El Nido

Day 2 and 3: El Nido 

(Part of the Puerto Princesa to El Nido adventure. See Puerto Princesa City Tour and Underground River stories, too.)

El Nido

Travel Notes:

Bus Terminal: (within Puerto Princesa take a tricycle to the bus/van terminal for El Nido
Bus Fare: Php 300 ~
Travel Time: 8 hours (van takes 5 hrs)
Accommodation: 500/night (Beb's Tourist Inn; or you can go around and look for accommodations; believe me, you won't run out.)


From Puerto Prinsesa to El Nido, we took the bus that leaves at 5 am, and the trip takes at least 8 hours. They say the van is faster, but taking it would be a crazy thing to do when it has been raining for days. The road will be so unforgiving, you would wish you had brought your camping gear with you. 

Bus ride to El Nido 

In any case, if you took the van, you would just be two hours earlier, and its first trip is at 7am. It is more practical to take the 5am bus, as you will get to El Nido about the same time as the van that leaves at 7am. And, it is so much cheaper (van costs 600php)!

In El Nido, you can have a lot of choices for places to stay in, ranging from 500php to 3000 or more. We took the room that costs 500. No AC , but has a fan, own bathroom, two beds, and a friendly owner. This trip was not about hotels, where I could sleep in the whole day! I could do that in the city. I was there for the adventure, and a mission that I could survive with spending just a thousand per day. Nothing more. To be honest, though, I was thankful it rained the whole time we were there. It would have probably been too hot with just the fan if it hadn't. 

Anyhow, we stayed at Beb's Tourist Inn. She gave us thermos-full of hot water for coffee and noodles. She also allowed us to cook using our collapsible stove, and arranged the island tour, as well. 

There are different island tours (Tour A, B, C) there in El Nido. You could also do a "combination" tour where you will be able to go to more islands. Private tours (if you don't want strangers to be hopping around with you) cost about 2000-3000php. With at least 6 people, you can avail of the group tour. There were only three of us, so we asked Tita Bebs to look for another group that we could join in. It was not a problem for her. She said that it was something that most tourists there do, and always, they find a group for a tour. 

The next day, we found out we were going to be touring with Japanese farmers. It was fun, mostly because, they did not bother us with difficult questions about this and that. The only time we got to talk was when we stopped over an island to have coffee! We were shivering because of the rain and the wind, and we thought it would be a good idea to be at the final destination as fast we could for a cup of coffee. It is the only island that's got a store that sells pretty much everything you need. 

So, sadly for us, we had to cut this tour short because of the weather. The waves I saw then really made me think about sharks and hypothermia. They were so big it felt like riding the carousel.

We got back to El Nido town proper at 2pm, making the whole island tour last for just 5 hours. We wanted to try out rock climbing, but it was already too late. The climb would take 3 hours at least, and with that kind of weather, it would be very risky.

We left for Puerto Princesa the next day, at 7am, after missing the 5am bus. You could only imagine how infuriating it was, not being able to stick to the plan. Oh well! Sometimes, it is just so good to stay in bed a little longer than necessary.


(Continue on to Day 4 and 5 here).