There’s enough around El Nido to keep you busy for an entire week, and more. Of course your first priority is to explore the sublime Bacuit Archipelago. But if you’re like me and crowded tours aren’t always your thing, there are a multitude of activities you can do on your own on the island, at your own pace and on your own schedule. 

First off – enjoy a lazy morning! You’re on vacations after all and needing to rush out early to meet your tour is not everyone’s cup of tea. Order breakfast service and just gaze at the stunning scenery to the sound of birds and local life. I really couldn’t have asked for a better breakfast nook than on my balcony at El Nido Overlooking.

A filling and delicious Filipino breakfast of eggs, garlic fried rice and tocino (a sweet, cured pork cut similar to bacon).

A little morning walk in the middle of all the island’s activity is a great way to start your day and see the locals in their day-to-day. The market is right outside the main downtown area and easily reachable by foot. 

You’ll find a riot of colors as you peruse the wonderful fruits, veggies, herbs and other local staples of the Filipino diet.

Smell your way to the Japanese hot cakes stand and make sure you grab one of these freshly made pancakes. They’re a popular street food snack here in the Philippines and just melt in your mouth.

A rice stand with different kinds of this daily staple.

The main building is filled with seafood and meat vendors and a quick tour will make you want to throw a giant dinner party. The shrimps are huge and superb, the squid as fresh as you’ve ever seen them with bulging bright eyes, and the meat just perfectly fatty – they do love their pork belly over here!

A catholic church down from the market.

At the entrance of the downtown area, you’ll see a sign pointing towards the cliffs for El Nido Canopy Walk. It’s a fantastic and quick morning activity to stretch your legs and take in some pretty cool views. Within 2 minutes of leaving the main road, you’ll find yourself in a wooden area, sign up with a guide at the entrance gate, and after getting a harness and hard hat, make your way towards the cliffs. 

You’ll start climbing first through some large rocks before beginning the ascent via a series of metal staircases, until you reach the suspended bridge.

Nice views of Mount Taraw which is the huge backdrop of El Nido as you approach from the water. 

More stairs await at the end of the bridge which will lead you to the top and the observation deck.

Totally worth it! You’ll have the best view of El Nido from up here and all the tour boats on their way to the archipelago. 

Time to venture outside of town! You could rent a motorbike or hire a local tuk-tuk for the day which I recommend for peace of mind and having someone who knows the way. Getting around Palawan is fairly simple though some of the roads are in bad shape so make sure you’re comfortable on whichever wheels you choose. 

Heading north, there’s a nice and easy hike one can do to see some waterfalls called the Nagkalit-Kalit Falls.

The trail is mostly flat and goes through lovely pastures and into the forest, providing you with some welcome shade for the majority of it. You’ll need to follow a guide as the trail is unmarked. With around eight river crossings, going alone could be somewhat disorientating! 

Wear flip flops for this one – your feet will get very wet and the cool water will feel divine.

While there’s not a lot of wildlife activities in these parts, keep your eyes open for huge butterflies which make a regular appearance.

After about 20-30 minutes you’ll reach the small waterfall.

There’s an inviting natural pool for you to take a refreshing dip before retracing back your steps. 

That was a pretty packed morning, so now the rest of the day should be spent lounging on one of the most beautiful beaches on the island: Nacpan Beach. 

3 km of golden sand, gently rolling waves, swaying palm trees, and just enough beach restaurants and bars to cater to everyone without it feeling too developed. It is perfect. 

Rent a lounge chair and spend the rest of the day relaxing in this gorgeous setting.

Sunmai Sunset Restaurant has a very cool and beach chic vibe, and the food and drinks were tasty as well. Here’s the local dish of sisig made with minced pork, chopped onions and chicken liver and served on a sizzling platter. 

Another option for a great day in El Nido is to stay close by and enjoy the emerging local beach scene. While NacPan beach is superb, no need to drive 45 minutes away to get your sun, sand and sea action as there are some great beaches right on the outskirts of El Nido. The closest one, Corong Corong, is only 10 minutes away and accessible via a lovely promenade lined with little eateries and shops.

This beach is pretty quiet during the day and you could certainly have a little corner all to yourself for a while. Bring a book and some sunscreen as shade is hard to come by and the shallow waters aren’t great for swimming. This is the beach for when you just want to lay down and do nothing!

Come lunchtime, take your pick from the handful of hotels and restaurants sparsely lining the shore. Having the luxury of that setting without the crowd (everybody’s gone on a boat tour) is pure bliss. 

A simple meal of fresh grilled tuna with rice and vegetables.

If you’ve had enough of the sun and looking to just lounge around, head over to La Plage Sunset Bar & Restaurant where the chill vibe will win you over. Choose between the bar, a table, some floor cushions or even the mini pool to while away a few hours. 

If you have room, their mango crumble is the perfect mid-afternoon treat…

Beach-hopping is easy around here and you should aim to get to the next one just down south called Marimegmeg for the golden hours of late afternoon. It’s a totally different scene here – more people, great swimming, lots of cute little bars and restaurants and absolutely perfect angle to watch the sunset, which is why it gets crowded late in the day. 

If you keep on walking along Marimegmeg you’ll end up at yet another beach – Las Cabañas. More rugged and absolutely beautiful, you might have an entire stretch to yourself if you’re lucky. 

Station yourself here for that fleeting golden hour before walking back along the beach to find the entrance to a very special place…

What is probably the best secret of that beach, and if not of the entire town of El Nido, hides in the middle of the jungle climbing up from Marimegmeg. A ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ sign among so many others points the way inland behind a beach bar to ‘The Birdhouse‘. 

Follow the path until you reach the entrance and the foot of the stairs. 

Take your time – you’ll be climbing for a little while! Your spirits are kept high though as you’ll come across a few signs with motivational messages like “one step at a time!” and “the best is yet to come!”.

Eventually you’ll reach your destination which is a collection of glamping tents around a wonderful restaurant high up on the hill. I had looked into staying here as it is truly inspirational but they were fully booked, and are usually sold out months in advance so early planning is required. At least you can come up for a meal or partake in one of their yoga sessions.

The onsite restaurant – The Nesting Table – is as instagrammable as they come. All the eco, boho-chic adjectives apply here, and the view is drop-dead gorgeous. Treehouse Gone Glam would be an appropriate moniker. 

Order a freshly pressed juice or a cocktail and settle outside in their very cozy terrace.

The birds-eye view never gets old…

Hang around until sundown and stay for a cozy and delicious dinner. The menu is locally sourced with a lot of vegetables-focused dishes and the candle-lit room makes for the dreamiest of evenings.

Walking down all those stairs should be easier now, unless you’ve decided to end your Philippines stay with a cocktail marathon! The evening beach scene waiting below might convince you to extend your stay, or at least grab another drink with your feet in the sand. Paradise truly is harder to leave than you thought…

I’ll admit it, the word ‘paradise’ is an overused term in the travel industry, today almost synonymous with any warm place that allows us to disconnect a bit from our crazy busy city lives… I was trying to avoid using it here but in all honesty, describing El Nido with anything less would be really offensive. This corner of the Philippines is after all listed among the most beautiful places in the world and attempting to lower your expectations would be futile. 

There are two ways to reach this paradise: the long, slightly painful and cheapest is to fly into Puerto Princesa and then take a 5 hours van ride to El Nido. The quickest and much more comfortable Air Swift flight from Manila though will get you a few minutes taxi ride from El Nido proper, hence leaving you with much more time to enjoy this stunning locale. I obviously opted for the latter seeing as I had little time on my hands and said goodbye to Manila on board a quick 75 minutes flight over the deep blue sea.

The contrast between the industrial landscape you just left and the one filling your airplane window as you approach the island of Palawan is staggering. Welcome to paradise. 🙂 

Your welcome at the small but super modern airport of El Nido consists of a bright purple umbrella lent just for the short walk on the tarmac to shield you from the midday sun – how thoughtful. 

A quick ride will soon bring you to the town of El Nido, my base for the next couple of days. 

The town’s main beach is pretty ordinary and you’ll likely only use it to get to restaurants, bars, and your daily tours as there are far superior stretches of sand very close by.

El Nido is encircled by towering limestone cliffs which give the area its arresting silhouette and diminish the size of anything propped against them…including the entire town!   

Streets bleeding out from the beach are filled with emerging restaurants, bars, shops and hostels. The Artcafe is a popular hangout for casual food in a homey space.

Tap into the local supply of young coconut to quench your thirst from the afternoon heat.

While there are plenty of Western dishes on offer, try the pancit, a local dish of stir-fried noodles usually served with meat, vegetables and some roasted peanuts for crunch. 

The small downtown is easy to navigate with the usual amount of heavy foot and motorcycle traffic expected in these parts.

One can grab many snacks (Filipinos loooove their sweets!), coffees and treats every couple of feet, perfect for a beach picnic or enjoying back at your hotel. 

Speaking of which – like everywhere in the Philippines there are a lot of options for backpackers or those on a budget with rooms going for $20 and up. And this being Palawan, and one of the most stunning places on earth, you also have the luxury options that cater to honeymooners and the like. I found the middle category to be somewhat lacking in choices and variety but was immensely glad to land on El Nido Overlooking.

Located just a bit outside the downtown area along the main road, the four villas are perched on top of a hill overlooking the bay, far enough from the city noises. 

I stayed in the ‘Cottage’ for the reason you see right here – the most drop-dead gorgeous view from the terrace. I mean look at this! The Bacuit Bay, home to all of these stunning islands people fly from all over the world to see, extended right before my eyes. I honestly thought for a brief moment to never leave my balcony.

The pool is in an equally enchanting setting, perfect for a sunset cocktail…

It’s time to go explore this magical bay and find out what El Nido is really all about – island hopping! Ask anyone who’s ever been here and they’ll all tell you about their favorite boat tours and excursions. No matter how pleasant the mainland might seem, wait until you’ve gone beyond its shore…

Every morning, the town beach is filled with tourists and boats ready to depart for the day’s adventures. Thankfully they’ve made it really easy for everyone – there are only 4 tours offered: A, B, C, and D. Pretty simple, right? You can book them from pretty much everywhere: your hotel, the guy on the street, a website, etc. Obviously if you’re willing to pay more you can get a more comfortable vessel and amenities, but for the majority, all the tours cost around $25 for the full day with lunch included with a group of 10-20 on average. 

If you’re only here for a few days, tours A and C are by far the most popular, bringing you to the islands most stunning spots. I went on Tour C first and here is a rundown of the beautiful day…

Leaving El Nido behind, you and a dozen other boats will speed towards the archipelago, passing jungle-fringed islands with deserted beaches.

After a little while you’ll eventually  stop near a few other boats for your first destination of the day: Hidden Beach. As its name implies, you can’t see anything from the boat but you trust your captain who invites you to jump in the water and make your way around one of the big rocks. I must point out that you should be in good swimming condition. It was a windy day and this is not the Caribbean – waves were crashing us and pulling us, giving us quite a workout just to get to the calmer water beyond the rocks.

What a change of scenery though…

This is what the brochures are selling you, that jaw-dropping postcard you can only dream of (FYI there are far fewer people in my dreams), these limestone cliffs jutting out of the water. I had never seen anything like it. 

You have about 30-45 minutes to enjoy the hidden beach before returning back to the boat which seems like a fleeting moment to capture so much beauty.

Back on the boat, excited about the next destination, still in awe of the profile of these 45 amazing islands that make up the Bacuit Bay Archipelago.

Quieter spot this time as we anchor at Matinloc Island. Nothing hidden here except for what’s underneath the surface – it’s snorkeling time! 

The pristine waters are calm enough here to allow for a gentle and relaxing snorkeling session with easy sightings of tons of species along a drop-off reef wall.

Third stop of the day is at Star Beach for lunch.

Delicious spread cooked on the boat and brought to the beach. All that swimming really does rev up an appetite! 

More adventures in the cards as we make our way to the famous Secret Beach. What makes this tiny crescent of sand a secret? Well the only way to access it is by passing through a tiny tunnel in the rocks. Not as easy as it sounds as with the day’s strong waves, it meant timing your swim-through perfectly with the current or risking being crashed against the wall. Well I did get scratched a bit but arrived safely on the other side, emerging in the middle of a quiet lagoon, completely surrounded by cathedral-size walls save for a tiny, perfect little secret beach. 

The last stop was for a beer and a last swim at Helicopter Island, and I guess I was so exhausted by then I forgot to take a pic… oops! It’s probably because all I could think about at this point was getting back in time to my cottage to witness this:

Options abound for dinner in town but I would highly recommend you stop by Angel Wish. Don’t let the line out of the door scare you from going to this local hotspot, it goes fast and it’s all worth it.

Right on the beach, the busy eatery specializes in seafood and fresh catch of the day, all displayed outside in front of their open kitchen. It’s super affordable, incredibly tasty and as close to an authentic experience you can get on the main tourist drag.

Stuffed squid and baked mussels (huge I might say!) downed with the local beer were the perfect ending to this enchanting day.

Stay tuned for more to do around El Nido besides the boat tours…