El Nido Palawan 2026 🇵🇭 Which Tour is ACTUALLY Worth It? (A, B, C, D)

Welcome to El Nido, one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It's known for its towering limestone cliffs, hidden bays, white sand beaches, and some of the most beautiful water in the world. And if you're planning your trip here in 2026, you're probably wondering the best way to experience it. And conveniently for you, they've actually broken down this paradise into four sections, which you can see on different tours, A, B, C, or D. They're all completely different, and it can be kind of hard to figure out which one is the best for you. So this week, I'm going to be taking you out on all four tours. I'll be sharing the prices, important information, and wow factor of each one, so you don't have to guess anymore. And make sure to stick around to the end, because the one that was the best for me is not the most popular one. Now let's get into it. Good morning. It's a nice day today. It's so nice today, especially when you have somebody lovely to share it with. Now before we head out on the tour, there are a few little pieces of information that I would like to share with you. Pickups typically happen between 8 and 9 a.m., and they drop you off between 4 and 5 p.m. The cost of the boat trips tend to range between 1200 and 1400 pesos for shared tours, but there are a few little hidden fees in there. There's a 400 peso environmental fee that's good for up to five days, so if you're doing more than one tour, you don't have to pay that every time. And tour A and tour D have a 200 peso kayaking tour, but they all include water, a buffet lunch, a licensed tour guide, and life jackets. But I do recommend picking up some snacks, and maybe some water, because adventure makes me hungry anyway. Water is a must. Water is a must. Water is life, people. Yep. And you know, today we're going out on tour A to kick off our little exploration of the best way to see El Nido, and it's the most popular tour, the one that most people book. But I don't know that it's actually the best tour, because that means there's going to be the most people out at it. So while it's supposed to be absolutely stunning, it's the and lagoon tour. Sometimes that stunning can get a little lost when there's so many people there, but I've never done this before, so I don't know. Right now we are going to head down, grab our stuff, go to the pickup point, and we are going to get this adventure started. Let's get going. Let's do it. All right, we have arrived at El Nido beach, the main beach in town, and it is so gorgeous. Look at that beautiful water, limestone cliffs, and lots of boats. This is where all of the tours will be leaving from, as far as I know. And when we got to the beach, they actually said that we could optionally rent water shoes and snorkeling equipment. Now I asked the guide, and he said that he recommended getting the shoes, because sometimes it can be shallow, and you have to walk on some sharp rocks. So we rented them for 100 pesos, and Ann picked up a mask for another 100 pesos, because there are some places that we can go snorkeling. And one more tip I wanted to mention, or actually two, is definitely bring sunscreen, because the sun is beautiful, but it's also pretty hot on this white skin. And a waterproof bag is an essential, because your things will get wet. You can also get one of those little phone bags, if you just want to bring it out and not have to worry about it. So let's hop on this boat. The anchors are up, the sun is out. Let's find out if tour A really is the best tour. We are at our first stop right now, and this is where that kayaking fee came in. Only it wasn't a kayaking fee we paid before, it was the luxury island 200 peso fee. So it's 300 for the kayak, and it is a must-do. But man, these limestone cliffs all around, and that beautiful water, just make this such a memorable part of this experience. Wow, it is absolutely stunning out here. Amazing. I get why this is the most popular tour. And they give us one hour here, so it's not really a ton of time, but it's enough to go out and get some of those beautiful photos. So let's head back to the boat, and head to our next stop. So we just drove about five minutes from the big lagoon, and along the way we made a quick snorkeling stop, but what did you think of the snorkeling? Uh, it's not really good. Yeah, I know, I know. I felt, felt just kind of like a little add-on, like they just kind of like tossed us in the water, but it was still nice to get wet. And now we are on Bayang Bayang beach, which means umbrella beach. And we're going to be having some hopefully delicious food, but look at this blue water. What do we call it? It's beautiful. That's right. So let's go and swim into shore, and eat some food together. See you in a bit. This is a nice little buffet lunch. Check that out. Crab, shrimp, chicken, rice for the Filipina. You always have to have rice. Some noodles, veggies, and my favorite, I already took a bite out of it, some yellow watermelon. And this little area behind us here is so nice. It's like jungle and rocks, and if you walk to the side, they actually have some caves that you can go in. Oh wow, that is really good. Okay, what would you rank this as a local Filipina for a meal? As a local, 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10 from the Philippines. I love that. So let's finish up our food, and go and explore some more. You eat. We just arrived. We did just arrive at Seven Commandos beach, which is the final stop of the tour, and it's gorgeous. There's palm trees up above, the water is so blue, people are playing volleyball, they have a full bar, and you can even get fresh coconuts filled with rum. It's a good idea. I don't think it's a good idea either, but we actually had one stop before this, which was Secret Lagoon, but they had us get off the boat, swim into the lagoon area, and you're supposed to be able to walk through one of these limestone cliffs, and go inside to like a cave, but the tide was too high, so we're not allowed to get in. So we just swam there, and then the guide swam in himself, took my GoPro with him, showed us the inside on the GoPro, and then said, sorry, we're just going to go to Seven Commandos and hang out, which I think was a little bit disappointing. I mean, I think it would have been beautiful, and obviously they know what the tides are, because there's tide charts, and they're pretty consistent every day, so it's okay though. We get to have extra time here on the beach, and I'm really looking forward to just relaxing, enjoying everything, and what did you think of Tour A today? So far, it was really good. The view is great. The sun is great too, and yeah, all in all, plus the food is good. 10 out of 10, so total, all in all, I think Tour A is pretty good. Absolutely, I can see why it's the most popular one, but I also feel like it's pretty busy. There's definitely a lot of people on all of these beaches, and hopefully some of the other tours we're going to be checking out are maybe a little more personal. I don't know if that's the way you would say it, but I had a great time, and it's definitely one that if you only have time for one tour, this is probably the best tour, but we won't know until we do the rest, so we're going to just chill out for now, enjoy some of this amazing nature, and that beautiful water. Wow, it's so nice, and then we are going to jump right into Tour B tomorrow. See you tomorrow. Hi everybody. Look, where are we going? We are on Tour B today, the Caves and Island Tour, so I'm super excited. It's going to be totally different than yesterday, and we cannot wait to show it to you. Yes, I'm so excited. Hi. Hi. We're back again. It is like amazing out here. The cliffs are so big, the palm trees on the beaches, and there's nobody else out here. Just us. Yeah, it's breathtaking. I mean, look at those. It's just wow. It really is, and right now we're pulling up to a little sandbar right behind us here for our first stop, so let's go check it out. Our second stop is the Cathedral Cave, and maybe you can guess why it's called that. Look at that behind me here. One of those giant rock limestone curves that we keep driving past. The entire inside has been hollowed out, and we actually go right up to the entrance with the boat, so you can snap some beautiful photos. Now we're going to go ahead and do some snorkeling. Always underwater. So we just arrived at our lunch spot, and look how blue this water is. Look at me. I'm carrying everything. That's right. You got to make her work. And we even have a little cave to explore. Are you ready to crawl in? What? We're crawling? Yes, we are. So they had us not crawl into the cave because there were too many people, but there's a back entrance. Let's go in and check it out. So we are inside the cave right now, and there are stalactites and stalagmites. They also have it lit up really well, and while it's not a big cave, you know, size doesn't always matter. Right, babe? Yeah, right. Let's go grab some lunch. All right, so we just finished up lunch, and where are we going? We are headed to the cave. Yes, the cave that we were going to go into when we got off the boat, but was too full. So now we have the time, and this little island is nice. They have some chairs to sit in. Soft sand. The water is so blue. Very blue. Are you excited? Yeah. I can't wait for you to squeeze in there. Wow. Be careful. You have to be sexy when you go in too. Wow. Beautiful. It's a little bit slippery, so be careful. Look at that. Wow. Isn't this beautiful? Is it? Very pretty. Very beautiful. Is it uncave-lievable? Oh, yes! Uncave-lievable. Man, so much great nature in El Nido, and this is actually our third stop? Yeah. What's the name of the cave? Kadugnung. Kadugnung Cave, which means the shivering cave, and we got to go to two caves on this one. That's very cool. I love how the light streams in. So gorgeous. Oh, wow. Our cave comes with music. Daylight come and me one go home. Well, I don't want to go home yet. This is such a beautiful cave, and right now we are going to be going and heading to Snake Island. Do you think there's snakes there? Probably not. I'm scared of snakes, so hopefully not. I'll protect you. I know. Are you excited? I am excited. Let's do it. Let's go. Man, it is so beautiful out here, and Snake Island gets its name not from snakes on the island, but there's this winding piece of sand that comes out to it where at low tide you can actually walk on it. Right now we're just standing on it about waist deep, and on the island it's covered in mangroves, and you can actually do a little hike up to the top and get a view, but you know what? The drone view was probably just a little bit better. Yeah, and they sell buko juice. Oh, yeah, and a guy came up on a kayak with some coconuts or buko juice. It's for you. Oh, thank you. Look at that full service. I'm flying my drone, and my lovely lady got me some sustenance, a little cocoa refreshment. Taste it. Oh, that is cocoa-licious. Cocoa-licious, that was cute. Are you so glad that we came? Yeah, it's tiring, but it's worth it. Absolutely. Let's go head back to the boat and see where the rest of this takes us. Now we are heading to Entalula Island, one of the top two islands in the world, according to our guide and some traveler magazine. And it comes from the name of grandmother. Okay, we'll see when we get there. What a great day. It has been a great day, and this little Entalula Island is really beautiful. They have some places to sit in the shade, there's some volleyball, they have a shop where you can pick up some snacks, drinks, and this is the last stop of tour B. So what did you think of today? The tour B is quite amazing compared to the tour A, because like it's more chilling, not so much crowded. It's like you are in a private tour. It really is, and I really enjoyed that. I think this is probably one of the least popular of the tours, because everyone's looking for that big, huge, big lagoon and all those things that you get on the tour A, but I thought this was way more special, intimate, and stunning. You know, just being out, especially that last sandbar, the Snake Island. Yeah, I mean the water is just beautiful, like literally beautiful. So yeah, if you guys would ask us which one we prefer, A or B, we definitely choose to B. Absolutely, and we still have C and D to do as well. C is supposed to be another super popular one, so I'm looking forward to that, but who knows, maybe D is the best. I guess we're just going to have to find out together. Never know. That's right, we will see you tomorrow on tour D. Bye-bye. Good morning, another day, another trip. And look at this day we got here. It is gorgeous out here. Today we are heading out on tour C, which is supposed to be one of the most cinematic and dramatic landscapes. It's called the Secret Beach and Islands tour. Yeah, and it's the most expensive tour of all It is, so hopefully we're getting what we paid for with that little extra bump in the price, and I cannot wait to get out there and check it out with you with Ann right here. We will see you on the boat. So we are at our first stop, but it's not supposed to be our first stop. It's, before I get into it, it's absolutely beautiful here. Look at this. We're in this little inlet. There's kayaking and the big rocks all around the limestone cliffs, but we were supposed to be going to Secret Beach, which is like the big draw of this tour, and after we waited an hour on the boat because they let the license expire for the boat, they told us that we weren't going to be going to Secret Beach because for the past three days it's been wavy and the tide is wrong, which I get. You can't control the ocean, but at the same time you know what the tides are, and you also know that it's been wavy for three days, so it's something you should probably tell people before you go on the tour. And like I said, this is beautiful, but it's not what we signed up for, and this is the most expensive tour, so it's kind of disappointing. It's okay. We're going to go and kayak around a little bit more, head back to the boat, and hopefully our next stop will not be changed or canceled. Hopefully. All right, let's get back out there. We'll see you in a little bit. Yes, welcome to Helicopter Island. I guess if you are coming into it, I actually noticed it on the boat ride in. It looks like a helicopter from a distance, minus the propellers, but they have this beautiful white sand beach here. The water is so blue, and you can go snorkeling, but it's kind of choppy today, so food is ready. You are so sweet. She made this little table out of the cooler so we could sit down. There's not much shade on Helicopter Island or much around. It seems like just like the little sand with the cliffs behind it, but we picked up our food. It looks pretty good. You know, like the noodles and stuff is pretty standard. The last couple days we were with a different company, but they were full today, so now we're out with peacock, and the food's maybe a little bit less than the other ones. The other ones had like crab and fish and like big plates with sauces and stuff, and this is a little bit more kind of like jerry-rigged together, I guess, but it's still good. It's still food, and yeah, I think we're going to enjoy this. Maybe sit on the beach for a little bit and then head to our next stop. What did you think of Helicopter Island? I don't feel helicopter-y, but the beach is so nice. It is so nice. It's good. How about you? I thought it was good. You know, a little more shade maybe. Yeah. Would be nice, especially for whiteys like me because I burn up crispy. Not from a Filipina like me. We are used to the sand. Yes, you are, and right now we are heading to Hidden Beach, so are you excited? Yes. All right, let's go. Let's see what are hidden there. Wowza. I don't even know what else to say. Look at this place. This is Hidden Beach, and I don't know that I've ever seen water this color before. It is so gorgeous. There's a little hidden beach here behind me, and walking out here through the limestone cliffs was stunning. I mean, this could be the most beautiful place that we've been here in Palawan, but getting out here was not so easy. There's pretty big waves right now, and it's kind of choppy, so we had to swim five minutes to the shallow area where we could walk out. We have to swim back to the boat as well, so about half the people on the boat didn't actually come out here and get to experience this, but I'm so glad that we did because it's unbluevable. That's what this is, unbluevable, and I'm so happy that we came out. I mean, the morning had some hiccups, but it was totally worth it for this. It was a great day today, and we are at our last stop, which is Talisay. Beach. Talisay Beach right here behind me. It's a tiny little beach, blue water. You know why they call it Talisay? Why do they call it Talisay Beach? Because they have a talisay tree here. Very clever, and on the way out here, we actually stopped and did some snorkeling at Star Beach, which was really nice. The coral wasn't in the best shape, but there were lots of little fish, so it was also good just to be in the water. And now that we're at our last stop, why don't we just have a quick talk about what you think about the tour today on Tour C. Well, for me, for me, the Tour C is the least that I can pick with the tour that we've been through because like there's a little bit disappointing in there, especially we are looking forward to see this so-called secret beach that they have, and we cannot because it's so wavy. So yeah, I think that's only the disappointment I have. For sure. How about you? And you know, like they said, it's tidal, which means that for half of the month, you probably can't go there, which is kind of weird because the reason why the price is so high for this one, as Anne found out from the captain, is because you're paying a fuel surcharge. So if you can't go for half of the month, you really shouldn't be charging people more money for fuel, which, you know, makes me feel like I'm kind of being gypped a little bit, but that's fine. We stopped at that first cove today where they had the beautiful kayaking, but it's also the first stop on Tour D tomorrow. So, you know, it's good, but you know, we're going to be getting a little repeat in there. And then we went to that hidden beach, which was like, wow, totally worth it just to go to hidden beach because it was like mind-blowing blue. Yeah, blue, blue, blue. It's just beautiful. Like, I got shocked because it's the first, I think it's the first beach that is mind-blowing for me. Yeah. I mean, one of the best I've ever been to in the world, for sure. So, and sharing it with you was amazing. And yeah, I mean, the rest of the stops were good. The crew was so friendly, super nice all day. Yeah. They always take a picture like, hey, do you want to take a picture? Do you need help? Do you need that? But the last thing that kind of made this tour not as good as it could have been is that we left an hour late today because they forgot to renew the license for the boat, which is fine. It happens, but we're heading back at the regular time, which means that each one of the stops we went to was cut short because of their mistake, which is kind of disappointing. I feel like we should be out for an extra hour. We should have gotten more time at hidden beach instead of just 25 minutes, but you know what stuff happens. Could just be the day, could just be the boat. You never know. I'm glad we did it. You know, it's still paradise. It's not like we didn't have a great day because we did, but I think of the three tours, this was probably my least favorite one so far, which is weird because it's supposed to be the second most popular one. And we still have tour D left tomorrow, which I think is going to be amazing. I have high hopes. I hope that you guys are excited too. Are you excited? Yes. All right, we will see you on tour D. So today we are here again in a fun beach because our tour today has been canceled. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but it does happen sometimes. You can't control the weather. It's an absolutely beautiful day out, but the wind is blowing at almost 40 miles an hour and those little boats just can't, can't get out to where they need to go. So we are doing something alternative to that today. And tour D is supposed to be the most chilled out of the tours. Fortunately, we got to go to small bay yesterday, which is the best stop, but we went kayaking in the giant canyons. It was so beautiful. And then all the other stops are just beaches. I'm sure that they're great, but you know what? Sometimes it happens in life. So you can't control nature, but there are some other great alternatives around. There's a bunch of beaches that are very accessible by either the little, what are they called? Not multi cabs, the trikes. Yeah. Or do what we did. We rented a motorbike for 500 pesos per day. We sold them up to 1200. So it's one of the most expensive places I've rented motorbikes here, but the ride out is totally beautiful. You're driving through the mountains, the jungle, there's cows on the side of the road. And Nakhpan is one of the first beaches that you get to when you head north from the city. There's lots of places to grab food. The water is so nice. You can, you can do boogie boarding here. Yeah. And you can also do a massage. Oh, you can do a massage. No happy endings. Thank you for that. Uh, after this, we're going to be heading up to Diwi beach. Duli beach. Duli beach. You're going to check that out. Which is supposed to be beautiful. And the other night we went down to Vanilla beach, which is south of the main town. And it was gorgeous. It is. And you can also do a zip line up there. You can do zip lining there. And if you go right down the beach all the which has a bar and is one of the beautiful places to watch the sunset here. A lot of people go there. Yeah. And I think that maybe we should decide now what was our favorite tour. Let's do count of three. We say A, B, or C. Ready? One, two, three. B. I think so too. I think that A was stunning, beautiful, but also a little bit, you know, overcrowded. And we didn't get to go to that secret cove cave thing that was supposed to be good. C was beautiful. And I mean, probably the best stop was Hidden Beach. Yeah. And I think that that was the best stop of all of the stops that we did on any of the tours. But I think that B was really like the most chilled out. Felt like we were kind of on our own out there. It didn't feel like a private trip. Yeah, it did feel like a private trip. And you know, like if you do want to actually have a private tour, you can do semi-private ones for 3,000 pesos, or you can do a private tour for I think 21,000. Yeah. And the town itself actually has some great stuff to offer too. So if you don't want to take a motorbike out to where we are now, there are so many restaurants. You can go down to the water, do some dining or lunch down there. We had some really good food. There's a reggae bar that we went to two or three times where you can just chill out and enjoy live music. We also went to a place called Casanova in town, which has all the waitresses are dressed as stewardesses. Yeah. And at your table, wherever you're from, they actually give you a flag. So we're from America and the Philippines, so we had an American and a Filipino flag. And also lots of live music there as well. So there's also a night market where you can do some shopping, pick up souvenirs or cute outfits to wear out on your boat tours. And there's also a food market that was grilling up some delicious looking food. They have so many choices to pick, but I already picked the one choice that I want right here. Maybe. Oh, tastes like Filipina. And just a couple other things about town. It is a little bit expensive compared to other parts in the Philippines. Probably one of the most expensive accommodations are up there. Food is up there. They do have ATMs all over, which is great. And getting out here was a six hour van ride from Puerto Princesa. It was comfortable, but just be aware it does take some time. So when you're also heading back for your flight, either go the night before or our flight is at 5 p.m. tomorrow. So we're going to be leaving in the morning on the 7 a.m., just going directly to the airport. So if you don't want to lose a day, that's also a great option. Yeah. And I hope you really enjoyed El Nido. Did you really enjoy El Nido? I do. Look at me. I'm so dark right now. She is so dark. I just love the beach here. It's stunning. And I will forever treasure this moment. Me too, especially because I got to share them with you. In the Philippines, she's known as a morena, the dark skin. And I love it because I'm the white skin, an Apam, not Adam, Apam, a foreigner. But yeah, Ann's going to be heading back to Dumaguete and I'm going to be continuing traveling around the Philippines. We will be meeting up again to make some more fun videos together so we can share some of her amazing country. Yeah. Yeah. What do we say now? If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe. Please give us a thumbs up, comment, subscribe and don't forget the El Nido. Palawan. We will see you next time and keep traveling. The Philippines is an amazing country and has so much to explore. Put your hand on the camera.