January 2019
I’m sitting on the white warm sand and the noise of the waves reached my ears, an amazing baby blue colors touch my fingers and stunning red sunset colors warped my body. Palawan Island in the Philippines is one of the most touristic islands in the county but the island offers amazing , stunning beaches, reefs and nice people.
When I arrived to the Philippines I knew that I have only 2 weeks in the country before my next destination, I wandered a lot about how to split my time in there but I didn’t want to rush too much, In the end, I decided to take a flight from manila the capital to Palawan island and to spend 10 days in this heaven on earth.
If to be honest until the Philippines I didn’t consider myself as islands person or that kind of vacations that you just relax and lay down on the beach, but oh I was wrong big time 🙂
After intense 4 mouths in the Fareast I finally allowed myself to “do nothing”, I spent my time in Palawan in two main areas – Port Barton and the famous El Nido.
Visa to the Philippines –
Some countries do need a visa to the Philippines, most of them can get a visa on arrival, and you only need to prove that you got an exit ticket.
How to get from Manila Airport to the city center (Makati)-
- Bus – The cheapest way, 150 pesos to the city (this option will take you a long time because there is a lot of traffic in the city
- Taxi – the easiest option, 300 pesos from the airport to the city, use GARB app or go out of the airport to the parking, and in there on the right side, there is a line of taxies with regular fare.
Important to know –
- 1 $ is 50 pesos
- ATM’s – the best one is HSBC, this ATM doesn’t have commotion
- How to order flight tickets inside the Philippines? – use Skyscanner, but in my opinion, if you already know your route it’s better to book as soon as you can because the prices getting very expensive when the date of the flight is getting close.
- Renting a motorbike – 500 pesos for 1 day, one litter of fuel is 50-60 pesos.
- Local sim – the most recommended one are, Smart and Globe sims, the price is from 50pesos for the sim and depends on your package, 600+pesos.
How to get from Manila to Palawan?
- Flight – the flight option is more common, and the price depends on the time that you ordered, but usually, it’s from 30-120$.
- Ferry – the cheapest option but longest.
Port Barton
Port Barton, no debut this is the best place in Palawan, I was been in Port Barton for 5 relaxing days, the atmosphere in Port Barton is amazing, amazing coastline and nightlife.
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How to get from Porto Princesa to Port Barton?
Out of the airport of Puerto Princesa will wait for you a lot of vans to different destinations on the island of Palawan. I took the van to Port Barton, it was costed 500 pesos for 4 hours of driving, if you want to go to El Nido from the airport there is an option in 500 pesos and 5 hours and a half of driving.
What to do in Port Barton?
- Island hopping – this is defiantly a must in the Philippines, this is so crazy and beautiful experience, you will swim with turtles, above an amazing coral and you will stop in amazing remoted islands. The price is 1200-1400 pesos, and its including lunch.
- Papuwyan Waterfall – a nice waterfall, one hour walking from the beach.
- The northern Village – at the end of the northern side of port Barton coastline you will get to a small village.
- The white beach – 40 minutes walking, this is an amazing white sand beach and quieter than the main shore.
- Just Relax!
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Good Restaurants in Port Barton –
- Gacayan – a good local restaurant
- Mabuti – cool restaurant with balcony
- Gorgonzola – Great Italian Restaurant, with perfect piazzas
- Reef cafe – a good place for meats and burgers, sometimes there are also live shows.
- Yoske – Israeli food, good place.
Where to sleep in Port Barton?
so the standard in Port Barton isn’t high, and in most of the places there isn’t an air conditioner and there isn’t 24/7 of electricity. But still, it’s perfect.
Dragon house – this place located on the beach and from 1 bed in a dorm you need to pay 9$, next to Dragon house there is a really nice Reggae place.
Yoske – this place is a bit far from the beach (5 minutes walking) but for 1400 pesos you will get a privet room and AC
From Port Barton, I continued to El Nido I took the van that cost me 600 and the duration of the driving was 3 hours.
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El Nido
El Nido located on the northern side of Palawan, I been in this area also 5 days, 2 days in the town of El Nido and 3 In Nacpan Beach.
In the Town El Nido, there is not much to see or to do, the city offers good nightlife and restaurants, but if you want to enjoy nice beaches and other attractions you need to far a bit.
What to do around El Nido?
- Nacpan Beach – 30 minutes away from El Nido, nice and quiet beach.
- Lio Beach – one of the closest nicest beaches around El Nido. There are also Shuttles from the city to there every 30 minutes up to 19:00.
- The western side of El Nido – Papaya beach,7 commando’s,lapus lapus, lpil beach, corong Beach. All of those beaches are on the western side and you need to pay for entrance.
- Island hopping – also in here there is island hopping, I really recommend doing it, there are 4 different options of island hopping.
- Cliff climbing – there is a lot of cliffs around, and also the agencies offer packages with guides.
- Diving
- Waterfalls – Bolalacao,Nagkalit two of these waterfalls are 30 minutes away from the city.
- Zipline in Vanilla Beach – 15 minutes away from El Nido in Vanilla beach there is Zipline that costs 500pesos, it’s really slow!
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Good restaurants in El Nido –
V&V bagels – Good bagels and Burghers.
Midtown bakery – good Bakery
IBR restaurant – local restaurant
Botanica cafe – nice coffee place in front of Amakan Hotel
Where to sleep in El Nido?
Amakan – good hotel that offers privet and dorms as well, the price for a dorm is 10$
Where to sleep in Nacpan beach?
Where 2 go – cool hostel with good atmosphere 7 minutes from the beach, 9$ for a dorm.
Seaside hue resort– Perfect for couples, 1000 pesos for 1 night on the beach.
Mad monkey – this place is famous due to the parties, every day, every night :), if you want to stay in there you need to order in advance. The price for a bed in dorms is 1000 pesos.
In the bottom line in all Palawan, I highly recommend renting a motorbike to go to explore!
Sabang town and the longest underground river –
In Palawan there is the longest underground river, this river located in Sabang town, you can take a day tour to there from Porto Princesa is 1500 pesos.
So that’s it, this is a really short post If you liked the post please follow me on Instagram and like my Facebook page
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