What you MUST KNOW before visiting PALAWAN, Philippines - ULTIMATE GUIDE

this is your ultimate guide to the beautiful island of palawan including el nido koran and the beautiful islands of balaban palawan has been rated one of the most beautiful islands in the entire world and you'll soon see why from this video if you don't know me then i'm john i've been to palawan twice now and spent over six weeks in this beautiful province of the philippines now let's begin with the route and there is two ways you can go either from north to south or south north i recommend starting from the north in koh ron and flying into the airport of basunga there are frequent flights from manila and cebu so koran is not actually attached to the main island of palawan but it is a beautiful island and is one of my favorite places in the whole of the philippines now the best thing to do in kovan are the boat tours and the two i recommend are tour a and tour b now the must visit spots in koran are the twin lagoon kyogun lake and barracuda lake these spots are spectacular and the clarity of the water will literally blow your way kaigen lake is my favorite which is actually a freshwater lake and is beautifully clear and is great fun swimming under the water tours start from a thousand pesos and i'll leave a link in the description to one of the tours there's also a skeleton wreck where you can see an old world war ii shipwreck and if you're into shipwrecks you can actually scuba dive with them and there's a great dive tour around koran as there's some beautiful spots to explore we didn't have time to do this but we'd love to go at another point a popular thing to do in the evening is to go up to mount tapas for sunset the expansive views are absolutely beautiful and there's over 700 steps to get up here so you get very hot but trust me the views are worth it there's a hollywood style sign and you can walk along and escape the crowds another popular thing to do is go to the hot springs it's a beautiful spot and only costs 150 pesos and is not far from kovan town if you've got a big budget then i recommend staying at pauline house boats which is the only place to stay on co-ron island itself but they're actually floating on water and it's an amazing amazing experience the house grids are completely off grid and you're just swimming in this water surrounded by these huge cliffs if it's in your budget then i couldn't recommend this enough there's other activities you can do in koran like jet skiing and water sports and i'll leave a link in the description to them we visited kobo beach and if i'm honest it's nothing special and would only go if you've got spare time the boat tours are where the good stuff is in total i'd recommend three or four days in koh ron and once you've finished it's time to head to the next spot el nido to get to el nido you take a ferry which is now very expensive at 48 us dollars and takes about three and a half hours alternatively you can take a coke onto el nido expedition over three days and visit very remote islands in the region i haven't done it myself but people who have done it have said it is an absolutely amazing experience moving on to el nido which is probably the most famous place in palawan but there's also so much to do here if you've been to the pp islands in thailand it kind of gives me those kind of vibes and again the main thing to do in el nido are the boat tours the most popular ones being tour a and tour c these are the must do tours doing other tours like tour b and tour d will be a lot less crowded so if they are available i do recommend giving them a go to escape the crowds the best spots in toure are the big lagoon and the seven commandos beach this tour costs about 1200 pesos on tour the secret beach is awesome and after you've done a couple of tours you'll start to feel like you've seen a lot of the area torsi costs about 1400 pesos the tours we did were with friends hostel but the tour company is actually called happy life and i think they are the best tours in the whole of el nido you know exactly what you're getting and the staff are amazing and they even include an incredible buffet meal on the beach now one of the things you have to do in el nido is head up to nakpan beach which is a beach which stretches over four kilometers the best way to get to nakpan beach is probably by scooter which costs 500 pesos a day and you can go to other beaches and different spots around el nido too another great thing to do is head to las cabanas beach for sunset it's a perfect way to end the day and it is absolutely beautiful now if you're after quite a unique experience just one hour away from el nido town then you should try the isla island experience this place is like an island escape we spent two nights here and it was so relaxing and i totally recommend it you stay in these beach huts right next to the sea and it's a great place to relax and there's even a shipwreck you can swim to just off the shore there's also a chance of seeing turtles here we didn't see them but people before us did now where to stay in el nido town itself we actually stayed at friends hostel and it was absolutely amazing it's the only place in town which has a rooftop pool and if you're looking for a good sunset spot this is the place to be there's also a bar which is open every day and they also do amazing pasta nights pizza nights and taco nights this hostel is a really popular hostel and one of the best hostels i've ever stayed in the dorm rooms are amazing but the private rooms sell out really quickly so if you're looking to go here make sure you book well in advance another great activity you can do is renting kayaks you can do this from korankarong beach which is just the other side of the big hill in el nido and you could rent them from 600 pesos for a full day in the kites you can actually go to beaches which the big boat tours don't go to so that's a reason in itself to get kayaks to escape the crowds another really unique thing we did in el nido was stay at night in a yacht and i know this sounds crazy but you can actually do it in el nido on karankaran beach and it only costs 85 usd at night we're also very lucky that we were invited on el nido yachting club tour where we toured the islands and went to a private beach with no other tourists on them obviously this is a lot more expensive going on a boat tour on a yacht rather than the other boat tours like tour a tour b so if you've got the money and you've got a big budget then this is something you've got to do because you can escape the crowds now once you're done in el nido it's time to head further south and you can either go to port barton or right down to port-au-prince you can do this with mini buses which you get from kuronkarong bus terminal i'll leave a link in the description to book the minibus now i haven't been to port barton myself but i've heard some really nice things you can go on a boat tour there and apparently it's amazing for sunsets it's a really chilled out relaxing place so if you want some peace and quiet it's a good place to head to now if not head further south to ports of princess the big thing to do important princess is take a tour to the famous subterranean underground river which i think is the second longest underground river in the entire world and is actually one of the new seven wonders of the world if you want to go on this tour i'll leave a link in the description but now from port-au-prince we're gonna head to one of my favorite spots in the entire philippines and even the entire world because it is not that touristy yet but trust me it's gonna be and this place is ballerback balabac is beautiful and it's kind of like the maldives but without all the tourists it is amazing and i can't recommend doing enough we went on a tour with at balabakpalawan on instagram and if you've got any questions go to their website which will be linked down below or message them on instagram we booked a three night four day tour and visited some tropical islands sandbars and saw a whole lot of turtles we actually went on a private tour but there's also group tours which are a bit cheaper too on the tour you'll be on a boat and it can get pretty choppy so make sure you bring raincoats because it can get pretty crazy out in the waters now the places you go to on tour the first one and probably the best place is on knock island this place is literally the most tropical beautiful island i've ever been to another spot we went to was a sambar and another sandbar which actually had starfish around it and it was so cool seeing the starfish up close now let's talk about the not so fun stuff and that bala back is not that developed and so where you're staying is not going to be luxury so this is our beach teepee we stayed in these beach teepees we're actually really really cool and obviously there's a simple toilet and a bucket shower but honestly it is worth that and we would do it a thousand times again because it really is that beautiful now they're actually building some big resorts and hotels which are pretty swanky but hopefully they don't destroy it get there soon to miss the crowds and before this place absolutely blows up you can book the ballot pack tour with transportation so you can be picked up from the airport or from your hotel and then you don't have to get a mini bus yourself and once you're imported princess you can fly to another part of the philippines or you can fly to manila and back home guys that is my ultimate guide on palawan if you've got any questions please leave them down below and i'll do my best to answer them and if you don't already follow me on instagram because i've got some amazing photos of palawan and all my travels on there please please like the video if you found it helpful it means so much thank you so much see you in the next video see you later bye

Channel: Joel Friend

Views: 161,720

Keywords: palawan, el nido, coron, balabac, travel guide, the philippinnes

Id: bbC3eLn3iAY

Length: 8min 50sec (530 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 21 2022