Korean Job Discussion Forums

ramen209 · Joined: 14 Apr 2009

We are going to Manila for a day and to El Nido in Palawan for a few days during Chuseok.. does anyone have some advice on what to do/see/eat and what are some good souvenirs to buy while there?

BoholDiver · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Location: Canada

I hope you are ready for 6 hours on land in a bumpy bus.

No tips. Have a good time.

recklesscognition1 · Joined: 19 Aug 2010

Take the boat from Sabang to El Nido in bad weather. That'll be a souvenir

Yaya · Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul

You can fly to El Nido direct from Manila, no need for the horrible bus ride.

http://www.philtravelcenter.com/philippines/travelinfo/elnido-gettingthere.php

The problem is that the one-way fare is 152 U.S. dollars.

alwaysbeclosing100 · Joined: 07 Feb 2009

the direct manila-el nido flights are hard to get on top of being expensive. they are generally reserved for high end resort customers in el nido.

there are many nice places on palawan other than just el nido.

sweet_potato · Joined: 05 Jul 2009

palawan is beautiful, especially el nido Smile

i went there for a week, but i have to admit that a lot of time was spent in transit. i'd recommend getting out of manila asap, if u can score a flight to el-nido, by all means take it.

if not, u can fly to puerto princessa (zest air is good and cleap airline). from there, u can take a bus to sabang (to check out the underground river/caves, it's quite nice). sabang is like 2h by bus from puerto princessa. from sabang, u can take either a van (about 6h) to el-nido, or a boat. we took the boat up (the guy told us it was only 5h - it was 9 and it was atrocious). the van was better, imo.

everything in the phil is on "phil-time" so expect delays for the domestic flights, buses, vans, boats, etc. having said that, don't fly back into manila on the morning of ur international flight back to korea bc you'll probably miss it. manila airports are a disorganized nightmare for someone who isnt familiar w the city.

el-nido has lots of western food. i didn't think there was too much "phil culture" per-se, but it's beautiful, take a snorkeling daytrip, check out Alternative restaurant/bar, Art Cafe, Reggae bar, etc. have fun Smile

ramen209 · Joined: 14 Apr 2009

Thanks for the tips.

We went to El Nido by van, and it was definitely worth the bumpy 6 hour ride.

It's possibly one of the most beautiful places on earth!

We stayed at "the alternative guesthouse" there.