The quest for EL NIDO-rado: Our tale of Palawan’s famous place of “riches”!

For Mr. Yellow’s birthday, we decided to visit one of the famous vacation places in the Philippines – El Nido! The trip was both a celebration and a weekend getaway for the YTB couple.

El Nido is a place in Palawan with most pristine beaches and islands that make it one of the best travel destinations in the Philippines.

As we explored the islands, we immediately had a story to tell of what this place can offer. Let the tale of “EL Nido-rado” begin!

Day 1:Getting to El Nido

Travel to El Nido. We flew via Cebu Pacific Airlines from Manila to Puerto Princesa. Luckily, we booked our flights when there was a seat sale so we got our tickets at 1,998 PHP (two way for two) only!

For our accommodation. We chose Swiftlets Inn and we never regretted this decision. This is a newly constructed inn and is only a five minutes walk to the El Nido town. We coordinated with the inn through their email: swiftlets_inn@yahoo.com three days prior to our flight and asked if they could arrange our transportation and the island tour.

Van to El Nido. Eulyn Joy van‘s office is just outside the Puerto Princesa airport gate. We hopped on the van at 07:00 PM and arrived at El Nido past mid-night.

Day 2: Island Hopping: Tours A and C Combination

We booked for Tour A, however, due to some lucky odds, we were able to get a combination tour of A and C at PHP1200 only! Yes, we were indeed lucky on this aspect! The tour started at 09:00am and below are the details:

TOUR A – 1200 PHP/Person/Shared Boat

  • Big Lagoon
  • Small Lagoon
  • Simitzu Island
  • Secret Lagoon
  • 7 Commandos Beach

TOUR B – 1400 PHP/Person/Shared boat

  • Hidden Beach
  • Helicopter Island
  • Secret Beach
  • Matinloc Shrine
  • Star Beach

Tours are inclusive of lunch, water, snorkel, towel, tour guide, and boat transfers! However, note that they only accept CASH payment in El Nido.

Here are the photos of the islands that really captured our hearts!

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Mr. Yellow trying to take a selfie while on top of the cliff at Miniloc

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Believe me, my legs were shaking while I was standing here. But I couldn’t just let the opportunity slip without seeing this breathtaking view at the background.

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My love was at the top of the world looking…

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down on this magnificent creation!

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El Nido – how could your beauty be so flawless like this!

Our lunch was served on the boat and we had a feast for the 1200 PHP worth of tour package!

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Oh my crab! Who am I to resist these meaty crabs?

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They served the fresh-iest fish for our lunch!

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Super fresh grilled squids!

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Grilled Pork Belly!

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Eggplant Salad (ensaladang talong)!

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This bowl of cucumber salad and the eggplant salad were perfect side dishes for the crabs, pork belly, grilled squid, and the fish!

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We also had fruits for lunch!

Aside from the astonishing view at Miniloc and the mouth-watering lunch, we also had a wonderful time on these islands:

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This is called the “Helicopter Island” because it looks like a helicopter from afar. We had fun snorkeling here.

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The YTB couple with our snorkeling gears at the Helicopter Island

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Mr. Yellow with the Helicopter Island at the background

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Some of the random but exquisite islands on our way to the small and big lagoons

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One of the views in “Hidden Beach”

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We were really very happy seeing Nemo in Hidden Beach!

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My love with the wonderful view of the Hidden Beach at the background

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Our kayak experience was hilarious! It took us sometime before we finally synchronized our paddles.

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The YTB couple at the small lagoon. The view here is really magnificent! Every traveler to El Nido should not miss this destination!

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One of the underwater scenes at the big lagoon

Overall, our El Nido trip was all worth every penny we spent! It was a short stay but sweet.

Finally, here is the breakdown of our trip expenses:

EL NIDO

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