakfast, friendly staff, and a great social and party environment with activities every night. The only downfall was the breakfast was pretty average and the A/C was horrible but you can’t really complain when you are in a place like El Nido.

• Cost per night: $15 USD

For overnight stay in Puerto Princesa: If you need a recommendation on accommodation near Puerto Princesa for your arrival or departure flight I’d recommend staying at Sheebang Hostel.

It’s a great place to stop through on your way back from El Nido. The hostel is pretty big with a good restaurant on the property and nice A/C in the rooms. There is a ping pong table and a huge area on the property with lounge chairs to relax from the long journey. There is not much around the area as it is located within a residential area but it’s the perfect place to stop through.

• Cost per night: $7 USD

Activities

Corong Beach

What else to do in this awesome beach town then to spend all day at the beach! Corong Beach was just a short cab ride from the center of town and we stayed here all day and watched the sunset with happy hour drinks starting at 4pm. It’s a great spot with music playing all day from the restaurants and bars right on the beach so you don’t have to go very far to find entertainment and relaxation.

Island Hopping

There are a couple of different island hopping tours you can do and companies you can book through, but we decided to book direct with a woman we met at Corong Beach. It might have not been the best decision but at the time we had a couple of drinks and figured why not!? We only had a few days in El Nido so decided to book it on the spot since we were limited on time. The tour was definitely worth it to check out different islands, however the overnight camping was not organized very well at all.

We met on the main beach to start the island hopping tour and met a few other tourists who were on the same tour. We spent the day visiting different islands, swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, and had an amazing buffet lunch with lots of fresh seafood and meat options. We then had our very own private island where we were going to camp for the night with a couple of other tour groups, however they didn’t account for enough tents so there were a few people that were crammed into tents to sleep. They also advertised that there was going to be unlimited alcohol for the evening however that wasn’t the case since they didn’t have enough alcohol on the island for everyone, probably because they had more people on the island than they should have.

Regardless of that, the location and people made up for it. We had a beautiful sunset dinner on the beach and played drinking games all night with a random group of people who ended up becoming friends by the end of the night. At night the neon plankton come out as well so going for a night swim is highly recommended! A very unique experience to have the ocean light up around you as everyone goes for a dip in the ocean.

Nightlife

El Nido is a very small town so there aren’t a ton of places to go in terms of nightlife but Pukka Bar was the one spot we went to a couple of times where the nightlife was pretty fun. The music is pretty decent and has a busy dance floor, but if it gets too hot the bar is right on the beach so you can take a break on the sand where they have tables and chairs to relax.