Philippines

Palawan

A four-hundred-kilometre sliver of limestone and jungle with the best seascape in the Philippines at its northern end — and an air network to be planned around rather than through.

Start planning your trip

Palawan

One province, three separate trips

Palawan runs for four hundred kilometres down the western edge of the Philippines and is treated on most maps as one destination, which causes more scheduling mistakes than anything else in the country. In practice it is three. Puerto Princesa in the middle is the provincial capital and the main airport, with the Underground River two hours away by road. El Nido at the northern tip faces the Bacuit archipelago — forty-odd limestone islands with lagoons cut into them, and the reason most people come. Coron sits on a separate island group north of that again, reached by a separate flight or a ferry.

The distances are the catch. Puerto Princesa to El Nido is five to six hours by road, and it is a road rather than an expressway. El Nido to Coron is three and a half to four hours on the fast ferry when the sea allows, and it does not run in rough weather. Book Palawan as one place and work the detail out later and you lose a day to it, usually two.

A boat's bow glides through emerald water toward a narrow limestone karst passage in El Nido, Palawan.

Turquoise lagoon and outrigger boats framed by limestone karst cliffs near Kayangan Lake, Coron, Palawan.

El Nido · Coron

El Nido

El Nido and the lettered tours

Island-hopping out of El Nido is sold as four fixed routes — A, B, C and D — and every operator runs the same ones, which is for once useful: the stops are set and the difference is the boat, the lunch and how early it leaves. Tour A takes the Big and Small Lagoons; Tour C is the one to pick if you do only one, for Hidden Beach, Matinloc and Secret Beach. Numbers inside the Big Lagoon are capped and the last stretch is paddled rather than motored, which has made it much better than it was.

Leave early. The boats that go at seven have the lagoons to themselves for an hour; the ones that go at nine do not.
A private boat is the one upgrade that changes the day rather than the comfort, because it changes the order of the stops.
El Nido town is congested and its beach is not good. Stay at Lio to the north, at Corong Corong for the sunsets, or out at Nacpan.
The Underground River near Puerto Princesa needs a permit and a full day — a real wonder, a long way from the rest of your trip.

Outrigger boats line a palm-fringed sandy beach beneath forested hills near Port Barton, Palawan. — Port Barton

Coron

Coron, and why divers go there instead

Coron is quieter, less pretty above water and much more interesting below it. A Japanese supply fleet was sunk here in September 1944 and around ten of the wrecks are dive-able, several at recreational depths, which makes this one of the few places where wreck diving needs no technical qualification. On the surface there is Kayangan Lake, a brackish pool inside a limestone crater reached over a ridge; Twin Lagoon, which you swim under a rock wall to reach; and Barracuda Lake, where the temperature jumps as you drop through the thermocline. Five or six nights covers both El Nido and Coron; three nights is a choice between lagoons and wrecks.

A diver above the hull of a sunken wartime wreck in clear water near Coron, Palawan, Philippines

The Coron wrecks

Access

Getting in, which is the real planning problem

Everything arrives by air, and the aircraft get smaller the further north you go. Manila to Puerto Princesa is about an hour and twenty on a jet and is the cheapest way in, but leaves you a five to six hour road day short of El Nido. Manila to El Nido is an hour and fifteen on a turboprop into a small private airfield, with a low checked-baggage allowance that catches people out. Manila to Busuanga for Coron is about an hour, and Cebu reaches Puerto Princesa in an hour and twenty.

Straight to El NidoAn hour fifteen from Manila — the most time you can buy in Palawan, and the tightest baggage limit.

Via Puerto PrincesaAn hour twenty in the air, then five to six hours by road. Worth it for the Underground River, not otherwise.

El Nido to CoronThree and a half to four hours by fast ferry, sea permitting; a short flight in season.

The rule we applyNo domestic flight on the day of your international one.

Seasons

Storm months, and the spare day

December to May is the dry season and February to April is as reliable as the Philippines gets. Typhoon season runs roughly June to November and peaks between August and October. Palawan sits west of most storm tracks and is hit less often than Luzon or the Visayas, but that is probability rather than a promise, and a storm anywhere in the country cancels flights everywhere in it. Between June and November we build a spare day into the Palawan leg and keep the flight out of the country a clear day after the last island flight.

Onward

Where Palawan sits in a longer route

There is no land route into the Philippines from any of the other five countries, so this leg is flown and the join is made at Manila or Cebu — Bangkok to Manila is about three and a quarter hours, Ho Chi Minh City about two and three quarters, both daily, then one domestic hop. The country is driest from December to May, the same window as the mainland, so this is the island leg for a winter route; for June to September, Indonesia is the better half.

Entry is straightforward: thirty days visa-free for around 190 nationalities, compulsory free eTravel registration within 72 hours of arrival, a return or onward ticket as a formal condition, and six months of passport validity counted from the day you leave.

Six nights on the water.

Plan My Trip

Tell us your dates

We will tell you whether they suit El Nido, Coron or both, and which airport to fly into.

Plan My Trip

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

El Nido or Coron?

El Nido for the lagoons, the cliffs and the greater choice of places to stay. Coron for wreck diving, the crater lakes and quieter water. Five or six nights covers both, with the ferry between them; three nights means choosing.

Should I fly into Puerto Princesa or El Nido?

El Nido, unless you want the Underground River. The direct flight costs more and carries less luggage, but it saves a five to six hour road day at each end, which on a six-night leg is most of a day of the trip.

Is Palawan safe in typhoon season?

Palawan sits west of most storm tracks and is hit less often than the rest of the country, but flights are cancelled nationally when a storm lands anywhere. From June to November we add a spare day to the island leg and keep the international flight a clear day after the last domestic one.

Journey ideas