Conquering El Nido

Scanning at the in-flight magazines featuring Palawan as the Philippine's Last Frontier made me want to visit the island. With the idea in mind, along with a friend of mine, we came up with a plan of going to El Nido during non-peak season. The planning wasn't easy, we made as much research as we could so as to maximize our time and of course, the budget. Then came the opportunity, SEAT SALE, ding ding ding ding! 

We booked our tickets 4 months ahead of our planned vacation, just in-sync with the US Holiday. Our plan would be a 3 day/4 night stay in El Nido, and the rest would be in Puerto Princesa. 

I was tasked to make a budget and as per agreed, we'll just have to spend Php 7,000. It was tough! My initial budget was at Php 9,000...hahaha!!! For the love of my friends, adjustments had to be made --- thrift mode activated. 

Finally, the day has arrived, from work place to Mactan-Cebu International Airport off we go! Our original plan was to stay in Puerto Princesa for a night then take an early morning bus ride to El Nido, but then the plan got changed since most island tour would start at 9 AM and considering the travel time for 5-6 hours, we'll end up wasting another day just by traveling. As agreed, as soon as we land in Puerto Princesa (ETD 12 noon), we'll have to take the bus ride to El Nido at 2 PM for the air-conditioned bus.

The three of us, about to check our must-to-go places in our bucket lists.

And my first steps in Puerto Princesa.








 


We decided to a bus going to El Nido. Its more affordable compared to taking a van, plus the spacious leg rooms, minus the cramps. We don't need to worry as the first day, as planned, would just be for travel, at least we can catch up with our sleep while on the bus. We managed to take the RORO bus, at least its air-conditioned.

 


We hopped on the 2:00 PM trip. The great thing about the RORO bus is that you can make reservation for the seats. The trip approximately took 5-6 hours compared to a 4-5 van ride. It doesn't matter anyway since we'd still arrive at night time.


We arrived in El Nido at around 8 PM. We stayed at Marina Garden Beach Resort in one of their Native Cottages, the Wayside Cottage. It is a great El Nido beachfront resort, situated in the middle of town, plus the Police Station is right across the resort, its got free w-fi as well! No villa's for us as it gets really cold during night time, and during day time we're on island hopping, so pretty much we could not maximize the AC..hehe.
But I say that the rooms were pretty much decent and clean. Based on different reviews, and I as well, would personally recommend Marina Garden Beach Resort.

I've managed to watch on our spending pattern for the entire vacation, just so if we can be within our budget or if we could go beyond it.
 

Day 1	Wednesday
58	Taxi
200	Terminal Fee (Cebu)
40	Tricycle to Bus Terminal
50	Lunch
55	Baon for the trip
484	Bus Fare
30	Soup on the go
20	Tricycle El Nido
75	Dinner
34	for midnight snacks
1046	Total

And for this trip, no plastic cards were swiped, except for the airfare of course. This is our individual budget for 3 pax.