The complete guide to visiting El Nido, Philippines

El Nido is the perfect example of what many people imagine the Philippines is like. Think towering jungle islands, clear turquoise water and isolated white sand beaches. It’s no surprise this town is so popular with international tourists!

I visited El Nido as part of my three week trip to the Philippines and have generally positive feelings. Therefore, I’ve written this guide to help you plan your own visit, with information on what to do, where to stay and how to get there.

Ready? Then let’s go!

About El Nido

El Nido is a town in the north-west corner of Palawan, an island in the west of the Philippines.

El Nido is one of the most popular places for international tourists to visit in the Philippines, in part because its tropical jungle islets arching out of a crystal sea are well-photographed. These are the ones you’ll see on any “Visit the Philippines” campaign and are the photos that convince many people – myself included – to visit.

El Nido, the town, is the jumping point for any island hopping trip through these landscapes, and therefore a stay there is super popular for tourists. The town is fairly developed for tourism as a result.

It’s also probably the most “backpacker” place in the Philippines, with more hostels and a bigger backpacker crowd than in any other town.

What is El Nido like?

The town is located on a little inlet within Bacuit Bay. It has a beach, but to be honest this acts more like a port, with island hopping boat trips setting off from there. (FYI, you’ll also find an actual ferry terminal in El Nido as well, but this is used primarily for boat services to Coron.)

The town itself features fairly small roads and medium three-storey buildings, with a glutton of tourist amenities on offer: hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs are numerous. There’s more nightlife than any other place I visited in the Philippines.

I had read online before coming that El Nido was quite run down but, whilst I was there, I didn’t get that impression. I wasn’t expecting modern high-rise buildings or perfect technology; this is a beach town in the Philippines after all! Personally, I was impressed by the food options and quality of accommodation on offer.

Food poisoning capital of the Philippines

Certain areas of Palawan, including El Nido, have a very bad reputation for their water. I struggled to find reliable sources about the water quality on the island – perhaps as much of it would’ve been reported in Tagalog or a local language – but the general consensus is the water here is contaminated.

We met a few people who suffered from food poisoning during their time in El Nido and have heard bad things. In other places we visited in the Philippines, there never seemed to be this problem. But it was rife in El Nido, and the tap water appears to be extra harmful.

When visiting, you should be super careful to not use tap water for anything – not even for rinsing your toothbrush. I would check the reviews of any restaurant you go to in advance, to make sure there haven’t been any recent cases of food poisoning. I’d also be wary about street food as well.

Off into the islands

From El Nido, most people take day trips around the nearby islets. These are offered by dozens of tour agencies in the town, so you won’t have any trouble organising one.

All tour agencies in El Nido offer the same island hopping options. These are four boat trips: A, B, C and D. All stop at the same places and are the same price. Want to do something different? You have to do a private tour.

I like the idea of all the tours being standardised in terms of price, but having the same itinerary doesn’t necessarily make it better. As the boats all leave around the same time in the morning, each stop on the boat trips is busy for no real reason! There honestly isn’t any way around this unless you have cash to splash.

Tour information

Here’s some more information about each tour:

• A: takes you to a “secret” lagoon, a couple of beaches and for a dash of snorkelling.
• B: takes you to several beaches and a cave. It also includes a stop at Snake Island, a sand bar which you can walk across, which sounds incredible!
• C: more snorkelling heavy, it involves stopping at a couple of snorkel spots and a “hidden” beach. By the way, the hidden beach is only accessible at low tide and they won’t tell you the tide times when you book, so it’s worth checking what you’ll ACTUALLY visit before you pay!
• D: some other less popular sights, including the beautiful Cadlao Island.

All cost around 1400 pesos ($25 / £20) in total. The base price varies but excludes entrance fees to the various spots on the tours, so make sure to check the final price when you book in! You’ll also have to pay an Eco-Tourism Development Fee of 200 pesos ($4 / £3) which covers you for 10 days.

On top of the base price and entrance fees, you’ll need to rent snorkelling gear separately; for us, this cost 100 pesos ($1.80 / £1.40). The tour agency also tried to sell us shoe rental to protect our feet, but after doing A and C I honestly don’t think it’s necessary. There was only a short stretch entering the secret lagoon on tour A where they would’ve been useful, so renting shoes felt excessive to us.

On the mainland

Beyond the islets, there’s plenty of other stuff to do on the mainland. The area of Palawan to the north of El Nido is home to both famous and quiet beaches, such as Nacpan Beach and Lio Beach. There are also several waterfalls, hikes and random activities which can easily fill up a couple of days.

As for people with more time on their hands, Port Barton and Puerto Princesa make good stops when exploring Palawan. Lou and I also visited Daracotan, a quiet island off the north-east corner of Palawan, where we spent a few days relaxing!

Ratings

As part of this blog, I give every place I visit a rating so that I can easily compare destinations and decide whether they’re worth a visit. Those are the scores you see at the top of the page!

This is how El Nido rated:

• Safety: 5/5 – the town feels very safe!
• Accessibility: 4/5 – although it’s fairly easy to get to El Nido, you need to have a reasonable amount of mobility for most activities.
• Enjoyment: 5/5 – I loved my time in El Nido.
• Value: 3/5 – El Nido, and Palawan in general, are pretty expensive as far as the Philippines goes.

Overall score: 4.25/5

If you’ve already visited, let me know if you agree with these ratings! Just to note, the ratings are my personal opinion based on my visit, so you might have a completely different experience.

More: how I rank destinations using the Everywhere Ratings system

Where to stay in El Nido

When you search El Nido on booking sites, a heck of a lot of places will come up. These don’t just cover the town, but also hotels on the neighbouring beaches, extending as far as 1 hour north. You’ll even see things coming up on Daracotan island!

Therefore, deciding on where to stay can be tricky. Your main options are:

• El Nido town
• Corong Corong Beach
• Caalan Beach
• Marimegmeg & Las Cabañas Beaches

Another option which I’ll discuss is heading north to Nacpan Beach (or any other beach) for a stay.

El Nido town

Best for: people who like being near everything and want to experience the nightlife

The greatest concentration of hotels and hostels is in El Nido town. These are close to many restaurants, bars and clubs, so a stay here would be great if you’re into nightlife and want to have a varied evening.

A big benefit to staying in El Nido town is that it’s the location of the ferry terminal and beach for departing on island hopping trips, so you can explore and get around without any trouble.

However, if you want a peaceful stay, this is not the place to be. It can get rowdy and loud in the evenings, which may be a bit much for some people.

Corong Corong Beach

Best for: people who want peace, whilst not being too far away from town

Slightly to the south of El Nido town, you’ll find Corong Corong. Not a beach in the traditional sense, this is where many of the fishermen boats depart from. Hence, it’s closer to a port than a place you’d want to relax at.

However, Corong Corong is dotted with hotels, and has a few restaurants, bars and tour agencies along it too. This makes it a relaxing place to stay whilst also having reasonable access to tourist amenities. You’re not too far from El Nido town either (30 mins walk or 10 mins tricycle).

Lou and I stayed at Corong Corong Beach, at Corong Corong Hotel & Resort. We liked the location and chill vibe along the beach, although at times we wished we were closer to town.

Marimegmeg & Las Cabañas Beaches

Best for: a holiday where you might not go into El Nido town regularly

Going further south of El Nido, you’ll find Marimegmeg. This is a pretty beach that’s not regularly used for boats, so it’s a good option if you want to chill on the sand.

Marimegmeg is known for its sunsets, and coming here around this time is super nice!

I think Marimegmeg would be a great place to stay for a more relaxed trip to El Nido. At 5 km from the town, it doesn’t make sense if you want an activity-filled holiday. However, for longer or more tranquil stays, it would be perfect!

Caalan Beach

Best for: a relaxed trip to El Nido

Another beach, to the north of El Nido, is Caalan Beach. I haven’t visited it, but the development along it appears to be much less than in other areas of the town. It would be a good option if you want to be a bit more away from the town.

Nacpan Beach

Best for: beach vacationers who won’t spend much time in the town

You’ll find Nacpan around one hour’s drive north of El Nido town. This is a popular day trip, but some people also choose to have a break there – normally in addition to a stay in town.

As the El Nido region covers the entire area to the north of the town, hotels on Nacpan Beach, and other beaches in the area, come up when you search for El Nido. But don’t be fooled: Nacpan is not a good option if you want to stay near the town or do any activities in Bacuit Bay.

However, it’s worth a visit in its own right. When I visited I thought the beach was generally nice, although a few areas had a weird vibe. If you want a few days at the beach in addition to a stay in the town, it makes a good option.

On the beach you’ll also find the local Mad Monkey, a hostel which has a party reputation. This is another option for solo backpackers and those wanting a social vibe by the beach!

How long should you stay in El Nido?

There is a lot to do in El Nido: island hopping, beach trips, and exploring the surrounding area.

As such, I’d recommend staying four nights. This is what we did. It gave us two full days for island hopping boat trips, plus a day to visit Nacpan beach.

If you want to do even more in the El Nido area, I’d recommend adding a couple of nights onto this. However, four nights worked out well for us!

Where should you eat in El Nido?

As stays in El Nido can be across a wide area, where you should eat depends entirely on where you stay. We mainly ate around Corong Corong Beach as that was where we were situated. The food options weren’t particularly inspiring in this area.

However, people staying at Corong Corong should check out Banana Boba, a bubble tea shop on the main road. Most people there were locals, so the milk tea was affordable. We went back several times and it was some of the best milk tea I’ve ever had!

As for inside the town, we had a great meal at Big Bad Thai.

How can you get to El Nido?

To get to El Nido, you have several options, with flight, ferry and bus links.

By plane

El Nido has its own airport around 5 km from the town. From there, there are direct flights to Coron, Manila, Panglao, Boracay and Cebu.

All planes from El Nido airport are propeller planes operated by Air Swift, which have a smaller capacity than engine planes. There are only one or two flights to each destination per day too. Therefore, flights to El Nido can work out quite expensive.

Instead, many people choose to fly to the airport at Puerto Princesa, 5 hours’ drive south. As the main airport on Palawan you can get very cheap flights from there to Manila and Cebu, and there are a lot of shuttle buses operating directly between the two destinations.

We personally flew into Puerto Princesa, then took a shuttle bus to El Nido. After our visit, we flew from El Nido to Coron.

To book the shuttle bus between El Nido and Puerto Princesa, I’d recommend chatting to your hotel. Our guesthouse organised the trip for us, so it was very stress-free!

By ferry

If you’re coming to El Nido from Coron, the ferry is an option. There’s a daily ferry running from Busuanga to El Nido, taking around 5 hours.

The cost of the ferry surprised me. At around 3000 pesos ($53 / £42), it seemed pretty expensive. If booked in advance, the flight between El Nido and Coron can work out not much more expensive.

Depending on the season and weather, there can be a lot of ferry cancellations. Taking the flight might be better if you’re on a tight schedule – although in bad weather flight delays and cancellations are also possible. Right before we travelled to Palawan, a departing typhoon resulted in everything being cancelled between Coron and El Nido for a few days: not exactly ideal!

As for the ferry itself, given there are only a couple departures per day, I’d recommend booking your ticket as soon as you know when you’re leaving, to make sure it doesn’t sell out.

By multi-day boat expedition

Another option of transport between Coron and El Nido is a multi-day boat trip. These take two to three nights and involve sleeping on a boat, with stops at the islands between both places.

Lou and I were keen to do this option; it just seemed so fun and exhilarating. However, when we looked at it online, it seemed super expensive (in the region of $500 per person per trip). This really put us off from joining and we made our plans assuming we wouldn’t do this.

However, when we arrived in El Nido or Coron, we saw much cheaper options available. If your plans are flexible, I’d suggest perhaps taking a look at the boat options in person once you arrive. If you do it, I’ll be very jealous!

By land

It’s also pretty easy to travel by shuttle bus between tourist destinations in Palawan, like Port Barton. The same shuttle buses that run from Puerto Princesa also go from Port Barton multiple times a day. You could ask your accommodation to book them on your behalf, or just visit any tour agency.

How can you get around El Nido?

El Nido is a walkable town – it’s small and the island hopping trips leave from the beach in town. Therefore, there’s no need to take public transport if you’re staying in a central area.

However, if you want to explore further afield, a scooter can be useful. Beaches like Nacpan are accessible by shuttle buses, but these can work out expensive compared to scooter rental!

For short trips, such as to Corong Corong or Marimegmeg, you’ll also find plenty of tricycle taxis available to ferry you around.

We personally rented a scooter for one day and used tricycles for the remainder. Renting a scooter seemed like the most economical plan and gave us the freedom to explore in our own time. Outside of El Nido town, the roads are quiet, so it is achievable even for people who are new to riding a scooter.

Conclusion

El Nido is home to some of the most well known beautiful landscapes in the Philippines. It makes for an exciting place to visit and explore for a few days.

I loved my time here and hope you will too!

Not sure where else to go in the Philippines? Check out my guides on Siquijor, Daracotan Island and Apo island for more inspo!