El Nido

Palawan has repeatedly topped reader polls from Conde Nast Traveler and Travel+Leisure for best island in the world, and El Nido, a small town at its northern tip, functions as the gateway to the part of the island that earns most of that praise: the Bacuit Archipelago, a scatter of limestone karst islands rising sharply out of turquoise water.

Island-hopping tours, standardized into routes labeled A, B, C, and D, cover different combinations of hidden lagoons, sheltered beaches, and reef snorkeling spots across the archipelago. The Big and Small Lagoons on Tour A, reached by paddling a narrow gap in the limestone cliffs, rank among the most photographed spots in the Philippines, and most visitors book two or three of the four tours across a multi-day stay rather than trying to see everything in one long day.

Getting to El Nido takes some deliberate planning, since the town itself sits far from the Philippines' main transport hubs. Most visitors either fly directly into El Nido's small regional airport from Manila or fly into Puerto Princesa, Palawan's larger city, and continue overland by van or bus, a journey of roughly five to six hours over sometimes rough roads.

The demand behind Palawan's growing reputation has made peak-season accommodation genuinely hard to book on short notice, a shift from just a decade ago when the island was still a comparatively under-the-radar destination. Booking rooms and island-hopping tours well ahead, especially during the November-May dry season, has become close to essential rather than optional.

Beyond the archipelago itself, Nacpan Beach, a long stretch of golden sand roughly 45 minutes from El Nido town, offers a quieter, less boat-dependent alternative for a beach day, while Coron, another cluster of Palawan islands a short flight or ferry away, adds wreck diving and additional lagoons for anyone extending the trip further north.