Shannon and I first came to El Nido in 2009. I remember planning our trip and looking at the last chapter of the Lonely Planet and thinking ‘hmm… Palawan – must not be well known since it’s the last chapter but it sounds wonderful’. El Nido has expanded quite a bit since then. The road in 2009 from Puerto Princessa to El Nido (there’s only a small airport for private flights =$$$) was horrible- we got stuck in mud several times and had at least one flat tire. Times have changed but one thing remains the same – El Nido is still a gorgeous paradise.

Finding a guesthouse (under $25/night) was tough without reserving in advance. Most places were booked solid. New guesthouses and hotels are being built all around but can’t quite keep up with El Nido’s increasing popularity.

(Above) Here’s the view from the guesthouse we found available – only because they had a cancellation earlier in the day

The most popular activity to do is island hopping. There’s different stops for different tours but they basically take you to a couple islands for snorkeling and then cook lunch to enjoy on one of the beaches

The water is a beautiful cerulean blue and the Karst rock formations jut almost straight up out of the ocean

Our first stop was secret lagoon – you have to swim through an opening to enter and when you surface you are surrounded by cliffs coming out of the water.

After stopping here to chill for a bit, the boat continues on to the most scenic spot

Here’s a nice shot of the bangka boat we were on and a video from the boat

There was about 8 tourists on the boat and 3 crew. This beach was really pretty and had great snorkeling

After eating lunch here, we went to another stop

No beach here – just an abandoned mansion on this island – a little strange

One more snorkeling/beach stop before heading back to El Nido