Enchanting El Nido

*Traveled to El Nido in May of 2015

By now I guess you already know that I am a sucker for white sand beaches. I live for them!!! So any chance I get, I try to tick one off of my list. After Boracay and Bantayan Island, my next destination was El Nido in Palawan. I was very excited for this one because at the time it was named The Most Beautiful Island in the World by Conde Nast.



Reaching the island was again another pain in the arse. You fly in to Puerto Princesa in Palawan and plus a 5 hour van ride to the busy town of El Nido. It was evident how famous it is, because when we arrived there was a swarm of foreigners who came from different corners of the world. The Town Proper as they call it was a bunch of quaint but busy alley ways. There were souvenir shops, tour offices, restaurants and a lot more.

There was a rather dirty beach with a lot of oil spilled from moored boats. Facing this is a row of "paluto" restaurants, bars and hotels.

 

The jump-off for all island hopping activities

We didn't book a room for this trip just because we were feeling a little bit adventurous. We found a decent inn called Piam's and made it our home for our 6 day stay. No fuss accommodation, just a room, a fan and a couple of cupboards. We chose to spend less on accommodation and more on food. Yay.

Hands down my favorite place in El Nido is the Las Cabanas beach. It had a very awesome vibe! We'd lounge at their sunbeds with beers on hand while reading a book. (My kind of R&R) It's a 20min trike ride from town.

Sun bathing at Las Cabanas

The beach shack in Las Cabanas

One can't leave without going to at least one day tour. You arrange this with one of the tour offices and they'd put you in a group of 6-10 people. Average cost is Php 1300, inclusive of lunch. We left at 930am and got back at around 4pm. We chose Tour C which was the beach hopping package. We planned on doing at least two but the sun was scorching hot and we were already burnt after the first one.

Do not miss sunset watching in Corong-Corong. Definitely stunning!

We also went to the twin beaches of Nacpan. Its raw beauty surely captured our hearts. 

Look at how pure this place is. 

Local dogs on siesta mode

For food, I'm going to list down a few recommendations; I enjoyed the beef tartare from La Salangane. The tuna tartare and Ceviche from La Plague were so good too. For a delish Italian fare, head on to Mezzanine.

Ceviche from La Plague

Pizza from Mezzanine

What are you waiting for? Book that trip!