Philippines

We took a short flight with Cebu Pacific Air from Manila to Busuanga. The Busuanga Airport is a 30-minute drive from the Coron town and many of the hotels and hostels offer free transfers into town (a great chance to see some of the island on the way!) We stayed at Coron Villa and they had arranged a van to come pick up us and take us into town.

We stayed at Coron Villa for 6 nights. Clean, basic rooms with great staff and a restaurant attached. The location was very central, it was a short walk into town or the port otherwise we would jump on a tricycle for 20 PHP. We booked a standard room with two twin beds (we usually book two beds and push them together if we know it’s a small double…we like to be comfortable!) Make sure you don’t end up in an adjoining room, we were stuck with some very loud neighbours when we first arrived. Fortunately, we were able to move to a separated room when we asked.

– Wild Fern – this is the restaurant at Coron Villa and serves great local dishes. Make sure you try out the grill for dinner! Breakfast wasn’t included in our booking so we bought some muesli in Manila and made our own breakfast every day (there are no decent supermarkets in Coron so make sure you arrive with anything you’ll need for your time in Palawan).

– Carls BBQ – head here if you like ribs! We shared a large portion with the potato salad. They were so delicious we returned for a second night. Also make sure you try the mango shakes (actually make sure you try anything mango while you’re in the Philippines, they are by far the best we’ve ever had!)

– Altrove – this is an Italian restaurant with branches also in El Nido. Head here for delicious some pizza. Go early and try for a table on the terrace for a great sunset view!

– Coffee Kong – a great spot for coffee, breakfast and (half decent) wifi.

ISLAND HOPPING – this is a must do while in Coron! There is more to explore on Coron Island and the surroundings than on Busuanga Island and the stops are breathtaking. There are many different stops and routes to take so make sure you do your research beforehand. We chose to take a private boat which meant we could decide our own stops and schedule. When you organise your own private boat you pay for the boat, the captain and the tour guide and then bring your own lunch and pay your own entrance free (if you have a few people it works out cheaper this way). To find our boat we just walked down to the port and found a captain the day before. If you want to go with a company then we’ve heard great things with Nice in Paradise. But a warning…these island hopping tours have become super touristy in the last few years with group boats. When we saw other tour boats arriving we saw most of the guests being carried in the water by their tour guide because they couldn’t swim (the guide was literally dragging half a dozen people linked in a chain)…it would make for a VERY long day. If you have the funds then take a private boat! Make sure you leave as early as possible in the morning to avoid crowds. Unfortunately, we were stuck sitting on our boat for over an hour waiting to leave because the coastguard was late (all boats need to get coastguard permission before the boat can leave). This meant we left with lots of the other boats, so if you manage to leave early then pick one of the stops that you want to get to before the crowds, there are so many boats out there so it will be hard to avoid them for the entire day.

SUGGESTED ROUTES:
Coron Highlights Tour: this includes a mixture of lakes, beaches, lagoons and snorkelling. We visited Siete Pecados, Kayangan Lake, Banol Beach, Skeleton Wreck and Twin Lagoon. We skipped Barracuda Lake but this is also on the tour. Instead, we spotted a small empty lagoon close to the lake and asked to stop off, we were happy floating around just us two for the rest of the afternoon.

Island Escapades Tour: this was one we tried to get to because we’ve heard good things but since the weather was so-so we skipped it (we ended up doing one in Siargao instead). This includes Banana Island, Isla Bulog and Malcapuya Island.

– Hire a scooter – we hired a scooter from Angel Motorbikes and explored more of Busuanga Island. It was great to be back on a bike and explore the rural side of the island. Lots of people head east but from what we’ve read the beaches east aren’t comparable to those on the island tours, so we headed west instead. We enjoyed fresh coconuts on Rio Playa Beach, and there is also Conception Falls on the way.

– Mt. Tapyas – a hill just behind the Coron town and a great place to watch the sunset from! You take your scooter up or hop on a tricycle part of the way up and then walk the rest of the way.

– Gym – whenever we’re based somewhere for a few days we like to hit up a gym. Luckily we found one (there is only one in town) called Elexing Spartans Gym, a half decent gym for being on a remote island. Don’t go here for cardio machines (there is only one working bike) but the gym has a brand new weights section. Prepare for a sauna when working out!

We took the Fast Ferry from Coron to El Nido with Montenegro lines which takes 3.5 hours. It leaves daily at midday. Make sure you book this in advance because it sells out (there are only 100 seats on board). The Coron port is just a short tricycle from town and so is the El Nido port when you arrive.

STAY #1
Since we arrived in El Nido in the afternoon it meant we were going to miss our daily transfer to our main stay at Alternative Beach Cottages (see below). We stayed overnight in El Nido town at Coral Cliff Hotel which has very comfortable beds, clean rooms and a great breakfast before we departed for our transfer.

Name: Coral Cliff Hotel
Link: http://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/coral-cliff.html?aid=1478530&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&room1=A%2CA

STAY #2
Our main stay was at Alternative Beach Cottages which is located near Snake Island and only accessible by boat (they pick you up from Corong Corong and we took a tricycle for 40 PHP from Coral Cliff). There are a handful of villas, electricity is only switched on in the evenings, the meals are all inclusive (the most delicious homemade Filipino dishes) and they have their own boat for island hopping tours. It was one of our favourite stays of our whole trip and three days would be the absolute minimum we would recommend. This only gave us two full days there and as one of them was spent on the island hopping tour, it felt way too short! We would recommend four to five nights which would give you the chance to do a second island hopping tour if you wanted. It was a pricier stay for us but when you take into the fact all meals are inclusive, free transfers to and from the island, the private beach, kayaks inclusive, and semi-private island hopping tours (depending on how many other guests are going), it was well worth it. The island hopping tours aren’t included in the price but are similar to what you pay for the larger boat tours.

Name: Alternative Beach Cottages
Link: http://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/alternative-beach-cottages.html?aid=1478530&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&room1=A%2CA

STAY #3
We kept a couple of days free after we returned from Alternative Beach Cottage in case we wanted to do another island hopping tour or more exploring. This time we stayed at Last Frontier Beach Resort in Corong Corong. This is super close to the bus station and is a great beachfront spot with a restaurant, pool and decent-sized rooms. We enjoyed staying in so much that we skipped the exploring and enjoyed mango shakes and pina coladas poolside.

Name: Last Frontier Beach Resort
Link: http://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/last-frontier-beach-resort-el-nido.html?aid=1478530&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&room1=A%2CA

– As mentioned, staying at Alternative Beach Cottages was all inclusive (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and it was some of the most delicious Filipino food we tried! Just tell them when you arrive if you have any allergies and they will cater for your entire stay.

– Altrove – sound familiar? The pizzas were so good we had to go back for a second round. There’s actually a couple of branches here. There’s a restaurant and separate express branch in El Nido town, and a second restaurant in Corong Corong (just a short walk from Last Frontier…hint hint)

– Delindo Coffeehouse – a great spot for coffee and protein shakes. It’s right beside the gym so it’s a great spot to head afterwards for a shake and bite to eat. This is where we tried garlic rice and pork tocino for the first time!

Since we didn’t spend that much time in El Nido town itself we didn’t get to try many of the food spots, but we enjoyed strolling down the narrow streets lined with cute cafes and smoothie stands where we got our daily mango fix.

ISLAND HOPPING
The main attraction in El Nido. Tours A, B, C and D. Because the Alternative Beach Cottages had their own Island Hopping boat, we went on a daily tour with them. They alternate between the four tours depending on when guests are arriving but you can be guaranteed to see either A or C. These two are the most popular tours to take. We went on Tour A and saw some breathtaking lagoons! Bear in mind that Tour C is weather dependent and previous guests only got to a couple of the spots because of the swell making the route too dangerous. We’ve heard great things about Tour B aswell, and we stopped off at Snake Island on the way back to have a drink at the floating bar because it was so close.

– Kayaking – Alternative had free kayaks to use and we highly recommend a morning kayak to Snake Island when the tide is low, so you can walk out on the sandbar. We took off straight after breakfast and arrived before any of the other tour boats and had the whole island to ourselves! There is also the floating bar for you to buy drinks and fresh coconuts from (this is a great spot in the afternoon).

– Rent a scooter and explore more of Palawan. There is so much to see around El Nido, and we’ve heard great things is Nacpan Beach and Duli Beach which unfortunately we didn’t get to. You can rent a scooter for the day from El Nido town and make the drive up to the beaches (or take a tricycle if you’re not comfortable on a scooter).

– Gym – on our day off we hit up Peak Corner gym which is right in town. A pretty old school gym with only weights (no cardio) but a large floor area so Hayley could do HIIT.

We took a minibus from El Nido to Puerto Princesa which we booked with El Nido Paradise. However, we saw lots of locals buying tickets at the bus station itself when the vans had free seats (better not to take the chance though). Prepare for a long and uncomfortable drive. We booked the 6 am minivan, it ended up leaving around 6.45 am and we got to the airport at 12.30 pm (a 6-7 hour drive all up). We then took a flight with Cebu Pacific Air from Puerto Princesa to Cebu at 4 pm and had an overnight before our flight to Siargao the next morning. It’s an uncomfortable journey but works out to be a much cheaper option than flying from El Nido.

If you have a couple of days free then we’ve heard a trip to Port Barton and the Underground River is well worth it while you’re in Palawan. We chose to go to Siargao instead but this was on our radar if we had the time.

STAY #1
We only had just over 12 hours in Cebu before our flight to Siargao so we chose to stay close to the airport at Goldberry Suites and Hotel. They offer a free shuttle to and from the airport, the rooms are spacious and the beds were very comfortable. Breakfast wasn’t included so we grabbed something from the airport before our flight the next morning.

Name: Goldberry Suites and Hotel
Link: http://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/goldberry-suites-and.html?aid=1478530&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&room1=A%2CA

STAY #2
Our second stay in Cebu was a two-night stay after Siargao. We had initially planned to stay longer so we could get to Moalboal and Kawasan Falls but we ended up cutting it short to make it to Siargao. We stayed at Maayo Hotel which is only a few minutes from the airport. A very nice hotel with comfortable beds, a pool, two restaurants and a gym. If you line up for a white taxi then it only costs 100 PHP to get there. Breakfast was available for 400 PHP each but we bought some muesli and yoghurt from the supermarket down the road for 50 PHP each instead. The restaurant is on the pricier side but we enjoyed a curry laksa soup for lunch (and McDonald’s delivery for dinner…guilty!) A very nice hotel!

Name: Maayo Hotel
Link: http://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/maayo.html?aid=1478530&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&room1=A%2CA

We took a flight with Cebu Pacific Air from Cebu to Siargao. The Siargao Airport is about 45-minute drive away from where we stayed (the same distance to Cloud 9 but further up the coast). When you exit the airport you’ll see a bunch of vans, they were charging 1’500 PHP to take us to our accommodation, but if you walk out to the road you can negotiate for a tricycle for 500 PHP. It’s a long drive but we would rather save the money here and spend it on accommodation or day trips.

We spent four nights at Tao De Libertad, a beachfront villa up the coast from Cloud 9. Again, we looked for places away from General Luna and Cloud 9 to avoid the masses and we found this place. Our own beach, fresh coconuts from the trees out front and waking up to the sound of the ocean: this was our ultimate paradise. The villa has a handful of bedrooms upstairs, and comfortable and modern shared living, kitchen and bathrooms downstairs. The most delicious homemade Filipino dishes were included for breakfast and dinner. The best part about our stay though were the hosts. They organised literally everything for us! Scooters turned up whenever we needed them, the island hopping tour was arranged for us when we decided to go the night before, we were even given an itinerary for our day on the scooter and were told the best time to go to avoid the crowds. One of the hosts (think cool Filipino surfer dude) runs his own private surfing lessons for a really reasonable rate (including board) whenever you want them. Oh and if you follow us on Instagram you’ll know the villa comes with the cutest puppy called Whitney. We really enjoyed being part of the Tao De Libertad family and we would definitely return if we make it back here.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND:
Name: Tao De Libertad
Link: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/18675589?s=51

Check out their website for their surfing and meditation retreats:
https://www.taodelibertadretreats.com/

Use this link for CHF40 off your next stay on Airbnb:
www.airbnb.com/c/brendonm5

Since breakfast and dinner were included in our stay, we didn’t get to try all of the hot food spots in town. We’re not complaining, we had our own chef prepare delicious home-cooked Filipino dishes for us, including fresh Yellowfin tuna, fried chicken, calamari, and mango cream cake. When you’re travelling full time you forget how much you appreciate a homecooked meal!

We did manage to make a couple of trips into town though and tried out a couple of recommended spots:

– Shaka Cafe – head here for good coffee and delicious smoothie bowls. We ended up here two days for lunch and it didn’t disappoint.

– Cafe Loca – this is at Cloud 9 and is a small beachfront cafe with great breakfast options, juices and smoothies. It’s a great place to chill and watch the local surfers. They even have loungers and hammocks down on the beach.

– Kermit – we were recommended this spot for Italian and although we didn’t make it here, other guests of Tao De Libertad had and it comes highly recommended.

– Mama’s Grill – another recommendation that we didn’t make it to, but have only heard great things!

The great thing about staying at Tao De Libertad is that everything was done for us! We had absolutely no plans when we arrived and when we told our host Wendy what we felt like doing, she arranged it all for us!

– Hiring a scooter and exploring the island. Siargao was the first place we felt like we were living “island life” and we loved hopping on a scooter and exploring the island roads! Driving past school kids shouting hello and stopping off at a store and buying popcorn for 2 PHP (that’s right…put that into currency converter).

– Magpupungko Tidal Flats and Pools – these are further up the east coast and takes about 45 minutes on the scooter from the villa. At low tide these beautiful infinity pools appear with the most intense colour! Make sure you arrive early enough before the low tide to avoid the crowds. To give you an idea of timing, we arrived at 10.30am and had it to ourselves. By 11 am it was busy and low tide was at 1 pm.

– Cloud 9 – we made the trip to town a couple of times and Cloud 9 has the coolest surfing vibe with lots of hip cafes and great beaches. There is not much in the General Luna town itself so best to head straight here and relax on the beach or go for a surf!

– Surfing – one of the hosts himself gives surfing lessons and it’s all arranged. You’re picked up from the villa to head to one of the many surfing beaches (other guests had gone just down the road otherwise it’s only a 10 minute boat trip to Cloud 9). They also arrange the boards to be delivered to you too…easy!

– Island hopping – we shared this with another couple who were staying at the villa and it cost 2’500 PHP for the four of us. We had the option of getting taken to the port at General Luna by van or for us to scooter in. We chose the scooter option so we could continue exploring afterwards and sure enough, two scooters were waiting outside for us when we woke up. The three islands are Naked Island, Daku Island and Guyam Island. You want to go to Naked Island at low tide for the sandbar but we went here first before the crowds arrive. Although it wasn’t completely low tide we enjoyed the island (almost) all to ourselves. Daku Island is the biggest island and has a small shop to buy snacks and coconuts. They also have grills so you can take your own fish and pay them to cook you lunch! We hit up a bakery on the way to the port and paid 40 PHP for a bag of pastries instead. These islands had some of the best beaches and clearest, bluest water that we had seen in the Philippines and the best part is that it’s not yet super touristy (we can see this changing in a few years time though!)

– Sugba Lagoon – this was one we didn’t get to because of the weather but it looks incredible. You can scooter or take a tricycle to Del Carmen and then hop on a boat that will take you to the lagoon where you can paddleboard around.

– Gym – we found a gym close to Cloud 9 called SurFit. A small gym, but they sell pre-workout, protein shakes and has all the equipment for a decent workout.

– Explore the island and many of it’s beautiful beaches! Our villa had it’s own private beach so we were happy enough swimming and lounging around drinking coconuts there, but this was such a great island to just hop on a scooter and see where you end up!

We took a short flight with Cebu Pacific Air from Cebu to Caticlan. There’s no airport on the Boracay island itself so we landed in Caticlan and took a short ferry to Boracay. There are many different options of getting from the airport to your accommodation, if your hotel doesn’t offer a free transfer then the easiest way is to pay a company to transfer you for around 1’000 PHP for two people. As soon as you exit the airport there will be a dozen people there to offer their transfer (we happened to be the first ones to leave and they started yelling at us so loudly that Hayley got so overwhelmed, put her hands up in the air and ran in the other direction). We did the transfer ourselves by taking a tricycle to the port, lining up to buy the boat tickets and pay the terminal fee, hopped on the 10-minute ferry and then got a tricycle to our accommodation in Station 3. It worked out to be 350 PHP cheaper but it means you have to line up to buy the tickets (the lines were super slow) so it’s probably best to just pay the 1’000 PHP and let someone else do all the organising for you.

Leaving Boracay is the same in reverse. We were flying from Kalibo Airport to Singapore with Scoot Airlines (Kalibo Airport is about a two hour drive from Caticlan Airport). Our hotel offered us a free transfer from the resort to Caticlan, and then they booked us a private taxi with Southwest Tours to drive us from Caticlan to Kalibo which cost 1’100 PHP. Allow 5-6 hours to get from Boracay to Kalibo in case of traffic and delays.

Where to sleep? The white beach is 4km and lined with hotels, restaurants and nightlife so where you stay will have a big impact on your experience. There is so much to choose from it can be overwhelming! Station 1 is for luxury resorts, Station 2 is the busiest and home to mid-range hotels, shops, bars, live music and clubs. Station 3 is generally home to the cheaper, budget hostels and hotels. We read that Station 3 is supposed to be the quietest station, so sure enough we booked in Station 3. Even though it’s probably the quietest of the three, it definitely wasn’t quiet by any standards. Our advice is just to accept you’ll in tourist central and if you really want peace and quiet then book a luxury hotel north of station 1.

Instead of spending five nights in a half decent place we decided to spend three nights at a budget hotel in Station 3 and two nights in luxury resort north of Station 1.

STAY #1
We stayed three nights at the Bamboo Beach Resort located in the heart of Station 3. It’s a very basic hotel on the beach, nothing fancy but we found it fine for the price. They have loungers for use on the beach and offer a discounted lunch and dinner at their buffet restaurant. Since we arrived late the first evening, we spent the two days at the beach, the gym and enjoying food at the local spots.

Name: Bamboo Beach Resort
Link: http://www.booking.com/hotel/ph/bamboo-beach-resort-amp-restaurant.html?aid=1478530&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&room1=A%2CA

STAY #2
We spent the last two nights at Lind Boracay, a five-star luxury hotel north of station 1. This was our last stay of our three month SE Asia trip and we wanted to finish on a high. We don’t usually stay at big resorts (especially when they attract families) but we made an exception here. It opens out to a very quiet area of the beach (probably the nicest beach we’ve seen in the Philippines), a huge pool area on the ground, an upstairs infinity pool looking out on the beach, a gym, restaurant and very comfortable rooms. We can definitely understand the price, but were very disappointed to find out there were weddings on both days and the first day we couldn’t use the infinity pool! As usual we expressed our disappointed and was offered a free buffet dinner, but didn’t make up for the fact we had booked this months in advance and we were never told.

Name: Lind Boracay
Link: https://www.agoda.com/partners/partnersearch.aspx?pcs=1&cid=1800539&hl=en&hid=7632711=A%2CA

There are so many restaurants and local eats on this island, many of them not even on google maps so it’s very overwhelming. After enjoying homecooked meals at our villa on Siargao Island, it was certainly an adjustment arriving to tourist restaurants everywhere! We only like to list our top recommendations, these were so much so we ended up going back.

– Nonie’s – a restaurant with a modern take on Filipino dishes as well as delicious vegan options and smoothies. This was our daily brunch spot for mango smoothie bowls, eggs and pineapple pancakes. Delicious!

– Sunny Side Cafe – known for its delicious all-day breakfast menu, they have a great range of egg dishes, pancakes and vegetarian options. Oh and go here for great coffee!

– Lind Boracay – there’s a restaurant here (and in-room dining) offering a range of delicious dishes. We had the most amazing breakfast buffet included in the room and enjoyed the buffet dinner one evening. Expect to pay western prices here!

There are so many water activities here: island hopping, jet skis, kite surfing, paddle boarding, the list goes on. We decided against the island hopping tour here, after just having done the one in Siargao we knew it wouldn’t live up to our high expectations in terms of crowds.

To be honest we were happy enough to just spend the last few days of our trip relaxing beachside, swimming, afternoon naps and gym sessions. We hit up Kingfisher Gym daily for a workout (until we got to Lind and worked out at the gym there). The Lind has their own stall to organise any activities you want to do including paddle boards getting delivered straight to you!