El Nido Travel Guide

Cebu Pacific is now practicing 100% fully automated check-in from printing of boarding pass to dropping luggages. Really cool!

You can eat breakfast at the airport mall after checking in ☕

There's a car rental and sim card for foreigners on the arrival area

- Just walk outside of the arrival area and you'll see the van terminal immediately.

- Our driver's van has a Katana shifter. 😍

Duration: 6 hours

- 10:30AM - First stop over (sari-sari stores and restroom)

- 11:30AM - Second stop over (lunch)

You'll eat lunch at Femssan Restaurant, a home-cooked Filipino food and garden restaurant.

P180 for chicken inasal with rice.

- 01:30PM - Third stop (sari-sari stores and restroom)

- 02:30PM - Arrival

Fare: P650 (Book Here)

- All tricycles in Puerto Princesa and El Nido look like sports cars

- Good leg room and height for foreigners

Luggage-friendly

This should be the benchmark in our country

Fare: P100

I also see solar farms at their terminals and schools. They should start planning to go 100% electric vehicles for public transport.

Why here?

An aesthetic hotel in the heart of El Nido proper

Rooms are well-designed and clean. Free shampoo + conditioner that smells really good, soap, and tissue papers.

Beautiful view of El Nido limestone at the window

Cute dog that wants to be scratched all the time

- My favorite areas: docking area and streets of Hama, Rizal, and Serena.

- You'll see coffeeshops, restaurants, bars, pasalubong centers, and island hopping agencies.

Here are the highlights per street:

- Hama Street: restaurants, bars, El Nido branded clothes, pasalubong centers, tour agencies, and convenience stores. (Find the "Boyfriend's Waiting Area")

- Rizal Street: cafes, restaurants, and tour agencies

- Serena Street: restaurants and tour agencies

- Docking area: beach and limestone views, restaurants and bars

We will review coffeeshops and restaurants in this area as you continue reading the guide.

Sample order: stuffed squid with rice (P350)

Sample order: Arabeschi Pistachio and Hazelnut (P200 for 2 scoops. P120 for one)

From Wilnags Resto to Gusto Gelato, just continue walking forward, there's a convenient store on the right. You can buy water and snacks for the tour.

🚶 Walk around Hama and Rizal streets to find breakfast:

- The Amos Pili Tree Inn's breakfast and all coffeeshops in the area open at 7AM

- Fortunately, there’s a 24/7 bakery called Kierstine Bakeshop located at Amboy corner G Del Pilar street.

- From Amos Pili Tree Inn, just walk to the street on the left side.

- Total cost of the bread and 3-in-1 coffee is at around P50 or less.

- Just bring the food back to the hotel.

✍️ Tour Registration (Seashore Inn):

- You can book Tour A for only P1,200 or P950 if promo. Book Here

- Most tours start at 9AM

- Mandatory fees:

P200 - Environmental Fee (Please keep the receipt of the Environmental Fee for future tours)

P200 - Entrance Fee on Big Lagoon

- Optional fees:

P100 - aqua shoes rental

P100 - snorkel rental

P300 - kayak

⛰️ Take photos at their beautiful docking area

- The place offers beautiful limestone cliffs surrounded by turquoise blue water.

- You can navigate through the lagoon using a kayak you can rent for P300.

- Despite the gloomy weather, just look at how clear and blue the water is.

- This is where we ate lunch. Boodle fight in El Nido is no longer allowed for hygiene purposes and to avoid food poisoning according to the tour guide.

- I saw 3 huge and harmless komodo dragons.

- Located just beside of Shimizu Island.

- You need to enter a small hole to see the Secret Lagoon.

- There are rock formations shaped like a dragon glass (Game of Thrones reference) surrounding the lagoon

- You can rent snorkel + googles for P100 and aqua shoes for P100 at the docking station.

- Renting aqua shoes is optional but recommended coz the stones in El Nido are sharp.

😎 The perfect day ender for Tour A.

🏐 You can play volleyball with fellow joiners or strangers on the island. The guides will initiate the play to entertain the guests.

🥤 There’s a store where you can buy shakes, beers, and snacks

🤿 Swim and snorkel on the turquoise blue water that’s so inviting.

- It's a jeepney turned food truck that serves Thai food

- Sample order: 6 pcs Gyoza (P240) and Pad Thai with Seafood (P340)

- The serving is large so assume that both are good for 2

- Rent with Amos Pili Tree Inn

- There are also a lot of rentals in Hama and Rizal streets

- Standard rate is P500. I already asked everywhere.

- There's Caltex on the way to Vanilla Beach if you're collecting GoRewards points

- P220 - Gas for 3 liters

- All day breakfast and bar

- Sample order: pancake (P220) and iced latte (P190)

🌊 A beach you can easily access for free

🏬 There are restaurants, bars, coffeeshops, gym, apparel stores, etc.

☕ I highly recommend eating breakfast at Maremegmeg Beach Bar (More on Day 5)

🏞️ Their restaurant has a beautiful beachfront view

🛥️ You can rent a speedboat for P3,500 per head with a 6-person minimum

🦅 You can also ride the zipline from P600 to P1,200 depending on your combination

- You can access this beautiful place for FREE as long as the resort doesn’t have many guests.

- How to get here? Upon reaching Maremegmeg Beach, just turn left and walk on the beach for around 10 minutes until you see this wooden bridge.

Sample order: Cheese burger with medium fries and medium coke (P177)

🌊 The surfing spot of El Nido.

🛵 To get here, you need to rent a scooter and easily pin the location on Google Maps. It’s around 45 minutes of travel time from the city proper.

🐶 Hangout with chill and happy doggos

🙏 Just be careful during rainy days. The road is really slippery.

- After the crazy drive from Duli Beach, we were too lazy to find a good place to eat.

- There's a karinderya in-front of Kierstine Bakeshop located at Amboy corner G Del Pilar street.

- Sample order: lechon paksiw with rice (P120)

- Aesthetic vegan cafe

- They have board games you can play with friends

- Sample Order: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich (P200) and Iced Latte (P190)

- First destination of this tour

- Perfect for people who prefer a beach that’s not crowded

The name perfectly describes this beach. Just look at the crystal clear blue water. 💙

🌊 My favorite beach of Tour D and my entire El Nido trip.

🥄 This is where you'll eat lunch

🤿 You can snorkel here

🚣 You can explore the place by renting a kayak for P300.

⛰️ Small Lagoon is the smaller version of Big Lagoon. Both are beside each other.

🚣 You can explore the place by renting a kayak for P300. But I decided to skip kayaking here since I already enjoyed both times at Big Lagoon and Cadlao Lagoon.

🤿 This is where I found around 4 Nemos.

- You can eat at their balcony and enjoy seeing people pass by as you eat.

- This is located beside Gusto Gelato

- Sample order: Sizzling Beef Pares (P180)

Just walk a few steps from Mazabor

- Rent with Amos Pili Tree Inn

- There are also a lot of rentals in Hama and Rizal streets

- Standard rate is P500. I already asked everywhere.

- There's Caltex on the way to Vanilla Beach if you're collecting GoRewards points

- P140 - Gas for 2 liters

Their hotel, restaurant, and bar are located on the beach front.

Sample order: Filipino breakfast with your choice of meat plus coffee plus fruits (P550)

- A popular beach resort in Nacpan visited by big celebrities like Anne Curtis, Kathryn Bernardo, Yassi Pressman, Liza Soberano, Catriona Gray, Mimiyuuh, Dominique Roque, Kylie Versoza, and Belle Mariano

- There’s a P1,000 consumable entrance fee which is very sulit for the place. Better if you stay there for the whole day to maximize the resort.

- Sample orders: Tinola (P650), Mango Shake (P250), Rice (P500), Chocolate Cake (P360), Summertime Magic smoothie bowl (P550).

- A very long beach with 4KM of sand.

- You can access the beach for free but better if stay at a resort like Angkla

- Drive back to city proper

Sample Order: Sizzling Pork Sisig (P295) + Rice (P30)

At this point, you'll have a lot of wet clothes. I don't want to bring home wet clothes so I decided to wash my clothes at a laundry shop near Centrale the night before.

P100 per kilo with discount if wet. Quite expensive but worth it.

You can pick it up tomorrow morning.

🏖️ Another beautiful beach you can easily access for free

✈️ This is located beside Lio Airport

🛵 Just 15 to 20 minutes away from the town proper

- Another delicious and Instagrammable vegan cafe

- Sample order: Sausilog (Sausage with egg, rice, and water melon) at P380 and Iced Latte with Soy Milk at P190

- The initial plan was to visit Art Cafe but it was raining

- In front of El Nido Central School

- Sample order: chicken inasal with unli rice (P199)

To go home, just reverse the process going here:

🛵 Ride a tricycle going to the van terminal (P50 per head)

🚐 Ride a van going to Puerto Princesa (Book Here)

🥄 Dinner at Femssan (sample order: fried chicken + chopseuy + 1 rice for P200)

Duration: 6 hours

✈️ Flight to Metro Manila