PALAWAN
“where the journey is an adventure”

Except for Puerto Princesa, one has to keep in mind that most accommodation is offering solar powered (eg no hot water), runs its own electricity on a generator (eg limited hours electricity) and have to ship in all their supplies, causing a rather high roomrate compared with the amenities expected.
Palawan is big: composed of 1700 islands, a landmass of nearly 15,000 square kilometers with a coastline of 1,959 kilometers. In fact Palawan has a quarter of all islands in The Philippines combined with less than 1% of the country’s total population.

You definitely need time if you want to travel around! Moreover due to lack of infrastructure and basic (or complete absence of) communication. Since tourism in number of visitor arrivals in Palawan is (still) small , your accommodation choice is in extremes: either in very simple fan-cooled cottages or in very expensive resorts.

Central Palawan - Puerto Princesa is the capital of Palawan. It is the gateway for the bigger airplanes. Puerto Princesa itself is just a city and has no beaches. You can go on a day tour island hopping in Honda Bay, 30 minutes outside the city.

Main attraction is “St. Paul Underground River National Park”, a 5,000 ha forest with beautiful views of cliffs and the sea. This is a 3 hours drive one way northwest of Puerto Princesa. Just outside the park a simple beach awaits, called Sabang. Merely a timeless fishing village, devoid of any tourist infrastructure.
Travelers may opt to continue by sea (chartered boat ride only, 3 hours) to Port Barton. From Port Barton you can reach El Nido by sea (chartered boat only, 5-6 hours). Or you can reach Roxas: one and a half hour ride by jeepney.

To get back to Puerto Princesa you go first by sea to San Vicente (chartered boat only, 1 hour) from where land transportation ( about 5- 6 hours, by jeepney ride) back to Puerto Princesa. Keep in mind this is not a daily guaranteed schedule.

4 hours south of Puerto Princesa in Quezon is a 29-cave complex with archealogic artifacts, called Tabon Cave.

North Palawan – El Nido & Busuanga Island
The nature in El Nido and Busuanga Island is blessed with spectacular limestone rock formations thrusting out of the sea to create numerous tiny islands with dramatic seaside cliffs. Its serene beauty easily compares internationally with Guilin in China, Halong Bay in Vietnam and Kho Phi Phi in Thailand. However, these places tend to be overflown with tourists, whereas The Philippines remains rather untouched. On top, Busuanga is blessed with Japanese wrecks from World War II, attracking scuba divers from all over the world.

Both towns offer many options for the budget traveler, while tourists looking for more luxurious getaway have the outlying, secluded resorts to choose from.

El Nido is 285 kilometer north of Puerto Princesa. From Puerto Princesa to El Nido there are regular shuttle vans operated by Fortwally Shuttle departing at San Jose Terminal at 7.00 am and if prebooked 11.00 or 13.00 h. (Booking is required). Regular buses travel to El Nido in the morning at 7.00 am, 9.00 am and frequently at 11.00 am. Travel time is 8 hours by bus.

Only once a week WGA ferry sails the route Manila-Puerto Princesa and vice versa in 21 hours. They stop in Busuanga Island, Coron town. They do NOT stop in El Nido. These days Seair flies 19 seater planes on certain days of the week to conveniently connect Manila, Puerto Princessa, El Nido and Busuanga. Local motorized outrigger boats (“banca”) are offered very irregularly to travelers between El Nido and Busuanga Island. However, this is not advisable as you are 9 hours on open sea, especially during typhoon season ! Same for the unreliable, irregular sea connection between Mindoro Island and Palawan.