Onwards to the Island of Palawan from Manila, to El Nido!

The one place I really wanted to visit in the Philippines before going was this place called ‘El Nido’, a section of Palawan Island in it’s north-western quarter. I had discovered it when planning my 2020 aborted trip to the Philippines, and so when it actually came time to head there on the THIRD attempt, well, although I didn’t initially plan to go to El Nido (this was about flights mostly and keeping costs down) when I realised that Cebu Pacific could get me there and it was all within my travel credit, I knew I had to.

Domestic air travel in the Philippines is likely to be a part of most Philippine itineraries. You’re visiting a group of thousands of islands, and yes there are sea connections but if you want to maximise your time there, or you have 10 days like I did or less, flying is the only option that makes sense.

And there are a number of airlines you can use domestically including Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Asia are now moving in (or back in after Covid?) to the country. Air Asia’s fares I heard are or at least were ridiculously cheap. Like 20 bucks or less.

I was flying Manila to Puerto Princessa on Palawan return and I paid 5519 Philippine Peso, which is around $139AUD or $95USD. That’s return with baggage, seat selection and I think a snack. This time, unlike my flight from Sydney to Manila, the plane was fully booked. Flight time is around an hour, and you get to walk to the plane across tarmac from a bus and I know air bridges are wonderful and all but to be able to see the plane (A220) before boarding is really nice in my book and no-one seemed to mind photographing the plane either which can be an issue depending on the country you’re in.

Terminal Three of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport – all fairly new – is ok but the domestic terminal once you’ve passed through security doesn’t have much in the way of places to eat at. It’s actually on two levels and I was somewhat surprised when I realised I had to go below to the ground floor to get out to the plane.

Long story short on my four flights with Cebu Pacific, they were all fine, in fact for a budget carrier I was impressed. Cabin crew are the biggest asset to budget carriers because I find that generally in Asia at least, cabin crew on budget airlines to be perky and bright and do a great job at being warm and friendly. Even Jetstar I find have nicer crew than their owners in Qantas. Perhaps it’s an age thing, people looking to start a career as cabin crew start at the bottom in a budget airline. They are young and want to impress.

After touching down in Puerto Princessa I found a taxi who took me to a place to get a spot on a mini-bus in the morning to El Nido, which is sadly five hours or so by road away from Puerto Princessa. I had direct tickets with Air Swift in 2020, but got my refund from them and I had to use this travel fund, El Nido has a small airport for small planes, Puerto Princessa is the town with the island’s main airport.

I stay in budget-ish digs which were okay – a chain called ‘Go Hotels’. I didn’t really check out Puerto Princessa as I arrived early evening and left the next morning. It’s a big town, there are a couple of things to see and do around it if you have the time including some caves which look awesome and contain an underground lake.

I pushed on though to El Nido and decided to give it all my time, and I’m glad I did. The mini-bus ride was very uncomfortable, which was because I had the seat that folds out on the side. It really started to hurt my lower back after 30-45 minutes. You do see how green and beautiful the island is, and the roads are not actually bad although they are bumpy when you least expect them. Lunch stop was impressive at the top of a hill with a bit of a view.

Then down the other side where I was dropped off at my resort, which I had stressed when booking and had been assured that I would be dropped off there. However the driver insisted that they didn’t do that. The minibus had a number of foreigners though who had all been promised the same. And in the end he relented. I was finally in El Nido, in the township of Corong-Corong. I had a warm welcome there and a comfy room, and there was a decent restaurant as well. I had made it!