tools4fools

Northern Palawan Revisited, Dec. 2005

Pt. Princesa

- the butterfly garden is worth to visit, a small but nice tropical garden in a free-fly walk-in cage (the location however is wrongly marked on free tourist map you provided at PP airport)

- try Crepes Samurai with vanilla ice cream and choco sauce at Kinabuchs, yummy...

- Ancietos Pension, nice and friendly place, used by Peace Corps as well, 250-350Php per room; Casa Linda is nice too, rooms with wooden decor, but costs a bit more, 450-700php

- forget about the light house on that free tourist map. It's in a Navy compound, just a small concrete light tower, no possibility to climb and get a view over the bay. No beach to speak of there either.

- Pristine and Silicon beach are in the mangrove swamps with wooden day huts and drink stalls, it's a popular place for locals, quite OK for a little swim, a cold beer and to hang out with Pinoys and their kids.

Jeepneys to Sabang at 07.00, 09.00 and 13.00 and around 14-15.00, 3 hours ride.

Sabang

- walk one way to underground river. The trail is very slippery after rains!!! Had good fun in flip flops, not recommended to imitate; at the time the monkey trail was closed as a wooden footbridge had been washed away, but this should be repaired. The jungle trail makes for a nice forest walk, recommended.

Once the trails reach the boat landing station visitors have to register to enter underground river and pay the entrance fee there. Don't worry about signs which say otherwise, the fee only has to be paid once the entrance of the underground river is reached, not for the forest trails. A paddle boat takes visitors then into the underground river. A boat for the ride back can be arranged from there or it might be able to join others who came by boat (500php per boat, six passengers max)

- Maya's Cottages is in a nice location with access to the main beaches and a smaller one right in front of the huts. It is quiet and rustic there, has a small restaurant, 450php per beach front cottage or 250php for a very small hut with shared bath. It is at the far end of the main beach. In the centre of main beach is Taraw Vista Lodge, 450php per night, quite good place as well. Roberts cottages are the best if you opt to stay right by the village as they are still on the beach, the rest is inside the village and location wise not as good.

By boat to El Nido is fixed price by boat association, 4000php to Port Barton (this is certainly too much for the 2-3 hours boat ride...), 6000php to El Nido, 8 hours. Some boatmen are not in association but do the trip anyway. There supposedly is now a new regular boat service running several times per week during tourist season.

The boats pass Cacnipa Island and the Coconut Garden Resort there before arriving at Port Barton or continuing to El Nido. This resort has nice wooden cottages at 750php, good food cooked up by the owner, a former Chef and is located at a nice secluded white sand beach. All in all a very quiet and peaceful spot. From there it is a good 30 minutes by boat to Port Barton passing other islands of the bay.

Port Barton

Greenviews, El Dorado Sunset Gardens (both at east end of beach) and Swissipini (centre) all have good accommodation at around 500-750Php. Elsa's next to Swissipini, has some cheaper rooms, not bad either there. Food at Swissipini I found too little, unsatisfying orders at slightly too high prices and not very tasty either, but other people there raved about the food...

The El Busero Restaurant next door certainly has better food plus a nice terrace to the beach.

- day trips to the waterfalls in the area are certainly worth even if there is not much water. Beautiful forest surroundings make for nice walks. Island hopping takes visitors to beaches good for swimming, some of which are really nice, more tropical beaches with coconut and white sands as opposed to the impressive cliffs of El Nido. Some beaches are private and charge an entrance fee. Certainly worth to do a day of island hopping in the bay there!.

From Port Barton it is possible to go by jeepney to Roxas and then onwards to Taytay if the road permits. The heavy rains had washed out a bridge and water levels were to high for vehicles to ford the river, so we had to take a boat to El Nido at 3500php, a 5 hours trip in a very fast little banca. The old Pinoy had his boat well maintained and it its little engine giving its best the thing flew over the water. It is recommended to leave early in the morning when sea often is flat.

Coco Loco Island off Roxas charges around 1600php per night single occupancy these days, 1900php for a double. Prices are for a cottage and 3 meals included as well as there is no other place to go on this tiny island anyway. A ten minute walk takes one around the island, with a beach all around and a few coconut trees thrown in on the centre as well. As an option it is possible to continue from there to Mabini by hired banca. From Mabini there are jeepneys to El Nido.

El Nido

Plenty of accommodation in the town proper. Most charge about 500php per cottage or room; rooms in buildings are usually the worse deal however. Most resorts are on the beach in town. This beach is sure nothing to write home of however. The better places there were Tandikan Cottages and Rosanna Cottages. In the back next to cliffs is Cliffside Cottages, double bungalows, friendly manageress, excellent value for money, 350-450Php.

Accommodation on the beach just north of the town is not really worth as the beach there is even worse than the one in town itself.

Art Cafe, run by Swiss woman , Judith, opens early at 06.30, perfect to get a great breakfast in this place before heading out to the islands. Home made bread, fresh fruit juices, the whole works. The pizza there is good too, all in all always a good place to eat. Additionally Art Cafe is the agent for SEAir flights and runs trips to the islands, just sing up for the tour of the day. Other good option for dining is Squidos, owned by a French. This place serves very good food for dinner albeit slightly small portions...leaves space for a yummy desert...

Blue Carrot Beach Bar has a few tables in the sand, another place good for a few drinks in the evening is the Balay Tubay Music Pub featuring live folk music and guitar covers. Nicely decorated the place is made out of an old local house.

All day trips to islands are worth going however Miniloc island has those intriguing lagoons which make it so special. Entalula island has maybe the nicest beach, it is facing east, so going there in morning is recommended. 9th Commandos beach is another beauty and one of the closest to El Nido, this one being particularly good in the late afternoon as it is facing west.

Numerous other small beaches are found in the archipelago of course and none is too bad either.

Least impressive was the cave at Cudugnon and the cavern of Pinsail Island. The sandbank of Snake island wasn't too impressive either. These are personal opinions however and the archipelago sure is big enough for each to find his own personal favorites.

Excursions to waterfalls and springs mostly to the north of El Nido are worth the effort. Only few people seem to go and the splendid nature around those places make up for it even if the falls not are not that impressive themselves.

There are only three resorts out on the islands currently, Miniloc and Lagen (each located on the island of the same name) are in the luxury class with published rates of 228$. Booking via a travel agent should give much cheaper rates. The only option is Malapacao Island Resort at 1800-3000php. Prices include all meals. The place is run by a health fanatic foreign lady, smoking and boozing is frowned upon there. The island features a pretty beach and resort however. A overdose of carrot juice in my childhood however had me skip staying overnight there...

Dolarog Beach Resort is on main island of Palawan, about 5km south of El Nido town and can be reached by tricycle and a 15 minutes walk or by short boat ride. Rates are 60$ per head including meals. The resort features well made and tastefully decorated bungalows in a coconut plantation facing the sunset however the beach there could be a tad nicer.

Cabanos is a real nice place close by Dolarog. This small resort on a point has very few simple but nicely made huts at 1500php per person without food. Sadly overpriced regarding the simple accommodation as the location is a dream.

For additional transportation details on getting to Palawan and how to go around there see the separate write up.

© by Markus Braun, 2006