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

Book Amos Pili Tree Inn Here

- 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