Excursions and activities in El Nido

Known for its beautiful marine park - reserve. It received tourist development not so long ago - in the 90s of the last century. People come here for the beauty of Bakit Bay - many large and small islands, the cleanest sea and a rather beautiful underwater world. As a result, the main excursion programs here are tours to the islands. 4 routes are offered - A, B, C and D (or 1/2 day), differing in sailing areas and duration.

Tickets are sold at every turn, the average cost is 1300 - 1400 pesos (spring 2014), but no one forbids bargaining, you can buy cheaper. According to the recommendations of residents, the most interesting routes- this is A and C, B - so-so. Well, route D, if you wish, you can go on your own in a kayak.

In addition to the cost of the tour, before the start of the tour, you must also pay an environmental fee - 200 pesos. Paid once, valid for 10 days. If you go later on other tours, keep your ticket.

Little advice for all tours- if you intend to take pictures, take care of the hermetic bag for the camera, because many beauties will have to swim.

This time we will talk about round A. All routes start from the main beach in El Nido.

For those waiting to board their boat, even some service is provided.
Travel time to the first stop is approximately 40 minutes.

The place is called - Blue Lagoon.

To get into it, you need to swim past a very narrow passage in the rock. There are a lot of people who want to, queues can even form at the entrance. If you are not a very good swimmer, don't forget to wear a life jacket. Be careful! Some storm the entrance in kayaks, while not knowing how to manage them at all and flailing with oars for nothing - you can easily get hit on the head.
The nutria is beautiful, but too crowded.

The next point is a walk along the Great Lagoon.
Impressive views.
At this time, the guides begin to bake squid and fish for the upcoming dinner.
The space between the rocks is filled with smoke and smells.

Then stop at a wonderful place and have lunch. While he's getting ready
you can swim
and take a walk.
Fed to satiety - the guys did their best.
After lunch, the Secret Beach was waiting for us, which is not visible from the water at all, because. is located inside a rock well (remember the advice above), only the neighboring beach is visible in this photo.
The entrance to the secret is where the cluster of boats is. To get to it, you need to dive (or climb if the tide has already gained strength) through a narrow hole in the rocks. To be alone is a very interesting energy in this place. If you are here, try to lie down on the water, relax and look at the sky for at least a couple of minutes - as they say, “it blows the tower”. And it's not really blue water.

Island Hopping Tours.

In the North of the island of Palawan, nature is of stunning beauty, which for the most part is interesting, of course, with many small islands, lagoons and mysterious natural phenomena, like Hidden or secret beaches, for example, which are hidden behind rocks or with an entrance only under water. There are so many places to visit that it is not easy to cover everything in one day and, not knowing what is what, making a route is not an easy task. Therefore, in El Nido there are 4 types of boat tours around the islands, beaches and lagoons, they are simply called:A , B , C , D.

A year ago (or maybe less) tour prices were 700-900 pesos. As of January 2014 - from 1200 to 1400 pesos(including ETDF and lunch).

1) at the hotel we were offered 1600 pesos per person (and there were six of us), includingETDF, lunch and other passengers;

3) Las cabanas more good for walks and photos :)

4) Another beach worthy of attention - Nacpan Beach. It takes about 40 minutes to drive to the northeast, a trip for three will cost about 1200 pesos, four - 1500 p. Right there on the way you will meet rice fields, and the driver of the tricycle will gladly organize a trip to the waterfall for you (only 5 meters high, it takes minutes to walk 30 through the jungle, but as a reward you can swim in a cool pool of mountain water).

Nacpan- one of the best beaches in El Nido: it stretches for several kilometers in length and ten meters in width, waves sometimes reach several meters, absolutely not touristy, except for one institution on the coast, where all dishes cost 150 pesos (meat and fish).

* Thanks to Olya, Lena, Grisha and Vanya for the information and photos :)

Dreams Come True.

Last time we talked about where and for how much in El Nido you can eat, live and move around. The latter is directly related to a young guy - a tricycle driver, whom we also already mentioned.

Jason 27 years old, he has four brothers and one sister. Due to the fact that six of us were moving, we asked to find a second driver, thereby getting acquainted with his two brothers. Jason has two children: a two-year-old son Jade (whose name his white tricycle proudly bears) and a breast-feeding girl whom he affectionately calls princess.

Once Jason drove us to the beach and we all knew the script: he would drop us off at the footpath and wait upstairs on a dusty road where dozens of drivers play street games for money all day. Jason does not play - he says he is not strong in this matter. This is probably why he always asked to pay only on the way back immediately for both ends. So, he stands there for as long as he likes, while we sunbathe and swim, to pick up and take us back to the city.
Need to explain: there are not so many tourists in El Nido after the New Year, or rather, there are more tricycles. Many drivers just hang out all day without earning a peso. Therefore, having exchanged phone numbers from the very first day, Jason came on our first call or SMS, and then wrote back messages of gratitude for using his services. In general, for 270 pesos a day (this is how we managed to get to the beach and back), he was very grateful to us, whether it is worth talking about trips to Nacpan Beach and the waterfall.

So let's go back to the beginning of the story.

Once Jason drove us to the beach and everyone knew the script beforehand. But since we had known each other for more than a day and, knowing that he still didn’t play, they called Jason to the beach to swim with them. He was a little embarrassed and asked: “And for you, this ok ? “Of course, ok,” we replied. "Well, then I agree!"Jason called the second driver (his cousin Dele, with whom our guys were traveling), and we all went to the beach together.

Yesterday we went on a tour of the islands in - Tour B (Tour B). A lot of time has passed since we went on the first excursion, because. all the time there was non-flying weather for the next tour ... First there was a 4-day typhoon, and then the weather improved, but still strong waves, and this is dangerous for boat trips. And yesterday, finally, was the most suitable weather! But it was still scary to swim ... the waves were very large, we were constantly doused with water and rocked. At first I was very scared, but then I thought that if it were dangerous, we would not have been brought here, and I calmed down. And as soon as I calmed down, I immediately began to like to swim on the waves and refresh myself with the splashes of the sea!

Tour B costs 800 pesos per person (lunch included). If you need masks, then an additional 100 pesos per person. In general, it is this tour that focuses more on just swimming, exploring beautiful places and caves, and not on snorkeling, unlike tours A and C.

The Tour B tour includes visits to the following places:

— Snake Island
- Cudognon Cave
– Cathedral Cave (on Pinasil Island)
- View from the cool Lagen Resort
— Pinagbuyutan Island

Also, when there are no strong waves, this tour includes a visit to Pangulasian Island, but in the summer there are always waves.

Here we are leaving our resort. This is the view from the boat. By the way, we started at 10 am.

The beach of our hotel from the side.

He is.

And still he.

When the waves became a little smaller, and the spray stopped flying at us, I was able to take a few shots.

We are approaching the first point from Tour B - this is Snake Island, i.e. Snake Island. There is nothing to see here with a mask, but you can swim wonderfully and enjoy the views. The island is named so because it has a snake-shaped scythe. But now it was high tide, so this snake scythe could only be seen from the hill, where we went after swimming.

The water here is amazing! Very, very clean, transparent and beautiful color. But the only drawback is that there were a lot of tourists here. We are already so used to being alone everywhere ... By the way, the last time, that this time we sailed on an excursion only three of us, although before we always (in China, Turkey,) we had excursions with a crowd of people.

By the way, the water here is salty-salty, from splashes alone on the way there are such salt crystals on the hand.

And so we climbed the hill, in about 5 minutes.

Snake Island in all its glory. But I think it looks more spectacular when there is no strong tide. And now the water has risen to a level as tall as a man and even higher.

Here is such, by the way, the path to this hill (hill).

View from the other side.

Then we sailed to Cudognon Cave and along the way there were, as always, beautiful views. It’s a pity that it’s hard to convey this in photographs ... In real life, it’s all much more beautiful and impressive!

We are approaching the cave. Here, like Snake Island, there were also tourists.

And here is the cave itself. It was necessary to climb there either head first or feet first. Legs are easier.

Our escort laid out a vest for us so that we could climb softer.

Inside the cave. There are two compartments, one with water just below the knee, the other without water.

Our dude took pictures of us in the biggest holes in the cave.

Here we had lunch. For me they 'cooked' bananas, an apple and red watermelon, and for the girls squid, octopus and grilled chicken (fried right there). By the way, while they were preparing lunch, we swam here with masks - the underwater world is so-so.

Nearby was the next cave - Cathedral Cave. Here in this island called Pinasil.

This cave is very beautiful, but you can't swim here, because. very large and sharp stones inside. So you can only admire from the side.

Today, the individual islands belonging to El Nido were very clearly visible. Let me remind you that El Nido is 45 islands, most of which are uninhabited. It's so cool to sail on a boat among this many islands, they are everywhere, and it's so beautiful!

Further on the plan is an expensive resort called Lagen Resort. We were shocked by the prices… A night stay in this hotel costs 37.000 pesos!!! Our boatman Larry (a.k.a. tricycle driver) repeated this several times. And he also said that this does not include food, only accommodation.

Yes, this is probably a very cool place, but still the price is too inadequate.

And the last place we visited in Tour B is Pinagbuyutan Island. Here he is from afar.

There is a beautiful snow-white beach and a calm clear sea, without the slightest wave. It is good to swim on this beach, but not to snorkel. there is nothing to see under the water - only sand, only a few gray fishes floated by.

This beach is located on such a side of the island that in the afternoon it is not illuminated by the sun - it is hidden behind the rocks.

Tour A in El Nido is considered the most popular tour of the 4 offered - A, B, C, D. All tours take place in Bacuit Bay on the many different small islands adjacent to El Nido. Initially, we planned to go on 3 tours out of 4, so it didn’t really matter for us which tour to start with. The locals said that the most popular tour is A, so we decided to start with it.

The price for tour A is usually 1300-1400 pesos, but you can bargain, as the tour can be bought everywhere in El Nido, even from a local passerby on the street. We bought all tours in our hotel Residencia Katrina Bed and Breakfast, as we managed to bargain well. Tour A we bought for 1100 pesos per person, while saying that we will definitely buy the rest of the tours from them. You will also have to pay 200 pesos per person for an environmental fee, which is valid for 10 days and is paid only 1 time. You must be given a piece of paper confirming that you paid this fee. I advise you to carry this piece of paper everywhere with you, if suddenly you will be forced to pay this fee again. By the way, they didn’t give us any paper, but they didn’t ask for it, I think it was because we bought all the tours from one person.

Tour A may or may not include the price of fins and masks. Always check before buying tours. Our tour A did not include fins, we paid extra for them separately at 150 pesos per person. Masks are usually included in tour prices.

The above price for the tour assumes a collective tour of 14-18 people on a boat, usually the locals try to put Europeans in one boat, they sort it out, so to speak. 🙂 In our boat there were 6 Americans, 2 Englishmen, a couple of local Filipinos and a couple more people from Europe, there were no Russians, except for the two of us with my husband. Tour time is from 9 am to 5 pm.

Good hotels in El Nido on Booking:

Description of tour A in El Nido

Tour A includes a boat trip to the following locations:

• Small Lagoon - Miniloc Island
• Big Lagoon (Big Lagoon) - Miniloc Island
• Secret Lagoon - Miniloc Island
• Shimizu Island (Shimzu Island) - snorkeling and lunch on the island
• Seven Commando Beach (Beach of 7 commanders) - relaxing on the beach, located very close to the bay of El Nido, you can swim here on your own in a kayak.

All tours start at the main El Nido beach bay.

They usually come here by 9 am and we, for example, were waiting for our boat and sailed only at 10 am. I think it was because of this that we also sailed back not at 5 pm, but at 6.

Travel time to the first stop is 40 minutes. I recommend that you bring more cash with you, as they will offer kayaking around the bays, a kayak for two costs 300 pesos, and such mini-bars on the water will swim up to you along the way and offer drinks, fruits, snacks.

So, the first stop is Malaya Bukhta.

It is here that it is best for you to take a kayak, since the entrance to the bay is very small, you can either swim there yourself or in a kayak.

Boats do not always get up at the entrance to the bay, ours, for example, stood so far from the bay that for a long time I thought that we had arrived at the beach, which was visible nearby 🙂

The entrance to the bay itself is so small that it was very interesting for us to sail there in a kayak. The water is clear, in some places you can see huge stones under the water, after one bay you get into another. I enjoyed this self-guided kayak trip so much that I wouldn't mind staying here for another hour.

There are not very many people, someone sailed here without a kayak, although the distance is not at all small, and the bottom is not sandy. It is very beautiful inside, we swam along the tall cliffs, even swam right under the rock. I really, really liked this place!

Next stop is the Great Lagoon.

We have already sailed along it on a large boat, but here they also offer kayaking. A lot of people here just swim near their boats, but we didn’t stop and sailed back and forth along the bay.

The riot of green colors here just rolls over - the water is saturated green, as well as greenery on the rocks, and in some places there is a lot of it, also a very saturated emerald color. Pleasant to the eyes!

The next stop, in theory, was supposed to be the Secret Lagoon, but I don’t remember at all that we stopped there, perhaps we didn’t have such a stop, since the ship’s commanders 🙂 decide where we will definitely call by the weather. Here the sun was shining, and then it was raining.

Next stop - Shimzu Island - perfect place for snorkeling, and also had our lunch here. Lunch is included in the tour price.

You can also relax on the beach here if you don't want to snorkel.

We gladly swam to the nearest mini-island and swam it in a circle!!! It was unforgettable, the corals made us happy. 🙂

After that, a delicious dinner was waiting for us, everyone was hungry and the table was quickly empty.

After most of the boats began to move away from the island, it became possible to take a photo without people. The island is surrounded by beautiful rocks. And here we made a lot of beautiful memorable shots.

After that, we sailed to the last point of our tour A - 7 Commandos beach.

We were here for about an hour. There is a bar on the beach, although the prices are very high.

We walked around the entire beach, swam a lot, rested.

And I rode the bungee 2 times! It was very, very fun.

Ed Nido is a land of limestone monoliths rising above the blue-green waters of the South China Sea in the Philippine province of Palawan. After a long road to this still a bit wild place and a lot of thinking about choosing accommodation, it's time to jump on a boat with some good-natured and silent local captain and go to do what tourists are drawn to here despite the high cost and long road - island hopping ( island hopping!

These walks in El Nido are arranged by diligent Filipino travel agents into tours called without much fuss, A, B, C, D and E.

If you want to save money and join a group tour, then you should settle in the town of El Nido itself to be closer to the pier and numerous agencies where you can bargain for a good discount. In such group tours, as a rule, large boats and 10 -15 people of fellow tourists are involved. In the low season, it can lead and there will be much fewer people at the same price.

Many people prefer to book a private tour with a boat for their small company. The advantages, in addition to the number of people in the boat, are obvious - wherever you want, you go there, without being tied to a specific tour. You can google specific places that are most interesting, say, for active snorkeling or a secluded beach, and agree with the captain on a specific route.
If you can already afford to get to El Nido, then I think you can also find money to rent a boat for yourself, especially if we are talking not about one person, but about a company of several.

We arranged a boat with the hotel, in the low season it was not much of a problem, and the price was reasonable (in conditions of housing on Krong Korong). The first day was not complete for us (until we got from the airport and checked into the room), so the boat trip on the first day was based on tour A, but not in it full version, without Secret Lagoon and Seven Commandos Beach.

First of all - the Small Lagoon Small Lagoon, which is located on the island of Miniloc, 30 minutes from El Nido.

It is not for nothing that this walk is called tour A, this is the first thing that should be in the tourist's schedule on El Nido. The lagoons of Miniloc Island are one of the main attractions of the area.

The Small Lagoon has a "dressing room" in the form of a large lagoon that communicates with the sea. Boats stop here, and then you need to get to Small Lagoon by swimming or by kayak, which you can rent here.

In the lagoon-dressing room there is a pleasant smoke from the barbecue, here, as a rule, boatmen begin to prepare dinner for tourists to eat at the next stop.

Here is such an "entrance" to the Small Lagoon, the size depends on the water level (low tide / high tide) with some effort it was possible to squeeze through in a kayak.

Sheer cliffs surround the lagoon, there is a strong echo here, if there are a lot of tourists around, it can be noisy. The snorkeling here was quite mediocre in terms of wildlife, although a stingray was spotted. Of interest are a variety of underwater caves.

Big Lagoon is not far at all. The lagoon is connected to the sea by a narrow and shallow channel, which at low tide cannot be crossed by boat, and you have to go on foot. In our case, the water level allowed us to get into the lagoon by boat.
The green-blue hues of the water in this channel are simply indescribable.

The lagoon itself is very large, but for some reason they don’t snorkel here, they just go around it in a circle and go on.

Shimizu Island is a short stop for lunch and beach.

And the subsequent snorkeling here, by the way, snorkeling turned out to be very decent, one of the best on El Nido.

Fish lured by tourists simply attacked the whole flock, although I had nothing for them.

The second day - a trip based on tour C, started (like everyone else) from Helicopter Island, an island that apparently resembles a helicopter in shape. A nice place but there were a lot of people here in the morning. It was Friday and most likely a landing of local tourists was pulled up. The sea was not calm and snorkeling did not work out.

One of the advantages of a private tour (private boat) is that you can change the schedule and stops on the trip. You can generally agree from the very beginning with the captain to drive the tour from the end to the beginning and avoid meeting with the crowds. For this reason, we immediately went to the island of Matinloc to look at the local temple and climb the rock to the observation point.

A small temple in honor of the Holy Virgin Mary.

Viewpoint on the Matinloc lagoon. Excellent views.

Near the temple in several places there are microscopic beaches where boats stop for lunch, in some places it was quite crowded, we can say we were lucky and no one was attached to "our" beach.

An attempt to get to Secret Beach ended in failure, the beach is connected to the sea by a very narrow passage and it is not at all easy and not safe to get there in a high wave. The beach is hidden from the sea by a kind of pocket of rocks and, judging by the photo, it is very standing place for visiting. Although of course this is no longer a "secret".
We turned towards Star Beach and stopped there for snorkeling, which was memorable for its impressive cliff and good visibility.

In addition, here we saw a turtle.

The last stop was Hidden Beach (not to be confused with Secret Beach) - the same elongated island of Matinloc. To get to the small beach and lagoon, you had to wade a little through the cave.

A very picturesque entrance.

Day 3 almost completely coincided with the schedule of tour B.

Unlike tour C, which is focused on snorkeling, tour B is mainly contemplative: rocks, caves, beautiful beaches.

For the previous two days we sailed away from this giant, and I was still curious to look at him up close, and the trip began just from this.

Next stop - Pinagbuyutan Island, here was beautiful beach and a lawn plucked by goats.

There was good snorkeling here: flocks of fish and Nemo.

We sailed past the Lagen Island resort with rooms for hundreds of dollars a night, and stopped to look at Cathedral Cave, we had to look from the side, because. you can only get inside by kayak, swimming, most likely, is not very safe.

Cadugnon Cave, where, according to some information, valuable artifacts from the Chinese Song Dynasty were once discovered, is located next to a quiet (in the absence of tourists) beach and a hotel with interesting name Alternative Cottages, the guests really were not visible.

To the cave you need to wade along the cliff, it is better to pack the camera thoroughly.

Although the caves do not particularly impress me, in general, this interesting place, and it successfully dilutes the other points of this trip related to beach snorkeling. To get into the cave, you need to squeeze into a narrow passage.

The path to Snake Island runs through the characteristic limestone boulders and on the third day, you may already stop noticing the beauty of these places and the landscape merges into one mass, you just need to remember that people come here for this and realize how beautiful what is happening around.

Snake Island is named so because of the shape of the sandbar, which meanders like a snake right in front of a tiny but very picturesque island.

The path leads to a small hill, from where you can be sure that such a name was not chosen for the island in vain.

After lunch, we snorkeled at some regular rock, the name of which I did not remember.

As a completion, a small picturesque and, most importantly, deserted beach on the island of Entalula was chosen.

A worthy end to the trip to El Nido: digest what you see under the sound of the sea

Many, when planning a trip to Palawan, struggle with the choice between El Nido and Coron, or try to fit both into one trip by taking the long boat trip from El Nido to Coron. It seems to me that these places are best visited on separate trips, both places are somewhat similar to each other, and in 5-7 days all these extraordinary landscapes can merge into one gray mass.

We were at Coron 3 years ago, and if there was still a choice between him and El Nido, I would probably choose Coron. El Nido, for all its outward wildness and inaccessibility, is a very developed place in terms of tourism, all trips are arranged into standard tours, and even if you take a boat just for yourself, the captains already lack the imagination to collect something for the specific desires of a tourist, many of them, they think with these most standard A B C. The same for food, if you don’t say anything, you will get approximately the same set of dishes on any boat with any captain. In the Crown, you yourself draw up a program, choose sea food in the market and go. That is, with all the external accessibility and development of Corona compared to El Nido, the rest turns out to be more "wild" and independent there.