Itinerary 2 weeks: Palawan!
Content:
Check out the main page on Coron & El Nido here!
Check out the main page on Port Barton & Roxas here!
Perfect Palawan quick summary:
- Manila 0-1 day
- Coron - Wreck diving
(3-4 nights) - Click here to book.
- El Nido - Reefs
(3-4 nights) - Click here to book.
- Port Barton - Small islands
(3-4 nights) - Click here to book.
- Mecaja dive resort - Wil's wreck
(3-4 nights) - Click here to book.
- Puerto Princessa 0-1 day
Perfect Palawan Day-by-Day:
Coron.
You can fly to Coron from Manila. It's a small domestic flight that will drop you off at a small airport in Busuanga, in the northern part of the island.
Once landed there will be a transfer waiting, no need to arrange that in advance! This bus will take all passengers to all major towns and stays. Just tell them where you are staying and they will drop you off for 250 - 300 pesos.
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Once in Coron, you can stroll through the village and if you move a bit towards the exit of the town you will find reggae dive center along the main road that I can highly recommend!
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Diving in Coron is not only beautiful and diverse. The landscape is stunning! For more impressions I highly suggest you check out the link below!
I suggest staying in Coron anywhere between 3 and 4 days. You can go freediving, canoe, or just explore the island on your deco-days.
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​El Nido
From Coron, it's quite easy to arrange a transfer by boat to El Nido. El Nido is a lovely little town on Palawan island, all the way to the northern part.
To arrange a boat ticket, you will have to take a tricycle or scooter to the port. Near the entrance, you will find the office, selling you tickets to El Nido for 2600 pesos, per person.
At the time of writing, boats only leave Monday - Wednesday - Friday, since most operators quit during the pandemic.
They will ask you to be at the port at 6 AM, leaving by boat at 7 AM.
You can go diving in crystal clear, warm waters, with many easy-going, shallow diving, lots of macro and muck diving, and even some caverns. Coron is quite used to tourism but El Nido isn't as much. I really like the change of scenery from Coron.
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Port Barton.
From El Nido, you can catch a tricycle to Corong Corong Terminal for 150 pesos. There you will find many vans leaving as late as 1 PM straight to Port Barton(3,5 hours).
Once in Port Barton, the van will drop you off at the terminal, from which you can arrange a tricycle to your hotel.
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Diving in Port Barton is not the main tourist attraction like it is in Coron for example. At the time of writing, 2 dive centers are operating: Easy diving & Port Barton diving center.
Book a 2 or 3-dive day-trip and discover rarely visited reefs and even a wreck nearby!
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Rizal, Roxas, Mecaja dive resort:
From Port Barton, you can grab yourself a van from the same terminal you arrived in to go to your next destination, only 1 - 1,5 hours away!
A good idea is to book in advance with Mecaja dive resort, they can arrange a pick-up for you. Tell the van driver in Port Barton to drop you off at the intersection, where the road meets the highway at San José.
Mecaja dive resort will be there to pick you up and drive you to the resort in 30 minutes, more or less.
Diving in and around Roxas, Rizal is very "new". Most dive sites haven't been mapped and new places are being discovered every week.
Tip: To find something truly unique, ask them to take you to "Wil's Wreck" named after me since I and Mike were the first to discover this Cargo/ Barge!
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Getting away:
From the Roxas area, you can go straight to Puerto Princessa to catch your flight to the next stop.
Flying from Puerto Princessa might be the best way to continue your trip if you are planning to visit Cebu. If you skipped El Nido for example and stuck around in Coron you might be better off, flying to Cebu City/ Manila directly. Puerto Princessa is actually a quite nice town. You can easily spend a night here while transferring to your next place, however, it is far from as charming as previous villages.