The Philippines’ most biodiverse island province is one of Southeast Asia’s great travel experiences – here is everything you need to make the most of it
The bangka rounds a limestone cliff, the engine cuts, and a hidden lagoon opens up ahead. The water is so clear you can see the reef fifteen metres below the surface, and the colour – somewhere between turquoise and blue that needs to be seen to be understood, as describing this as generic aqua-marine doesn’t do this justice – and makes the photographs look edited even when they aren’t. Most people who make it to El Nido describe this moment in roughly the same way: quietly resolving to stay longer, spend more carefully, and come back before they’ve properly left.
Palawan sits at the western edge of the Philippines, a narrow island province stretching 450 kilometres towards Borneo, holding two UNESCO World Heritage Sites and more than 200 endemic species found nowhere else on earth. It is one of Southeast Asia’s genuinely great destinations – the kind that rewards the traveller who arrives curious, pays attention, and resists the urge to rush through. It also happens to be doing some of the most interesting conservation work in the region. The two things are connected, as they always are in the best places.
The limestone karsts took 5 million years to get here. Worth the wait
El Nido and the Bacuit Archipelago
El Nido, at the northern tip of the main island, is where most visitors spend the majority of their time, and the Bacuit Archipelago that surrounds it earns every bit of the attention. Forty-five limestone karst islands rise sheer from the water, each one riddled with hidden lagoons, sea caves, and white sand beaches accessible only at certain tides. Island-hopping tours cover the archipelago in four main routes – Tour A to the signature lagoons, Tours C and D to the quieter southern islands around Helicopter Island and Matinloc Shrine where the crowds thin considerably. A full-day group tour costs, at time of publication, around ₱1,200-1,800 per person (£17-25 / USD 23-34) and covers more extraordinary scenery in six hours than most destinations manage in a week.
Below the surface, the reef systems in Bacuit Bay are among the healthiest in the Philippines. Jet skis and motorised watersports are banned across the bay. El Nido Resorts – the group that operates several of the archipelago’s private island properties – has maintained mooring buoys at 21 dive sites for years to prevent anchor damage on coral, and runs reef restoration and environmental education programmes through the El Nido Foundation. Sea turtles are a regular sighting. The reef around Shimizu Island, a standard stop on Tour A, is reliably rewarding for snorkellers. Divers will find walls and drift dives across the archipelago in varying states of health – some pristine, some recovering – all worth seeing.
The Tagbanua people, the indigenous custodians of significant portions of the archipelago, hold ancestral domain rights over some of the most ecologically sensitive waters in northern Palawan. The Tagbanua have managed these waters sustainably for generations – fishing restrictions, mangrove stewardship, conservation practices that predate any government framework. They collect entrance fees at several lagoon sites, with proceeds funding community livelihoods and conservation directly. It is worth choosing tour operators who work in active partnership with community rangers, and paying the fees without complaint.
Some of the best spots in Bacuit Bay are accessible only by kayak, only at low tide, and only if you know where to look. Your guide will know.
Coron and the North
Coron, in the Calamian island group to the north, offers a different kind of drama. In September 1944, American aircraft sank a fleet of Japanese ships in Coron Bay; those wrecks now lie draped in coral and teeming with marine life, making Coron one of the finest wreck diving destinations in the world. The Okikawa Maru, the Irako, the Kogyo Maru – each one is a different dive, a different ecosystem. Even non-divers can snorkel the shallower vessels and come away with a clear understanding of what all the fuss is about.
Above the water, Coron’s freshwater lakes are spectacular. Kayangan Lake – mirror-flat, enclosed by cliffs, reached via a short hike with views across the bay – is one of those places that makes you understand why people book return flights before their first trip has ended. Arrive early. By midday the tour boats arrive in convoy. Barracuda Lake nearby rewards experienced divers with one of the strangest sensations in the sport: a thermocline splits the water into cold and warm layers at around nine metres, a geological curiosity as disorienting as it sounds.
Coron is a separate destination from El Nido – plan at least four or five days in each if you intend to visit both, and be honest about the fact that travelling between them by boat is a full day. Many travellers find that choosing one and staying longer produces a considerably better trip than rushing between both.
Puerto Princesa and the South
Puerto Princesa, the provincial capital, anchors the southern end of Palawan’s main island and is the most practical entry point for international arrivals. The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – sends a boat through eight kilometres of cathedral-scale cave formations before emerging at the coast. The surrounding forest shelters the Palawan hornbill, mouse deer, monitor lizards, and cloud rats found nowhere else. It is a reminder that Palawan’s biodiversity extends well beyond the water.
The Iwahig Firefly Watching Tour on the Iwahig River – slow boats through dark mangrove channels, thousands of fireflies illuminating the branches on both banks – is the kind of experience people rarely plan for and almost always name as a highlight. Quiet, inexpensive, and genuinely worth an evening of anyone’s time.
Food, Culture and the Slower Pleasures
Filipino food is criminally underrepresented in international food conversations, and Palawan is a reasonable place to start addressing that. Kinilaw – the Filipino answer to ceviche, raw fish cured in coconut vinegar with ginger, chilli, and calamansi lime – is at its best in El Nido when made with the morning’s catch from Bacuit Bay. Grilled tuna belly, sinigang (a sour tamarind broth with fish or pork and vegetables), and lechon (slow-roasted pork that requires very little context to appreciate) appear across the province at prices that make even the most cautious traveller feel well looked after. The market near El Nido’s pier serves rice, fish, and vegetables from around ₱150 (£2 / USD 2.70).
El Nido’s restaurant scene has matured considerably, with a good cluster of mid-range places along Calle Hama and the beachfront. Corong-Corong, the quieter barangay south of town, has better sunsets and a more local pace – worth an evening away from the tourist strip.
Palawan’s cultural identity is shaped by its indigenous communities – the Tagbanua, the Cuyonon, and the Batak among them – and by centuries of maritime trade connections with Borneo and the wider island world. Handwoven baskets and mats made by Tagbanua and Cuyonon craftspeople are the souvenirs worth buying: genuine, locally made, and a direct contribution to the communities that produce them. Shells, coral, and anything made from sea turtle products are occasionally offered to tourists and should be declined without hesitation.
Order the kinilaw wherever you see it made with the day’s catch. This is not the moment to be cautious.
Where to Stay
Budget guesthouses in El Nido town run from around ₱800-2,000 per night (£11-28 / USD 15-38). The town is compact and walkable, and staying centrally puts you closest to the pier, the tour operators, and the restaurant strip. Mid-range boutique properties and beachfront guesthouses along Corong-Corong sit in the ₱3,000-8,000 range (£42-112 / USD 57-152) and offer considerably more comfort without the private island premium.
That premium belongs to Lagen Island Resort, the flagship property of El Nido Resorts, which sits on a six-hectare private island in the heart of Bacuit Bay and recently completed a significant renovation. The work – carried out by WATG and Wimberly Interiors in collaboration with Ayala Land Hospitality – took the property from 50 rooms to 42, deliberately reclaiming beach and forest for the island rather than expanding capacity. Original structures were kept wherever possible; nara wood flooring was repurposed as wall panelling rather than replaced. Indigenous craft traditions from Palawan’s Tagbanua, Tausug, and Maranao communities are woven throughout the interiors, made by local craftspeople. A new Marine and Biodiversity Discovery Centre brings the resort’s conservation programming – marine biology talks, guided reef walks, direct access to the sustainability team – into the guest experience as a matter of course.
Rates start from £1,000 per night (approximately ₱74,000 / USD 1,350) including transfers from Lio Airport and the boat crossing to the island. El Nido Resorts has operated conservation and community programmes in Bacuit Bay since 1998 – the renovation built on those commitments rather than replaced them, and the result is one of the most credible eco-luxury properties in the Philippines. Our earlier Palawan feature covers the broader El Nido Resorts conservation approach in more detail. Book direct at elnidoresorts.com.
Getting There and When to Go
There are no direct international flights to Palawan. All international arrivals connect through Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport or Clark International Airport north of the capital. AirSwift and Cebu Pacific fly from Manila to Lio Airport serving El Nido in roughly 75 minutes – book early, particularly for the dry season, as seats sell out. Budget ₱3,000-8,000 one way (£42-112 / USD 57-152). Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and AirAsia Philippines serve Puerto Princesa from Manila at generally lower fares. Coron’s Francisco B. Reyes Airport is served by AirSwift, Cebu Pacific, and Philippine Airlines.
The dry season runs November to May. December and January are the most visited months; February and early March offer the same reliable weather with noticeably fewer people competing for the hidden lagoons. The wet season brings rough seas that limit island-hopping and some accommodation closures, though the interior forests and waterfalls look extraordinary after months of rain, and prices fall considerably.
The most meaningful decision a Palawan visitor can make is also the simplest: stay longer. The environmental cost of getting here is front-loaded in the flights. Spending a week in El Nido rather than rushing between El Nido, Coron, and Puerto Princesa in a single trip produces a lower footprint and, almost without exception, a richer experience. Palawan is not a destination to be ticked off. It is one to settle into, slowly, until the idea of leaving stops making sense.
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