🇵🇭 Philippines · Asia
Palawan
El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa: one 450km province of karst bays and wrecks
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The Palawan guide
Inside the premium guide
A preview of the real thing — a detailed premium guide, researched and checked in 2026. Click a page to enlarge.
THE COMPLETE CITY GUIDE
PHILIPPINES · RESEARCHED 2026
Palawan
El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa: one 450km province of karst bays and wrecks
sama·sama
The cover
What this guide covers
38 pages, A4 — cover to back, everything in one place.
What’s inside + how to use
The place & what a day costs
City at a glance — the best-of snapshot
What & how to eat
Where to eat — cheap & local
Mid-range & special occasion
Sweets, cafés & coffee
Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Supermarkets & typical prices
Markets & food halls
Souvenirs & shopping
Where to stay — neighbourhoods
Budget, boutique & luxury stays
Hostels — the backpacker shortlist
Six big things to do
Top 10 experiences — book & compare
Nightlife & after dark
Best day trips
Insider tips + safety & scams
Ready-made day plans
Getting around
Arrival, tickets & transport cheat sheet
When to go + best time to visit
Cash, cards & tipping
Connectivity & insurance
Health, safety & entry
The travel toolbox
Every link, one place
Sama·Sama · Palawan guide38 pages
Everything it covers
Everything. In one premium file. Working for you.
This isn’t a blog post saved as a PDF — it’s a detailed, premium, 38-page A4 magazine — researched and checked in 2026, designed to be used. Keep it on your phone or print it, open it at a street corner in Palawan and it answers the question you’re standing there with.
38A4 pages — cover to back
193+researched prices in €
324live, verified links
107jump straight to Google Maps
62hand-picked photos
Add it up: 579+ researched details — every price checked, every venue placed, every link live. More usable information than a week of blog-tab hopping, in one beautiful file.
- Every venue is one tap from navigation — 107 Google Maps links mean you never type an address on holiday.
- Real prices, not vibes — three honest daily budgets (€31 / €88 / €307) and prices on everything from a dorm bed to a splurge dinner.
- Zero sponsorships — nobody paid to be in this guide. If it’s in, it’s in because it’s good.
- Book everything from the page — stays open on Booking.com & Hostelworld, experiences on GetYourGuide, Trip.com & Klook, transport on official operator sites.
- Plan-it-for-me included — ready day plans, a Top 10, a best-of snapshot, and neighbourhood “best for” labels that choose your base with you.
Buy the Palawan guide — €14.50 →
✦€14.50 is our price. Etsy adds your country’s sales tax on top — MVA in Norway, VAT across the EU, usually nothing in the US — and shows you the total in your own currency at checkout.
SHOESTRING
€31/day
dorms, street plates, transit
COMFY
€88/day
private room, sit-down meals, a treat
FLASH
€307/day
nice hotel, good dinners, no maths
🧮 Trip maths
€614 total
What Palawan costs, day to day
🛵 Getting around
Tricycle
Scooter hire (per day)
Chartered tricycle, Nacpan return
Van, Puerto Princesa to El Nido (5-6h)€9.3–€11
Van, Puerto Princesa to Port Barton€7.2–€9.3
Fast ferry, El Nido to Coron (3.5h)€45–€53
Island-hopping day tour, shared boat€17–€26
Expedition boat, El Nido to Coron, 3-4 days€257–€564
🛏 Stays
Per night
Hostel dorm bed€9.7–€13
Beach cottage / dive-shop room€29–€41
3-4 star hotel or small resort€39–€191
Private-island resort€336–€1,167
Monthly
Studio, Corong-Corong or Coron€250–€500
1-BR with aircon, decent area€400–€800
🛒 Groceries & daily life
Robinsons Place Palawan — Puerto Princesa mall supermarket, the fullest range in the province
SM City Puerto Princesa — the other big-mall stock-up before you head north
NCCC Supermarket — local Puerto Princesa chain, cheaper basics
Sari-sari shops and public markets — all El Nido, Coron and Port Barton have; stock depends on the last van or barge
Milk 1L€1.6
Bread€1.2
Eggs 12€2
Cheese 1kg€13
Chicken 1kg€3.6
Rice 1kg€0.9
Beer 0.5L€1.2
Coffee jar€4.5
🍜 Eating out
Carinderia plate with rice€1.1–€2.6
Night market grilled fish, full feed€2.2–€5.7
Mid-range restaurant, per head€3.7–€13
KaLui or Badjao seafood dinner€10–€20
Beach-bar dinner and drinks, El Nido€11–€23
🎡 Things to do — with kids
Underground River day, self-booked to joiner tour€16–€36
Honda Bay island hopping, joiner boat€21–€30
Calauit Safari Park from Coron, packaged€31–€43
🌙 Things to do — grown-ups
El Nido Tour C, outer islands and Secret Beach€24–€26
Coron wreck diving, 3 dives with boat and guide€79
Expedition boat to Coron, sleeping on island camps€257–€564
🌤 Climate
Day °CSea °CRain
Best: Feb - Apr · Wet: Jun - Nov
Thirty-year normals for Puerto Princesa, the only Palawan station with a long record. The heat is never the decision, since highs sit between 30.9 and 32.9C all year and the sea never drops below about 27C. The figure that matters is 31mm in February against 213mm in October, and what that does to the boats: the coastguard grounds the fleet.
✈️ Getting there
Cebu PacificPhilippine AirlinesCebgoManila - Puerto Princesa€26–€75
Clark - El Nido€51–€77
Cebu - Busuanga (Coron)€51–€77
Three airports, three different jobs. Puerto Princesa (PPS) is the only one taking jets and the only one with a Manila non-stop, about 1h25. El Nido (ENI), the private Lio airstrip, takes turboprops from Clark, Cebu, Caticlan, Bohol and Busuanga at two to three times the fare. Busuanga (USU) serves Coron. Since 29 March 2026 no Palawan airport except PPS flies to Manila - the turboprops moved to Clark, 2-3 hours north of Manila by road.
🏧 ATMs & money
Fees: A flat ₱250 rides on almost every foreign withdrawal, with 10,000–20,000 ₱ limits — it stings in percentages on small pulls.
Limits: ₱10,000–20,000 at most banks; HSBC allows up to ₱40,000 — four fees become one.
Best machines: HSBC (higher limits)BPIBDO
HSBC branches allow bigger single withdrawals, diluting the flat fee. Bring some USD as backup for islands; change at bank counters or established changers, not kiosks.
🩺 Health & safety
Vaccines: Routine, Hepatitis A, Typhoid; rabies awareness with strays.
Health: Bottled water, repellent for dengue, sunscreen like it's a job — the tropics' honest checklist. City private hospitals (Cebu Doctors', Chong Hua) are good; island clinics are basic, so travel insured.
Tap water: ⚠️ Metro Manila and Cebu tap is chlorinated but most drink bottled/purified; on islands, always bottled.
Safety: The tourist islands — Boracay, Bohol, Cebu's resorts — run calm and heavily hosted; violence involving visitors is rare there. National statistics look higher than your actual itinerary: the areas driving them (far southwest Mindanao) are 500+ km from anywhere on this site. Typhoon season is Jun–Nov; Dec–May is your blue-sky alternative.
Emergency: 911 nationwide
🌱 Vegan, veggie & gluten-free
Plant-based: Hardest of the region — meat hides everywhere. Stick to Chinese-Filipino veggie houses, Bohol's farm cafés, and market fruit.
Gluten-free: Rice-based mains are safe; soy sauce (toyo) is in most adobo and marinades — grilled fish + rice is the reliable order.
'Walang karne' = no meat · 'gulay lang' = just vegetables · big cities have growing vegan scenes (Cebu IT Park).
🛂 Visa & entry
For most short tourist trips, citizens of the US, UK, EU/Schengen, Canada, Australia and New Zealand either enter visa-free or get a simple online authorisation (an eVisa or eTA) before flying. Typical visa-free stays run 30–90 days. Some countries want a visa arranged in advance, and a growing number ask you to fill an online arrival or eVisa form even when 'visa-free' — so always check the official portal for your exact nationality before you book.
Rules change — always verify with an official source for your nationality before you book.
💬 Traveller tips & reports
Keep the eco-fee receipt — El Nido's ecotourism fee is issued in your name and valid ten days across every site in the municipality, not per tour - photograph it and produce it on day two. Coron charges its own on arrival, Port Barton too, and a Coron lakes day adds boat-side site fees, cash only.
@bacuitbound · Aug '26 · ▲ 214
Fly in one end, out the other — Palawan is 450km long: Puerto Princesa to El Nido is five to six hours by van, El Nido to Coron three and a half by ferry. Book that ferry days ahead, buy two one-ways - Manila into Puerto Princesa, Busuanga home - and draw your cash in Puerto Princesa, where the machines charge a flat fee rather than a percentage.
@slowboat_ph · Aug '26 · ▲ 168