First trip to the Phillipines
 

We are going to the Philippines for the first time in August/September. We are staying for 13 nights, arriving and leaving from Manila airport.

The initial plan is to fly straight out (and in) of Manila, how much time should we plan to catch a domestic flight?

Then the most interesting question, where should we go?
There are three places that have captured my interest:
Palawan (Probably Puerto Princesa as a a base to go see Subterranean river. Maybe a few days trip to El nido?)
Borocay
Panglao Island
Coron

Is it to much of a hassle to go between e.g. 3 of these places (with flights, and transportation from airport to hotel)? Which should we pick?

We are probably going to stay in some sort of resort for the most time (our backpacking days are over). Want some beach time, but also some experiences (mainly nature). Tips for other places? Or tips for the places I've listed?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations/tips!

It depends what your interests are.

You could fly from Manila - El Nido. Do 4 nights in El Nido and do the island hopping. The town is nothing special, but the beaches on the island are fantastic. Massages are cheap, food is somewhat cheap (but not a huge selection), and the accommodations are over priced when compared to the rest of the Philippines or Bali.

Once you are in El Nido you could check out NoaNoa Private Island. It's about an 1 to 1.5 hour van ride and then a 45 min speedboat ride. It's an alternative to the El Nido Resorts. I'm going to try and do a trip report on that in the next week or two. Several other flyertalkers have gone there. It's pretty amazing as far as relaxation. It's not uncommon to be the only guests on the island for a few days. The snorkeling is unreal there.

From El Nido you can take a flight to Cebu. Cebu has some really great activities like canyoning and swimming with whale sharks. There is also some really great smaller island not too far away to explore. They also have really great diving. You could probably see the highlights in 2-3 days. Panglao Island might have a ferry from Cebu.

I've heard great things about Coron, but if you go to El Nido it can eat up part of a day to get to/from. I've heard they have great diving and snorkeling, but the beaches are not as great.

Borocay has some really nice parts. Your money may go further for lodging. It's going to be more touristy and more than likely have the best night life.

If you are into surfing you'd want to check out Siargao.

If you are not addicted to A/C I would check out http://taophilippines.com/. They do a boat tour between El Nido and Coron. This is where you are going to find the secluded beaches and have more of an adventure.

After planning out trip to the Philippines and going in December I found that El Nido and Cebu are becoming quite popular. El Nido has been exploding as far as accommodations, but the hospitality is nowhere near what you'd find in Bali. It can take a lot of research to find where to stay and what to do.

Thank you for a good answer!

We will probably do some snorkeling. Maybe some surfing (been a few years since I lived in Australia, so would be nice to refresh my skills).

Will probably not do any diving or night life.

Will however chill out on the beach and want to see beautiful nature as much as possible.

See the threads on Manila airport for more information on how long it takes to get from domestic to int'l or vv. In general it's much like the rest of the Philippines - slower than you plan on. Give yourself ample time. And transferring between places within the Philippines easily takes a full day, so be prepared.

Palawan is nice and has the remote feel. You can fly to Puerto Princesa (PP) on regular airlines and then bus to El Nido (6 hours or so) or take a van (3-4). The subterranean river is a bit far from PP, so it takes most of a day and is hard to go from there straight to El Nido. Besides the river though I don't feel there is that much in PP. There are some nice small towns in between though if you like to find those type of places.

El Nido requires a small flight that is harder to book in advance. Lots of cliffs, coves, island hopping. I think Tao is highly overrated, but ymmv. You can hire a small boat to take you to a small beach to camp for a few dollars if you want that kind of thing.

Coron has the better underwater life, i.e. snorkeling and diving. Some great shipwrecks. The boat from EN to Coron or vv looks uncomfortable to me and frankly looks a bit risky to me. But many people do it and it is a full day.

There are no flights from EN to Coron. But from PP you can go to Cebu. (per astrophsx my info is old, and you can go to Cebu from EN)

From Cebu you can take a bus or taxi several hours south to Oslob for the whale sharks. Some people don't like the unnatural element, but I liked it a lot. There are some nice resorts on Mactan Island (where CEB is located). Or you can take a ferry from Cebu to Tagbiliran then taxi to Panglao. A bit more touristy, pretty good beaches, some great snorkeling and diving if you get out to Balicasag. Panglao does have good access to the Chocolate Hills and to the Tarsiers.

I've not been to Boracay, but it is definitely popular and beautiful in the pictures. Average diving and snorkeling from what I hear.

I believe Air Swift goes from El Nido to Cebu.

Thanks, been to long since I was there I guess. Edited above.

I'd love to read your review on NoaNoa. I'm planning a trip to EN and it looks like one of the more reasonably priced resorts and the best bang for my buck.

How did transportation and dining work?

I'm finishing up my last video for Palawan and then will move on to the trip report. You could look at my channel to see the first two videos.

You provide your own transportation to TayTay. We took a private van from the El Nido airport to the town of TayTay. It can be a bit difficult to get a ride from the airport unless you prebook. The private van was around $40-60. On the way back we did a shared van, which was around ~$5-8 per person. They are actually quite nice and on time. They will pick you up in TayTay wherever you'd like and drop you off at your hotel or airport in El Nido.

From TayTay to the island you will take the NoaNoa speedboat. If you book directly through the island this is free. They typically are the same price or lower than on Agoda.com, so it's probably better to book through the island for the free boat ride. Otherwise there is a charge.

The dinning is a fixed price per person. You get three meals and one snack w/ fruit smoothie. The quantity of food is quite large. I would rate the food as somewhat average to above average. It's probably the best food in the area.

PM if you have any questions.

Does anyone have any views on whether its to much of a hassle to go to borocay for eg 5 days and eg 8 days on palawan?

I think it's ok. But just plan a full day to get from one place to the next. And domestic flights are often late, so I'd try for an early or mid day flight, not an evening or late one.

Maybe send a PM to Benjahman. He did separate trip reports for El Nido and Borocay. He was just in Borocay for part of his honeymoon the other month. He might be able to tell you if it is worth it.

So I think I have concluded.

We will arrive 4 pm in Manila, and with at least 3 hours of extra time there, there is no flight to Puerta Princesa on the same day. Therefore we are going to stay at a hotel close to the airport and take an extremely early flight next morning (5 am ish).

Once arrived in Puerta Princesa we will go to a resort nearby (probably Princesa Garden Island Resort and Spa) to relax for 3-4 days (one day trip to the underground river). Then we will take a bus to El Nido and stay there for 3-4 days doing some day trips. Then we will go to an island resort of some sort (maybe NoaNoa Island) for 3-4 days and then back to Puerta Princesa for the flight back to Manila and home.

Any input/suggestions?

I made a short video on how to get to El Nido from Manila:

I would highly recommend skipping Puerto Princesa if you are able to. From everything I've heard it is a bit exhausting to take a 5-6 hour van ride to an from El Nido.

You could fly to Cebu and do 3-4 days there. You'd be able to go diving, snorkeling, see the whale sharks, do cayoneering, etc... There are typically late flights that depart the same terminal that go to Cebu. Then you could take the direct flight from Cebu to El Nido. You would then have the option of doing the flight from El Nido to Manila or taking a shared van to PP.

I have taken bus from Puerto Princesa to El Nido once, NO MAS!!!

I think it's a fine plan, if that's what you want. It is definitely doable. Some people really like PP, some go straight to EN. I took the overnight bus. Although the video mentions vans, there are buses that run every hour or two as well during the day, and then a few that go at night.