Island hopping Coron to El Nido with Tao Philippines

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wilder-beast migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling food market
9
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall Score
The highest score of nature or culture, + fun factor, + avoid the crowds, + the highest score of world famous or unique. Then turned into a score out of 100. More details at the bottom of the page
82 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
continent
Asia
country
Philippines
Length of time
3-4 days
Rough cost
Obviously people have different tastes, so this will depend on those tastes, but this is a rough idea of price of the whole experience based on 2 people able to split the accommodation costs and excluding travel there and back
$ 450
Time of year visited
November
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site
23rd/372 This travel experience's ranking compared to all the other experiences on this site
Top 10% SUMMARY RATING: Unmissable

Summary

The islands in the north of Palawan between El Nido are some of the most stereotypically idyllic tropical beach paradises you can imagine – hundreds of islands surrounded by perfect white sand, gorgeous clear turquoise water, tropical reefs, and only occasionally sprinkled with tiny villages along the shoreline.  Whilst there are many places around the world, and even in the Philippines, that can offer trips through very similar settings, it is the ease of access to these trips (multiple trips leave every day), reasonable price (think less than US$1k for 6 days vs minimum x4 for an equivalent liveaboard), and focus on interacting respectfully (and genuinely) with the local communities that makes the Palawan experience stand out.  A must if visiting Palawan . . . and almost a must if visiting the Philippines

 

Top tips:

  1. Go with Tao Philippines.  Whilst there are around 10 companies offering these type of trips, Tao are the pioneers, have the scale, and everyone I’ve spoken to has raved about them. Put it this way – I can see they consistently have 9+/10 ratings
  2. Expect it to be fairly basic.  The Tao Philippines site gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect and tries to manage the expectation (www.taophilippines.com) – basically don’t come if you’re a princess, but in summary:
    • The boat – you’re on a large Philippine-style bangka boat for the day – plenty of areas to lounge around on.  Nothing private.  Up to 25 on the boat (we had 24 and didn’t at all feel crowded at any stage)
    • Sleeping – you sleep in village bamboo huts by night.  Think a 3m / 3m (10ft x 10ft) bamboo platform on stilts, with a roof covering by two bamboo sides leaving an entrance and exit either end, a thin single mattress surrounded by mosquito nets.  Goes without saying – no aircon
    • Food – surprisingly good
    • Showers – cold water, shared bathrooms
    • Electronics – half the evening stops have charging (helps to bring a powerbank), none have wifi, cell coverage is patchy depending on network
  3. Expect a backpacker vibe.  For anyone who has travelled through South East Asia, you know what I mean.  Chilled out, not expecting 5 star (or 3 or 4 star!), probably doing this as part of a bigger trip, respectful, up for fun.  Age is only one of many factors that reflect the vibe, but typically the age range is 18-45
  4. What do you do?  Expect a lot of sailing through tropical paradise, snorkelling, chilling out on distant beaches or beaches you’ll be sleeping on
  5. November was PERFECT.  Not too hot, very little rain, very few mosquitos, and fewer fellow tourists at this time of year
  6. 3 days / 2 nights or 6 days / 5 nights?  It completely depends on your appetite for chill, how much time you have and which route you are doing.  I booked 3 days / 2 nights (from Coron to El Nido), knowing I could change my mind and extend on the 3rd day, which I didn’t do.  After meeting up with my group on their 6th and final night, and after discussing with many who have also done the 6 days, I would summarise as:
    • 3 days / 2 nights – I left thinking I’d had a wonderful time, fantastic group and it was one of the highlights of the Philippines.  I’d “done it” and didn’t need another 3 days of the same tropical island experience, and was able to use the remaining 3 days for scuba diving in the same islands, sleep in a nice hotel (it feels soooo good after sleeping a little rough) and generally explore other areas
    • 6 days / 5 nights – you get the full chill experience, get to stay at “The Farm” (which was the best place to stay) and experience the highlight of the trip which was the final day in the Bacuit Archipelago
    • If going El Nido to Coron, go for the 3 days / 2 nights.  If Coron to El Nido, go for the 6 days / 5 nights

highlights

#1 Passing by and often stopping at picture perfect paradise

#2 The real desert-island locations for staying

#3 Snorkelling to see fish in the hundreds of tropical reefs just off the shore

#4 Your group! 3days / 6 days on a boat is a good time to get to know some people

#5 Meeting some of the local wildlife - like this poor little man whose mum was scared away by some dogs and now gets to be brought up by one of the Tao Philippines team

#6 Catching a tuna off the back of the boat and having the freshest sashimi you will ever have in your life

#7 Those tropical island sunsets

#8 Spending time on the surprisingly spacious Bangka boat - you'll learn to love it!

#9 Spending the evenings on a clear night looking up at the stars . . . or, in this case, the insanely bright moon

#10 Pulling up to visit "The Farm"

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"?  That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others.  That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score

This overall experience score is calculated by:  take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10).  Then convert into a score out of 100

Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique".  Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides.  So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique".  But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience).  So, both of these scores are standalone