El Nido
Limestone cliffs rising straight out of Bacuit Bay, and lagoons so clear you can watch your kayak's shadow glide over the coral.
The Philippines' most famous view — worth planning properly
At the northern tip of Palawan, El Nido faces Bacuit Bay: a scatter of jagged limestone islands, each one hiding a lagoon, a white beach or a snorkelling cove behind its cliffs. This is the postcard most people picture when they imagine the Philippines, and it earns the reputation — never more so than from the seat of a kayak drifting into Big Lagoon at eight in the morning, an hour before the day boats round the headland.
It is also a place where small decisions quietly shape the whole holiday. Boat tours can be called off when the swell picks up, even in the dry season, so a spare day is not a luxury but a sensible margin. Mains power still stutters here, so a hotel with a proper generator saves an evening. And where you sleep changes the trip entirely — town buzz, sunset-facing beach or a private island of your own. That is why we plan El Nido around the room first and build the days around it, rather than the other way about.
It suits couples and honeymooners after the classic lagoon scenery, first-time visitors to the Philippines, keen photographers, and families with children old enough to enjoy a full day on the water. If your idea of the perfect holiday is stepping from your room straight onto a long swimming beach, or a lively bar scene after dark, you may be happier on Boracay. El Nido's magic is out in the bay, not on the doorstep — and that is precisely the point.
What to do in El Nido
The heart of El Nido is island hopping in Bacuit Bay, sold as four set routes — Tour A through Tour D. You don't need all four, and running them back to back turns a holiday into a commute. For most travellers Tour A and Tour C are the ideal pair, and we generally add a third day for a beach or as weather insurance rather than a fourth boat.
Tour A is the classic. You kayak into Big Lagoon between cliffs that lean overhead, wade into the near-hidden Small Lagoon, duck through the crack in the rock that opens into Secret Lagoon, snorkel off Shimizu Island and finish the day on the sandspit of Seven Commandos Beach. Tour C is the wilder, more cinematic circuit: the pinnacle of Helicopter Island, the cliff-walled Hidden Beach, Secret Beach reached by swimming through a gap in the rock at the right tide, and the sheltered water around Matinloc. Tour C sits in more open sea, so it is the first to be scrubbed when conditions turn — one more reason to hold a flexible day.
The quieter routes have their moments too. Tour B trades headline lagoons for a sandbar you can walk between islands at low tide, a cave and gentle snorkelling — a calm choice for families or a rough-sea day. Tour D takes in the emerald Cadlao Lagoon and a run of near-empty beaches, and makes an easy substitute when Tour C is off. Whichever we choose, we usually arrange these as private boat tours for couples, families and small groups: your own banca, your own pace, and timing that reaches the marquee stops before or after the flotilla.
Beyond the water there is more than most itineraries allow time for. Watch the sun drop with a cold drink at Las Cabañas (also known as Marimegmeg) Beach, give a lazy half-day to the four-kilometre golden sweep of Nacpan Beach, or ride the tandem zipline that runs out over the bay from Las Cabañas. Divers can add a day on the local reefs, though those chasing wrecks generally carry on to Coron.
Where to stay in El Nido
Four distinct areas, four quite different holidays — and getting this right matters more here than almost anywhere in the Philippines.
El Nido Town puts you among the restaurants, bars and tour jetties: convenient and sociable, but the busiest corner of the bay, and the town beach is a working harbourfront rather than one you'll swim from. Corong Corong, a few minutes south, faces west across the water — quieter beachfront hotels and the finest sunsets in El Nido, our usual pick for a first stay. Lio Beach, up near the little airport, is a calm, master-planned strip with a long clean beach and newer resorts, and it suits families who want to walk from room to sand. Then there are the private-island resorts out in Bacuit Bay itself — one resort to an island, a house reef off the jetty and lagoon trips that leave before anyone else is awake. The best-known cluster their own islands: Miniloc and Lagen for that castaway hush, Pangulasian for a polished honeymoon, and Cauayan Island for barefoot luxury with a spa. These are a genuine splurge, and worth it.
Our take: don't squeeze El Nido, and never book it on photographs alone. Give it three to four nights — two island-hopping days plus one held loosely for weather or a beach — and sleep in Corong Corong or Lio rather than the town centre. If the wider trip allows a single indulgence, make it one night on a private island in Bacuit Bay. It is the upgrade our travellers mention long after they're home.
Combines well with
El Nido pairs naturally with Coron — a 4–5 hour fast ferry links the two, giving you Palawan's lagoons and its famous WWII wrecks in one route. Many travellers arrive via Puerto Princesa, visiting the Underground River before the scenic 5–6 hour drive north. With direct flights, El Nido also connects smoothly to Bohol and Cebu for a second, completely different island chapter.
See El Nido from the right boat, the right beach, the right room.
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