I've done a lot of Google searches on El Nido. Beyond the El Nido resorts can anyone point me to some good trip reports of hotels below $300 a night? Beyond the El Nido resorts, Tripadvisor is pretty much useless. I've seen some dumpy looking places with tons of 5 star reviews and I've seen some great looking places with a lot of negative reviews. No place is consistent.

IMM2B suggested http://noanoaisland.com/ which looks within my price range, but after paying for the transportation from/to the airport and the $75 per person fee for meals it gets close to the price range of the El Nido resorts.

Are there any other islands like Noa Noa? Is it better to stay outside of town on a nice beach? Or, stay in town for cheap and focus on the island hopping?