10 days in Palawan

Landed in Puerta Princesa, from here we took a 6-hour shuttle to El Nido. We made a stop on the way to have lunch and get snacks.

Arrived in El Nido. We left our luggage at our accommodation and caught a tricycle to Las Cabanas Beach to watch the sunset

We had dinner at a restaurant at the beach while enjoying the sunset and watching people ziplining

We stayed in a private room with a double bed in frendz hostel. We can highly recommend the hostel as they offer restaurant and cafe food, lots of activities to enjoy, a rooftop pool and a nice chill area to have a drink with other travellers or friends.

Had Breakfast at Taste as I wanted to try the smoothie bowls here. I liked them but they are more on the icy side instead of the creamy ones. Great when it’s hot. The coffee was really good.

Went on a full day boat trip. There are four tours to choose from but the locations may vary due to weather conditions and how busy it is. We choose tour C and we visited the following spots: - Cadlao Lagoon - Helicopter Island - Secret Beach - Hidden Beach We had lunch on the boat because it was too busy on the island. Overall a great tour and we did kayak on the first spot (extra charge) and snorkelled on the second spot (you can hire snorkel gear before the tour) Our highlight was when we spotted baby sharks at hidden beach!

Had a Shawarma from the town as we were quite hungry after the tour and it was delicious. They sell it on one of the little streets of El Nido. Later we had a yummy crepe with Nutella too (120 pesos) which they also sell everywhere in town. We finished our day with a stroll through town and checking out the souvenir shops.

Had breakfast at Dayo, very delicious a bit more on the pricier side but worth it. I also had a matcha which was delightful. (In the Philippines matchas are more sweet than bitter)

Today we went on a Jeepney Inland tour with Haqqy Life which they offer every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Places we visited: - Lio Beach (here we played volleyball and had lunch, in boodle fight-style) - made a stop on the way to get fresh coconuts - ended our day at Nacpan Beach where we had drinks and snacks, jumped in the ocean and watched the sunset On the way back to the hostel we had a karaoke going on in our jeepney and the mood was amazing. The party continued on the rooftop pool at frendz hostel.

Had breakfast at the hostel and then went on the boat tour A with Haqqy Life as we had such a great time the day before. We paid 1600 pesos pp Spots we visited: - Seven Commandos Beach - Small Lagoon (supposed to visit big lagoon but too busy) - Payong Payong Beach (where we had lunch) - Inatula Island All locations were amazing especially small lagoon and our lunch spot, the food was delicious and beautifully prepared for us. The team had done an incredible job again and everyone was happy. We ended the tour on Inatula Island where we had a fresh coconut and played volleyball. Feel free to check out our YouTube video about the tour :) Channel: Our Sweet Hideout

We ended the night at the hostel where we ate pizzas and had a quiz night

We took a van to Teneguiban Pier early in the morning. From there we got picked up by boat which brought us to Darocotan island. Our next accommodation was a beach hut at Isla Experience. When you stay here, food is included as well as yoga, meditation classes and on some days fire dance performances. The huts have mosquito nets around the bed and a plug to charge your phone. Toilets and showers are shared with the island guests. There is a ship wreck close by and you can take one of the kayaks to explore the island. Snorkel gear is included too. There are pigs and ducks at Isla experience and you can watch feeding them in the ocean.

We stayed half day at Isla experience and then made our way all the way back to Puerta Princesa. As we are going on a 4 days 3 nights boat trip in Balabac (remote island group at the bottom of Palawan close to Malaysia)

We checked in our hotel where we stayed the night. Rooms were nice, cafe downstairs had delicious local food and the staff was really accommodating. (We stayed here again after our Balabac boat tour)

Balabac 4d3n private boat trip: 14000peso pp We got picked up via shuttle at 3am and drove all the way to Buliluyan Port (5-6 hours). From there we got picked up by our private boat crew and went to our first island: Patawan Island Shaped like a dolphin, white soft sand and lots of cute kitties roaming around. You can even sleep on this island (there’s one accommodation which you can see in the drone shot) We had lunch and then hopped back onto our Bangka (boat) and sailed to the next island

We stayed two hours on Canabungan Island, exploring, meeting some local kids, spotting flying fish and climbing on palm trees. Then we headed to our last island for the day where we will camp

We witnessed a beautiful sunset and prepared then our tents for the night, after we had dinner. We slept well and in the morning we had breakfast on the island before we visited our next stop nearby

We stopped at this sandbar to see the many star fish and we didn’t get disappointed. It looked unreal and the water was turquoise and very clear. We spent an hour enjoying this stunning place

Then we headed earlier than planned to Onok island as the weather and wind conditions changed rapidly and it wasn’t safe for us to visit more islands. But we didn’t complain as Onok island is definitely the highlight of the whole Balabac trip. We got a room and had lunch on the island. Then we explored and played with the cute dogs and met Garfield the cat. We also snorkelled next to the island and saw the giant clams known as Taklobo in the Philippines.

Woke up for sunrise, saw lots of turtles and kept exploring the island. We were supposed to do some more island hopping but there was a typhoon warning and the wind was very strong so we weren’t allowed to leave. But it wasn’t too bad being stuck in paradise :D We finally got some sun and blue skies in the afternoon which made it even better. But washing my hair with the water from the well was a mission xD

Time to say goodbye to Onok the dogs and Garfield, we enjoyed our last breakfast and then left with beautiful memories. It was quite sad leaving the dogs behind, they even followed us to our boat and watched us sailing off. They definitely enjoyed our company the last three days

We made one last stop as the wind finally calmed down and the conditions allowed us to visit another island before we went back to the pier.

Back in Puerto Princesa we stopped at Jollibee’s for lunch, checked in to go-hotels (we also left our suitcases there as we didn’t need them for the Balabac trip) and checked out the mall. The next day we will fly back to Manila. That was our Palawan itinerary I hope you have a wonderful time exploring those stunning islands and places in the Philippines! If you want more inspiration feel free to follow us on YouTube and check out our Philippines series @OurSweetHideout