El Nido is Neato!

January 13th  2025

Our last stop on our Philippines adventure was El Nido.  El Nido is a stunning coastal town on Palawan Island, Philippines, known for its dramatic limestone cliffs, turquoise waters, and hidden lagoons. It’s one of the country’s top travel destinations, especially for nature lovers, divers, and island-hopping enthusiasts. 

From the moment we started our descent into El Nido Airport we knew we were in for a treat.  The plane glides over a shallow lagoon and stunning white beach (Leo Beach) surrounded by limestone peaks.  As we had a few hours before our AirBnB house was ready, we headed straight over to the Seda Resort where Francesca's Aunt Susan and Uncle Chris were staying.  We had a nice walk along Leo Beach where the lifeguards made the kids animals out of palm leaves and a relaxing lunch at The El Nido Grill serving up delicious Filipino food. 

Our AirBnB was a very well appointed 3 bedroom villa in a remote village called Villa Libertad.  By all appearances it was an economically challenged area with houses made of cement or wood walls with corrugated tin roofs, but still everyone seemed happy and always greeted us with a smile on their faces.  

I made some friends with the neighbors and their children and it definitely seemed that life was a challenge - many of them having multiple jobs, but everyone I spoke to still maintained a positive attitude - at least to me. 

Francesca's Father and his wife Karen were with us in El Nido too and together with Aunt Susan and Uncle Chris we enjoyed eating at some of the best restaurants in El Nido including Baracuda Seafood Restaurant where the young chef, Cheska San Juan, came out to say hello to us and bonded with our own "Chesca" (what Francesca's family has always called her).  

We also enjoyed some of the down scale, local food in our Libertad neighborhood including a Pancit Malabon restaurant and a pizza place.

One of the most popular things to do on El Nido is what the locals - or at least the locals who are marketing trours to the tourists - call "Island Hoping".  There are generally 4 set itineraries you can choose from regardless of the tour operator you go with although they are all free to make on the fly adjustments depending on how crowded an area is or what the weather is like.  

We ended up going with a tour company called Philippines A La Carte which allowed you to create a combination of tour packages to suit your tastes. We went with a combination of Tours C & D which seemed safest for young kids, but also a little adventure as well.  

The islands included in our tour were scheduled to be:

• Small Lagoon

• Cadlao Lagoon

• Hidden Beach

• Helicopter Island (which we ended up not visiting but we did see it)

• Pasandigan Island

• Nat-Nat Beach

I believe they swapped out an island or beach here and there so I am not sure which ones we actually visited. 

We were grouped with a couple in El Nido for their wedding.  Manny is an Canadian born Indian and his fiance, Mikey, was born in El Nido.  Manny's brother and sister and her husband were along as well.  They were great fun and we all enjoyed each other's company for the duration of the tour. 

No trip to El Nido is complete without a visit to Nacpan Beach, one of the most spectacular beaches in the Philippines with golden sand stretching for miles.  The kids played in a very shallow water and ate food while Francesca and I enjoyed some tropical cocktails and a beach side massage. 

We elected to stay to watch the sunset which was well worth it, however, we didn't realize the whole area shuts down right after sunset and due to a mix up with our van driver we had to sit in the darkness waiting for about an hour for our ride back to our lodging.  Nacpan Beach is pretty remote and taxi's don't regularly go past their unless they have a specfic fare waiting for them.  

But overall El Nido delivered on its promise of golden beaches, spectacular islands with ice blue water and some good food and culture thrown in for good measure.