Here are the best things to do in El Nido to make the most of your trip in Palawan, Philippines.
I suggest staying in El Nido for at least three or four days. With more time, you can also take a cruise to or from Coron, then continue to Port Barton and even Balabac. You can check out my articles on Coron and Port Barton here.
El Nido is a town located in North Palawan in the Philippines, south of Coron.
Below you’ll find all the top things to do in El Nido – from an island-hopping boat day to a road trip around the island, including the best coffee and dinner spots.
The easiest route is to continue your trip from Coron to El Nido. You can either take a 4-hour ferry (around 40 euros) or book the 3 days 2 nights cruise from Coron (cruises start around 250 euros). I will detail further the cruise trip as this is what we did.
Otherwise, other options include either taking a plane from Manila to Puerto Princesa International Airport and booking a van (around 5-6 hours) to get to El Nido. Or it is also possible to take a flight directly from Manila to El Nido but they don’t run every day and are very expensive.
If you take one of the first two options and decide to start your trip in Coron and then continue to El Nido, here is the preferred way to get to Coron : Take a flight from Clark International Airport (CKK). Located around 2 hours by bus or car from Manila, this airport has direct flights to Busuanga Airport (USU). The flight is one hour only.
Best thing to do when arriving is getting a first feel of El Nido by walking around the town. I recommend going all the way to the Fishermen Village, the most authentic part of town.
While you are exploring El Nido, you can walk along El Nido Beach, and if you are up for a treat here are the two best massages I have EVER had :
- Oriental Spa and Massage : A bit more expensive than the usual, but absolutely wort it, the experience is relaxing from start to finish.
- Balsa Nature Spa : This one is located a bit further away but it has been an incredible massage so I can only recommend it.
For a great day trip, I would suggest renting a scooter (or car if your’re not comfortable with scooters) and driving around the island. You can stop all along the way to really appreciate the landscapes.
From El Nido, take the road to Socorro Hill View, you will get to enjoy amazing views all throughout. Whether it is rice fields, hills or even viewpoints of the sea, it is really worth the drive:
You can also enjoy Napcan beach and Santa Monica Beach. Both are long white beaches, but not as nice as El Nido beach I’d say, because the water is not as stunning.
Last but clearly not least, I can’t recommend enough booking an island-hopping boat tour. This is the most beautiful part of El Nido, and if you can book a private tour the experience will be a thousand times better.
We went for a private tour and it has been the highlight of our trip. We got to swim in the most incredible places without anyone there :
We even had the beaches completely to ourselves :
To top it off, we got to watch the sunset on El Nido from our boat in the middle of the sea. Truly an unforgettable experience, completely worth the price of the private tour.
Here’s the number of our captain who made our day :
There are a lot of good places to enjoy good breakfast, lunch or even drinks. I’ll list here my favorite ones among the ones we tried during our stay.
For breakfast, I would recommend JeJe El Nido, they have amazing breakfast options and delicious mango shakes:
Another good breakfast spot was Luway Luway Cafe. Their hot/iced chocolate drinks made from 100% Filipino cacao and a pinch of sea salt are really good, as well as the smoothie bowl (see picture 1 below).
For dinner and cocktails, I definitely recommend Ver De El Nido. It is a vegan restaurant with incredible options (I would not really recommend the dessert, but the savory menu is very tasty). The Pad Thai salad and the Bang Bang Tofu were a hit for us, as well as the Shroom Melt burger (see picture 3 below).
That’s it for my El Nido recommendations!
I hope this article gave you a better idea of what to expect from a trip in El Nido, Palawan, it’s definitely a place worth discovering and staying for a while.
If you plan on coming to El Nido or The Philippines anytime soon you can check out my article regarding what to know before going to The Philippines here.
If you need a custom itinerary, you can fill this form and I’ll make your own personalised itinerary.
