El Nido, Palawan: A Travel Guide Beyond the Island Tours

The lagoons are worth every photo you’ve seen. But the El Nido I keep coming back for is the one you reach on two wheels, with no boat, no schedule, and no one else around.

Most people come to El Nido for the islands — and they should. Bacuit Bay, with its limestone cliffs rising straight out of impossibly clear water, is one of those rare places that somehow lives up to the hype. But after a few trips here, I’ve learned that the islands are only half the story. The other half is on the mainland: empty beaches at the end of dirt roads, sunsets with no crowd, and the kind of quiet that the famous lagoons lost a long time ago.

This is a guide to both — the must-do tours everyone takes, and the corners most visitors never reach.

Getting to El Nido

El Nido sits at the northern tip of Palawan, and there’s no way around the fact that it takes some effort to reach. That’s part of why it’s still worth it.

By air (fastest). The quickest route is flying directly into Lio Airport, just outside El Nido town, on AirSwift from Manila or Cebu. It costs considerably more than the alternatives, but it turns a full travel day into a short hop. If your time matters more than your budget, fly.

By van from Puerto Princesa (most common). This is the route I’ve taken — fly into Puerto Princesa, the bigger and cheaper airport, then take a shared van north to El Nido. It’s roughly a five to six hour drive and costs around ₱800 per person for the standard shared van. Private vans cost several times more. The road is mostly good now, winding through the Palawan interior, and it breaks up the journey if you base yourself in Puerto Princesa first like I did.

By ferry from Coron. If you’re combining El Nido with Coron (and many people do), fast ferries connect the two across the Linapacan strait. It’s a beautiful but sometimes choppy crossing — worth knowing if you’re prone to seasickness.

Where to Stay

El Nido’s accommodation splits roughly into a few areas, and where you stay shapes your whole trip:

• El Nido town — walkable, packed with restaurants and tour kiosks, and the most convenient base for island hopping. Also the busiest and noisiest.
• Corong-Corong — just south of town, quieter, with the best sunset views in the area and an easy tricycle ride into the centre.
• Lio — north of town near the airport, more polished and resort-oriented, with a long clean beach.
• Out near the beaches — if you want true seclusion, there are smaller places scattered toward Nacpan and the north, though you’ll need transport.

A practical note: bring cash. El Nido runs largely on cash, ATMs are limited and frequently empty, and many smaller guesthouses and restaurants don’t take cards.

The Island Hopping Tours (A, B, C, D)

This is what El Nido is famous for, and rightly so. The tours are standardised by the local government, so every operator runs the same four itineraries at the same regulated prices — generally around ₱1,200–1,500 per person, with a freshly grilled lunch included on a beach along the way. Booking through a more expensive kiosk doesn’t get you a different tour; it’s the same boats, same stops.

Here’s the quick version of what each covers:

• Tour A — the classic, and the one most people take. Big Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island, Seven Commandos Beach. If you only do one, do this.
• Tour B — quieter, with snorkelling, Snake Island’s sandbar, and cathedral caves.
• Tour C — the dramatic one. Hidden Beach, Secret Beach, Matinloc Shrine, and the towering cliffs of Tapiutan. This is the tour I’d push you toward after A.
• Tour D — the most relaxed, focused on beaches and lagoons closer to town.

Two important things have changed, so ignore older guides:

First, you can now only do one tour per day — the old combination tours (A+C, B+D) have been banned to ease pressure on the islands. Plan on a tour per day accordingly.

Second, there are now several fees on top of the tour price. You’ll pay an Eco-Tourism Development Fee of ₱400 per person (valid for 10 days, so keep the receipt), and the premium spots like the Big and Small Lagoons carry an additional environmental user fee of around ₱200 each, with pre-registration required. The Big Lagoon also requires a kayak (roughly ₱350) to enter. None of it is expensive individually, but it adds up — budget for it and bring the cash.

My honest take: the lagoons are stunning but they’re busy, sometimes with dozens of boats. Go early, manage your expectations on crowds, and remember the next section exists for a reason.

Beyond the Boats: El Nido’s Mainland Beaches

This is the part of El Nido I love most, and the part most guides skip. You don’t need a boat or a tour to find the best of it — you need a rented scooter and a willingness to drive a bit.

Scooter rental runs around ₱500 a day, and it’s the single best thing you can do to unlock the area. Here’s where I’d point you:

Nacpan Beach. About an hour north of town on a scooter, Nacpan is a four-kilometre stretch of golden sand that feels nothing like the busy bay. The ride out — through villages, past rice fields and the odd water buffalo — is half the experience. Go for the day, swim, eat at one of the simple beach spots, and ride back at golden hour. This is the El Nido that stays with you.

Lio Beach. Closer to town near the airport, Lio is cleaner and more manicured — a long, quiet beach backed by a low-key resort development. Good for an easy afternoon when you don’t want to travel far.

Vanilla Beach and Dolarog Beach. These quieter spots toward the south are the focus of my latest film, and they’re exactly the kind of place that doesn’t make the typical itinerary. Less developed, less photographed, and all the better for it. Reach them by scooter or boat and you’ll often have the sand to yourself.

The pattern here is simple: the further you’re willing to go from the main bay, the more El Nido opens up.

When to Go

The dry season, roughly late November to May, is the safe bet — calm seas, reliable island hopping, and the best chance of those postcard conditions. March and April are the peak of both weather and crowds.

The wet season (June to October) brings cheaper prices and far fewer people, but it’s a genuine gamble: tours get cancelled in bad weather, and the bay can turn grey and rough for days. I’ve travelled in shoulder season and had a real mix — one perfect tour, one rained out, one cancelled. If you go off-peak, build in spare days so a washout doesn’t cost you El Nido entirely.

Practical Tips

A few things worth knowing before you arrive:

• Cash is king. Bring more than you think you’ll need. ATMs are few and often out of cash, and most places don’t take cards.
• Keep your eco-fee receipt. The ₱400 ETDF is valid for 10 days across multiple tours — don’t pay it twice.
• Signal is patchy. Connectivity in town is okay; out toward the beaches it drops away. Download maps offline before you ride out.
• One tour per day — plan your island hopping over multiple days rather than trying to cram it in.
• Rent a scooter for at least a day or two. It’s how you see the El Nido that boats never reach.

What I Pack

Everything I film El Nido on fits in a small bag — the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 handles the boats, the wind and the water spray far better than you’d expect from something that size, and a waterproof case is non-negotiable on the island tours.

My travel gear — “See my full travel filmmaking kit” — plus any specific Amazon affiliate links for a waterproof case, dry bag, or microSD card that are especially relevant for El Nido’s wet conditions.

Final Thoughts

El Nido is two places at once. There’s the famous one — the lagoons, the tours, the photos that pulled you here in the first place, and they earn their reputation. And there’s the quieter one, at the end of a dirt road on a rented scooter, where the sand is empty and the only sound is the water.

Do the tours. They’re worth it. But leave a day for the other El Nido too. That’s the one I keep coming back for.

Some of the links in this guide are affiliate links. If you book or buy through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep Wander Cuts going. I only recommend places and gear I’d genuinely use myself.