Best Vacations: El Nido – My Own Idea of A Paradise

El Nido

When we were discussing about our trip in Palawan, we just couldn’t miss the idea of going to El Nido. No one from our group has already been there so we were kind of confident. Little did we know that the road to El Nido wasn’t easy and it cost a little more than we expected.

It took us a long time to decide if we want to push through including El Nido in our itinerary as we got a lot of diverse reviews. Some said it was tiring to travel to El Nido and the transportation is very expensive while others say that everything is worth it once you get there. We decided to go with our gut and pushed through with it.

Well, what can I say? Everything they said was true. There were only two options of transportation to El Nido. One is in a public bus while the other is by a private van. The bus was really cheap but you should also expect discomfort and uneasiness with it. The van is comfortable but yes, it costs really high. We opted for the van anyway as we want to sleep comfortably through the long hours of travel.

El Nido

You see, it takes 7-8 hours before you can get to the little town of El Nido from Puerto Princesa. We left Puerto at around 2AM with a short stop for breakfast along the way and arrived at El Nido at around 10AM. We were able to negotiate with an affordable (a night only costs 500 pesos) inn to stay for the night. The good thing about this inn is that it can also offer you tour packages of the islands of El Nido. We took advantage of it and it was really surprising that it just costs 700 pesos up.

El Nido

We heard from a lot of people that Tour A was a good one. It is also the cheapest so we tried it. We first went to the Big Lagoon. I swear it was so awesome! The lime stones were so high and it was so eerie quiet. We then proceeded to Entalula to have lunch. Apparently, the tour came with a lunch feast that included grilled seafood and some fruits and drinks. After the delicious lunch, we proceeded to the Small Lagoon. I personally fell in love with the Small Lagoon. It was even quieter here than in the Big Lagoon. The ambience was so much calmer to the extent that you could feel the supernatural elements that dwell in the place. I just didn’t want to get away from it.

But sadly, we had to go to another place which is the Shimizu Island where we got the chance to go fish feeding. It was a fun experience because you will see schools of fish swarm you when you put food in the water.

Lastly, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Seven Commandos Island where we soaked in the remaining rays of the sun that is about to set.

Some were true in saying that it was indeed tiring and expensive to go to El Nido. But, it was overpowered with the experience we got from there. It was like I get to experience a little bit of my favourite reality show Survivor, interacting with Mother Nature and indulging in a whole new culture that is far away from the city.

There is no doubt that I’d recommend this place to everyone. I would even do anything to get the chance to go back to this place over and over again!