August is not a common month for vacations in the Philippines. It’s the rainy season and prone to cancellations, delays, and bad weather.
But with the country experiencing sunny days year-round, it’s also the best time to visit pristine beaches minus the crowds.
So, we decided to take the risk. We booked a trip to El Nido Philippines in the middle of August.
From sunny to dull, the weather can change drastically at sea. Photo taken during our Aug 2017 El Nido trip.
And despite the typhoon that ravaged the country in July, we were blessed with sunny and beautiful weather.
Beautiful sunny weather in El Nido (be careful, you can get sunburned!)
Read about our itinerary, what to expect, and how much to prepare.
Getting to El Nido
El Nido is located in the North-Western Part of Palawan and is a 1 and ½ hour flight from Metro Manila if you are taking a direct flight to Lio Airport.
However, those flights are expensive. So to save some money, we opted for a promo flight through Cebu Pacific from NAIA 3 to Puerto Princesa International Airport. This is a 1 hour and 15 minutes flight.
To reach El Nido, you must board a van and endure five to six hours of land travel through winding roads – but mostly beautiful countryside views.
You can choose from private or shared van transfers. Private vans cost around 6,000 one way. Shared vans cost about 600 per person but are available for a fixed time only. Your hotel accommodation can help book these vans.
Our plane arrived at Puerto Princesa around 7 pm. Based on prior research, we knew that public vans are available only until 5 pm so we had the hotel arrange the van pickup for us.
However, since there are a lot of late-night flights to Puerto Princesa, there are still private vans waiting for their passengers to El Nido up until the last flight arrives. If you’re traveling solo, you can opt to share a ride with these vans.
I recommend working with your accommodation as they can give you the best deals on van transfers and give you peace of mind that you’re going directly to your hotel.
Vans have a halfway stopover, around 3 hours after you leave your pick-up point. This is the spot where you can eat lunch or dinner. This is also the only stopover for CR breaks.
Our accommodations at El Nido for 3 nights
Continue reading “4 Days In El Nido, Palawan: The Ultimate Adventure”