PLACES: EL NIDO, Palawan Island, Philippines

El Nido is a Philippine municipality on Palawan island. It’s known for its white-sand beaches, coral reefs and as the gateway to the Bacuit archipelago, a group of islands with steep karst cliffs. Miniloc Island is famed for the clear waters of its Small and Big lagoons. Nearby Shimizu Island has fish-filled waters. The area has many dive sites, including Dilumacad Island’s long tunnel leading to an underwater cavern.

One of my dream destination is  traveling to El Nido, Palawan.  The first time I heard about it is from my friends in Palawan way back then.  I have an impression that it was an expensive destination . Each year  I always  placed it on top of my bucket list and this year 2016 that dream became  a reality. Thanks for my high school friend Jorge for convincing me to join the group trip to this breathtaking paradise. 

We discovered that traveling to this top-notch Philippine destination doesn't necessarily come with a hefty price tag. I'll share you some tips on how cheap is it to get there. From the airfare, food and lodging. Its just a matter of planning ahead on your trip.

Getting to El Nido from Manila can be done in two ways. There are direct flights from Manila to El Nido and vice versa via Air Swift  but each way will costs you at least Php 6,000 to Php 8,000. However the cheaper alternative is to fly to Puerto Princesa instead  via Cebu Pacific or Air Asia or PAL and travel by land to El Nido. Travel time by land takes about 5-7 hours depending on your choice of transportation (van or bus). 

In our case our group bought tickets in advance on a promo which only cost us Php 2,500 /head via Air Asia  round trip and booked a hotel at the Travel expo for 3,900/head for 6 pax including van transfers and breakfast for 4 days. The package also includes our tour of El Nido (island hopping) for 2 days and take note with lunch buffet at one of the islands.  Total head cost per head was Php 6,400 only. Of course, there other incidental expenses like terminal fee (Php 200), paslubong, environmental fee (Php 200/head) water and dinner/bar hopping.

Please note that traveling in a big group is more cheap and getting a group travel package is deemed practical like we did. 

You can also commute by public transpo to San Jose terminal. Once you already flew to Puerto Princesa City, you need to travel to San Jose terminal where the vans and buses bound for El Nido are located. There's no direct public ride so the most common option is to hire a tricycle exclusively for Php 100 to 120  from the airport to the terminal. This is practical if you're 5 in a group because you only get to pay P20 per head. However, if you're solo or 2 persons only, taking the public transportation can save you a few bucks. Once you arrived at the airport, get out to the main road, take a tricycle and asked to be dropped off at Junction 1. Travel time is just a little over 5 minutes and fare is only P8 per person. From there take a multicab bound for San Jose terminal for P12. Travel time is about 20 minutes.

For more comfortable travel, our driver/tour guide is recommending the RORO Bus that is better than the vans because they have more trips including night trips.  Most importantly, they're cheaper (P483 per way)  than the shuttle/vans (P600-P700). But if you want the cheapest option available, you can take the ordinary (non-aircon) RORO bus which only costs P367 per way. The only downside of taking the bus is that the trip takes a little longer (up to 6-7 hours as compared to 5 hours with vans) because they would pick up and drop off passengers along the way.

Schedule of RORO Bus (Puerto Princesa to El Nido and vice versa):

4AM / 6AM* / 8AM / 10AM* / 12NN / 2PM* / 4PM / 6PM* / 10PM* (marked with asterisk is aircon bus)

El Nido offers plenty of budget rooms to choose from (beachfront/non beachfront). On our recent trip we stayed at RICJEM's Inn. You can find most of the budget accommodations within the town center which is, by the way, just small and very much accessible to the beach.

Restaurants in El Nido offers great food. However, there are local carinderias scattered around the town to cater to those with tight budget. Based on our experience by eating from one carinderia, each serving of dish costs P50/ulam and a cup of rice at P10. Softdrinks is at Php 20 only. A complete meal is just around Php 80 to Php 100.

For island hopping,  we chose Tour A and Tour B as part of our package. However you can ask for discount or rent a boat privately and negotiate if you're at least a group of 6. For 2-3 person it is advisable to join other group tour instead.

Below are the standard rates for the island hopping tours (includes lunch):

Tour A - P1200 / person
Tour B - P1300 / person
Tour C - P1400 / person
Tour D - P1200 / person

For Pasalubong, there are plenty of shops accessible by foot. You may ask local residents for directions.

P.S. Travel during off peak season. You can take advantage of the cheap airfares to plan your own trip. Prices of accommodations are cheaper that time as well. El Nido is also less crowded during this season.

Good News! Palawan is rarely hit by typhoon all year round however expect some tropical monsoons during lean season.

So go ahead and plan your trip to currently ranked #1 in Condé Nast Traveler's list of "20 Most Beautiful Beaches in the World." and  CNNGo  -the Best Beach and Island destination in the Philippines for its "extraordinary natural splendor and ecosystem." - El Nido, Palawan