The Unprepared OFW: El Nido & Puerto Princesa 6D/5N

As you know from my previous posts, our Palawan trip was a last-minute one - so the itinerary was not really planned and I did a lot of changes up to the day before our flight to consider budget limitations. Nevertheless we had a blast and our eyes and souls were filled to the brim with Inang Kalikasan's timeless and wondrous beauty, and that's just El Nido and Puerto Princesa!

One thing that we did regret though, is that we should've started our trip in Puerto Princesa, at Palawan Heritage Museum. There we had a crash course in the wonder that is Palawan, and there's really more to see than just El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa.

It was really an eye-opener for us as well, that we come to know so little about our own heritage as Filipinos, and that there are really a lot that wasn't covered by our primary education. This should be a priority for our lawmakers and the people at DepEd so that we won't just have an overview of our country's history in our textbooks but an in-depth, inclusive, factual and comprehensive history-telling of Philippines as a whole, not just the event highlights as perceived by the author/s.

Anyway, ranting aside, here's our revised itinerary for the whole trip:

Day 1

• Flight from Manila - Puerto Princesa via Air Asia
• Van to El Nido (6 hours)
• Check in to Novie's Tourist Inn
• Grocery shopping

Day 2 

• Tour C
• Early dinner

Day 3

• Van to Puerto Princesa (6 hours againnn)
• Check in to Palawan Village Hotel
• Dinner at Mang Inasal
• Sightseeing at NCC Mall

Day 4

• DIY City Tour via bike rental (500 PHP for 1 day)
• Baker's Hill
• Palawan Butterfly Garden
• Palawan Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Center
• Mitra's Ranch
• Laundry Time / Early Dinner 

Day 5

• Palawan Heritage Center (Palawan Museum)
• Palawan Special Battalion World War II Memorial Museum
• Souvenir Shopping

Day 6

• Flight from Puerto Princesa to Manila (amidst typhoon warnings)

If you can see, our trip was not packed with activities, most especially in El Nido. We actually got a pretty good rate from our tour agent for both roundtrip shuttle and Tour C but since we're on a budget and we get to spend only 2 nights there (including the transfers), we only had time for 1 tour which usually takes up a whole day. You do have the option to take combo tours but since we didn't research on this much before the trip, we just went with the most popular one.

Puerto Princesa, on the other hand, was a treat and much more affordable than El Nido. We were able to stretch our pesos further here although we should've availed of the Underground River (1,769 PHP/ person) and Firefly Watching tours (already included in the City Tour if you'll avail of it via your hotel or any tour agent or friendly trike driver  for 600 PHP/ person). The last leg was pretty laid-back but we learned a lot and managed to meet our fellow katutubos (Butterfly Garden) as well so we didn't feel short-changed at all, just that a week is not enough to discover everything there is in Palawan.

Hope you have fun in your trip as much as we did! I'll do a budget breakdown as well, to encourage other budget conscious OFWs to take time to discover and have fun in PHL without breaking the bank :)

Ta! ~~