El Nido is a picturesque coastal village on the island of Palawan in the Philippines, known for its breathtaking limestone cliffs, crystal-clear waters and white sandy beaches. It's a popular destination for tourists who want to enjoy snorkelling, diving, island hopping and other outdoor activities. During our trip, however, we had heard and read some less glorious reports about the popular place from other travellers and in online forums. Most of those who told of food poisoning or an upset stomach linked it to poor hygiene in El Nido and on its boat tours. Others said it was so overrun that it wasn't any fun, and an older Australian expat who delivered organic vegetables to El Nido – who sat down with us for a quick game of cards by the highway once when we had to wait a very long time for a van – even said that El Nido was simply drowning in dirt and rubbish, which is why everything was unhygienic and you couldn't even go into the water there. Still, everyone wanted to go there. Just like us. El Nido was planned as our stopover, to take a ferry from there to Coron before heading back to Manila and then off to wherever. We hadn't decided that yet. On the great island-hopping tour in Port Barton, our nice fellow passengers had told us that instead of taking the ferry, we could have a much better experience by doing an "island-hopping tour" towards Coron. So instead of crossing for several hours by ferry, you travelled from El Nido to Coron over several days, hopping from island to island, or rather from reef to reef. That sounded much more like us, so El Nido was ideal for booking such a tour there, if one was still available. But whether we managed that, of course, you'll only read in the next report. After all, there's still a lot to tell about El Nido.
So we travelled towards El Nido with mixed feelings. I was already struggling with my bronchitis and had absolutely no desire for food poisoning. Chris had already experienced that disaster on Bali and still remembered all too well how terrible it had been.
This time the journey was a bit of a hassle in an overcrowded group van.
Unfortunately our accommodation wasn't exactly clean. It wasn't particularly cosy either, but everything else was booked up or simply far too expensive. On the other hand, the location suited us well, and breakfast and hot water for tea came on top.
The reports were right about the beach. Unfortunately it was a bit dirty and we decided not to swim there. But we didn't miss out on a beach walk and a sundowner at the nearby hip bar. In the centre there's a huge choice of eateries and restaurants.
We actually found the hustle and bustle pleasant, and also a change from everything we'd seen so far. We were lucky and were able to book an island-hopping expedition to Coron on the very first day. So our onward journey was secured and we could concentrate fully on activities in El Nido.
Chris found an organisation offering "The Real Philippines Experience", which looked at the country more from the cultural side. In a super pleasant group size, an expat Brit took us by tricycle to a wooded area. There we walked to their base camp and were shown and told all sorts of things about the flora and traditionally used medicinal plants.
The day workshop included introductions to traditional Filipino stick fighting, climbing coconut palms, opening and scraping out coconuts and making coconut oil from what we'd gathered.
We got to know the other participants from Taiwan, Iceland and Canada well and once again made friends very quickly. Later we cooked "chicken adobo" together the traditional way, without any electrical help. For the delicious shared lunch, the local lady at the base camp had also conjured up all kinds of other typical treats. There was fish, shellfish, salad, our self-cooked chicken and various vegetables, as well as really delicious spring rolls (lumpia). Fruit and dessert too, of course. We then learned Filipino street games and wove a headband and a fish out of coconut leaves. (I felt a bit transported back to the programme of my leisure-education studies.)
In any case it was a great day, and we can highly recommend this experience.
On the way into town (we were staying a little outside and so always had a nice walk into town), we visited the Canopy Walk. You climb a few metal staircases and a short suspension bridge to get a view over the bay of El Nido. The outing is nice and pretty, but far too overpriced, given that you could do the route alone in 10 minutes but have to take – and pay for – a personal guide and safety gear.
On the way into town we were once even able to watch 4 Palawan hornbills hanging out in the trees by the road and flying bit by bit from tree to street lamp. Unfortunately we didn't have a camera with us, so there are no pictures of it.
With our new Taiwanese friends from "The Real Filipino Experience" tour, we arranged to meet at Papaya Beach the next day, with each couple paddling there independently by kayak from opposite sides. Apart from by boat, there's no other way to reach this bay anyway.
Chris and I were staying on the more convenient side and had a very relaxed and great kayak ride to Papaya Beach, which lies right next to Seven Commandos Beach – a little further towards our friends.
So Harvey and Amanda had a much longer way to go and had to paddle against the current and wind, so we had already been snorkelling around Seven Commandos Beach for some time and swam out to meet them when they finally almost reached the goal. After a short break at Seven Commandos we kayaked on to Papaya Beach, our actual destination.
It was a beautiful bay with a white sandy beach and wonderful corals for snorkelling too. We had a great afternoon together there, took turns snorkelling and even practised our newly learned stick fighting a little. There was a tyre swing and even a small snack shop, even though the beach was so secluded.
Papaya Beach is definitely worth a visit, and you'll have a relaxed Filipino beach day there.
On another day we explored the area around El Nido town with Harvey and Amanda on borrowed mopeds and had an exciting long ride on tarmac and gravel roads to Ille Cave.
Since probably not as many tourists find their way there as into the town itself, we were assigned a cave guide as a group for a very low price and had a great cave tour without big barriers for tourists. The price was a fraction of what is charged in El Nido for the Canopy Walk. We could watch the tiny Philippine bat species up close and admire the amazing structure of the cave. Our guide was superbly trained and spoke good English.
He asked whether, for a small extra charge, he should also lead us to the top of the little mountain containing the cave. He warned us that it was a steep 30-minute way up. So Amanda decided to wait for us alone in the cave, and the rest of us set off through an opening on the other side of the cave to climb up through the forest. It was climbing, not hiking. Super adventurous and just to our taste. Our guide watched us closely and often told us exactly where to put our hands and feet. At the top we had a great view and met a brown macaque. So we were rewarded twice.
The descent turned out to be just as exciting as the ascent, and soon we were able to return to Amanda, who was waiting for us.
By the time we rode back, darkness was already falling. The trip had filled the whole day. We treated ourselves to one more evening together at the Italian place around the corner before we had to say goodbye to our new friends.
Soon our 6 days in El Nido were over and the boat expedition to Coron was getting closer. We also did the classic day island-hopping tour you typically do in El Nido. We weren't as enthusiastic about it as about the tour in Port Barton before. The first spot we went to was Seven Commandos (the beach we had paddled to by kayak the day before), at a time when all the day-tour boats were there. The day before we had been almost alone there, and now there were a good 20 other boats, of which only 3 could land on the beach at the same time. A pure tourist disaster!
So if you're ever faced with the choice of which spots to visit, definitely do the tour in Port Barton and skip the one in El Nido, or only do it as a private tour. Of course, kayaking in the Big Lagoon was beautiful and exciting, but since I was in the 5th week of my bronchitis and my stomach felt like it consisted of about 50 per cent cough medicine, gastritis was added on top and I couldn't enjoy the kayaking or sitting upright at all. Since I couldn't eat much, at least I wasn't at risk of the dreaded El Nido food poisoning, and Chris and I got through the food there without any problems. We always chose our tour days well. A big plus once again to Chris, who always dutifully studied the weather forecasts, even if they weren't very reliable here. As you know, the weather on the Philippine islands isn't easy, and a few days earlier 4 tourist boats had capsized on the open sea! Further tours were cancelled.
Now it was time to pack our world-trip suitcases waterproof, as we were to spend the next 3 days on an extended traditional banka boat and our faithful luggage would be stowed in the damp hull, hard to reach. So we hoped for good weather and calm seas, packed our daypacks with the most important and valuable things, bought a 30-litre dry bag and looked forward eagerly to the upcoming boat expedition up north.
But that's another story.