Palawan is rugged, pristine, and spectacularly beautiful. Travel can be tougher here than some places, but that’s part of why Palawan remains so alluring. For our efforts over about a month in Palawan we were rewarded with amazing sights, people, and experiences that we’ll always remember.
We loved getting aquianted with Palawan’s wonders in Puerto Princesa’s Honda Bay, touring the Underground River in Sabang, and island hopping our way around El Nido. Kayaking and exploring postcard-perfect beaches took up most of the rest of our time.
Palawan has an abundance of fun activities on offer, and we could have filled two months as easily as we did one. Being an island many activities are related to the sea and we took full advantage.
How about a video to show you the highlights from our trip to Palawan…
Ready to visit Palawan? Find a great place to stay on Agoda.
Ok, looks cool… where is it?
Palawan is an island in the western Philippines. While it was noted as the “top island in the world” in 2014 by Conde Nast it is still relatively undiscovered as far as tourism, compared to say Boracay in the Philippines and certainly compared to some other Southeast Asia destinations like Thailand.
Here’s a map so you can get your bearings.
We flew into and out of Puerto Princesa, which is midway along the east coast. We spent our time on Palawan between Puerto Princesa and El Nido in the north, never venturing further south than Puerto Princea.
Palawan is not the easiest place to get to and get around, but again that’s what’s keeping it so nice. We ran through a bunch of options on how to get to Palawan, and how to get around once you get there, in our El Nido Vacation Guide for Families post.
Want to learn more?
We’ve written all about our Palawan adventures, including our time in Puerto Princesa, Sabang, and El Nido here on the blog. Check out our previous posts for lots of details, stories, and of course pictures. Start planning your Palawan vacation with our posts below.
Puerto Princesa
- Puerto Princesa – Gateway to Palawan
- Honda Bay Island Hopping: The One Thing You Must Do In Puerto Princesa
Sabang
El Nido
- El Nido Island Hopping
- Telesfora Beach Cottages
- How to Get Cash in El Nido
- Kayaking in El Nido
- El Nido Vacation Guide for Families
Ready to visit Palawan? Find a great place to stay on Agoda.
Interested in other Philippines destinations? Read our posts on Boracay and Bohol, or just peruse our whole library of posts about the Philippines.
The Trekking Family 
Amazing video showing the beauty of the area. It makes us want to follow in your footsteps! Love, Michael and Alicia
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Thanks guys! We miss you!
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Palawan is definitely next in my bucket list. I want to explore El Nido because it looks enchantingly beautiful.
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It’s pretty spectacular. A very special place.
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I just LOVE your posts! They are so inspiring and we share the same way and love of travelling the world. We just booked our flights for christmas holidays to go to the Philippines again. Not sure if we should spend 16 days in Palawan or split them up in Palawan and Boracay. What would you suggest, as you guys have been to both places?
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Thanks Andrea 🙂 With 16 days I’d probably stick with Palawan. It takes a while to get between places, and there’s more than enough to fill your time there. Enjoy your Christmas holiday!!
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Hello! We are hoping to travel to the Philippines/Palawan this year with a 3-4month old baby. With your expertise, do you have any advice for traveling with an infant to Palawan? Anything we should consider?
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Hi There! Honestly it’s been so long now since we’ve been that my advice may be dated. Palawan felt pretty remote, especially anywhere away from Puerto Princesa. It’s a little hard to answer your question not knowing where you’re from, what you’re used to and what type of traveling you normally do. I’d not recommend traveling in Palawan, especially with a baby, for inexperienced travelers unfamiliar with travel in southeast Asia. It’s an amazing place and one of my favorite destinations anywhere in the world, but it’s challenging.
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Hi Matt, thanks for your response. We are from the U.S. and have traveled all over the world but and we’d like to keep travelling once we have a baby. We are visiting the Philippines since we have family there but this will be the first trip to Palawan. We’d likely only stay in Puerto Princesa knowing that the other towns are too remote to bring a baby to. Do you think even Puerto Princesa is hard with an infant?
Do you have any other countries you would suggest are super baby-friendly ?
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Cool! If you’ve been to rural parts of the Philippines before and are familiar with/ok with stuff like getting around on motor trikes then Puerto Princesa won’t be all that different. It’s very different than Manila, for example, though so if that’s what you’re used to it will be a change. There’s some fun stuff to see and do like Baker’s Hill (https://trekkingwithtwins.travel.blog/2015/02/10/puerto-princesa-palawan/). I probably wouldn’t do the island hopping at Honda Bay with a very small baby. Tons of places are super baby-friendly, it just depends what you’re looking for from a trip and your comfort level with things like different transportation, food, etc. Definitely keep traveling. We love traveling with the kids and continue to do it – we were in the UK for about a month last year, sorry no posts yet 🙂 Best advice is to plan to take it very slow and try to dive into whatever local families would do… parks, playgrounds, kids’ activities, museums that kids would be interested in, etc.
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