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Island hopping is the number 1 activity to do in El nido. With dreamy beaches, more coconuts than you can count and an abundance of tropical fish to see, this is no surprise.
In this post, all your island hopping questions will be answered and you'll be raring to go!
Contents
The tours
There are 4 island hopping tours, Tour A, B, C & D, each tour is exactly the same price everywhere on the island with the same destinations, just to avoid confusion.
This is how all the different tour companies coordinate the boats to leave at the same time and stop at their assigned islands. You could call it ‘organised chaos’ but it works!
The good thing about this is that you will never get ripped off nor will you have to worry about bargaining the best price as they're the same price everywhere!
Tour A: Big lagoon, small lagoon, secret lagoon, 7 commando beach, Shimizu island
Tour B: Snake island, Cathedral cave, Cudognan cave, Pinagbuyutan island
Tour C: Secret beach, Helicopter island, Matinloc shrine, Hidden beach
Tour D: Pasandigan beach, Paradise beach, Cadlao lagoon, Natnat beach
Which tour to choose?
For a summary, Tour A is the most popular and mainly consists of lagoons; tour B is for cave lovers, tour C is for cool secret places and tour D can actually be done on your own by renting a kayak but probably the most chilled as it is closest to El nido island.
What's included?
Each tour includes a massive feast on the beach, consisting of fresh fish, squid, pork, chicken, rice, a fruit platter (with a pineapple in the shape of a parrot!) and crab (if you’re lucky!).
Each tour includes snorkel and mask, life jackets, water and kayaks (if you’re heading to a lagoon). The kayaks are an extra 400 pesos per kayak, which is optional.
The tours also include pick-up from your hotel (or tour centre), drop off at El nido main beach, transport to all the assigned islands / lagoons / caves etc then drop off back at El nido main beach.
We did tours A and C so see below for more details on these two.
Tour details
The tours all leave from El Nido main beach and generally don’t depart until 9:30-10:00am. You will be picked up between 8:30-9:00am from your hotel or from the tour shop you booked the tour from and driven in a van to El Nido main beach.
This is where all the island hopping tours depart from. You can even book your tour on the same morning if the driver has space as there are multiple boats that leave for island hopping tours, each fitting up to 30 people.
Added costs
On your first tour, you’ll have to pay 100 pesos for an environmental fee. Keep this piece of paper so you won’t have to buy another one on your next tour.
Bring along aqua shoes if you own any otherwise expect to pay 100 pesos for a pair, which are compulsory for tours A and C where you will be climbing over rocks to enter secret lagoons.
Getting on the boat
When your van drops you at El nido main beach, the driver sort of just leaves without giving you any instruction, so you're left in the crowded chaos. Head to the single desk on the beach, give the lady your name and she will assign you to your boat.
We were slightly concerned that we had paid for our tour in the morning and hadn’t been given any kind of receipt or confirmation of payment at the tour shop but don't worry, they are all in communication with each other! Whatsapp is a great thing in the Philippines!
The tour boats do not come very far into the beach so expect to be wading fully clothed about 50 metres out to your boat. Either wade out in your swimmers or expect to get your shorts soaked, which you can hang up on the boat to dry in the sun!
When do you return?
Your tour boat will arrive back at El Nido main beach between 5 and 6pm then enjoy the rest of the evening eating a fresh seafood dinner at one of the many beachfront restaurants along El nido main beach. Otherwise, there is always happy hour cocktails at one of many beach front bars. See below for ‘best places to eat’ in El Nido!
Tour A
Tour A was pretty chill and by far the best part of the tour was the island feast at Shimizu island. Kayaking was offered at Big lagoon but we opted out of this as we were already renting kayaks the next day.
The best part of tour A was 7 commando beach. Absolutely covered in palm trees, wooden cabanas and little huts selling coconuts, you could say it spelled ‘PARADISE’.
Plus, the coconuts were only 50 pesos ($1.50 AUD), a bargain for a popular island full of hungry island-hoppers! A perfect snack for just 50 pesos was 'Banana cue', a popular street snack among locals, which is like a sugary banana on a stick…satay style!
While everyone else kayaked around big lagoon, we chose to spend this time jumping off the boat and chasing pink jellyfish!
Tour C
Tour C had some awesome snorkelling, we saw so many clown fish!
Matalinoc shrine was optional. It involved a very small climb up to the top for a mediocre view, somewhat belittled by the sunrise Taraw peak climb we'd already done that morning so we opted out of this one. See my other blog posts for details on the Taraw peak sunrise climb - not to be missed!
The coolest part of tour C was Hidden beach. If you sailed past you wouldn’t even know it was there. Wedged between two parallel cliffs is a calm and surprisingly warm lagoon, shallow enough to wade through. A small beach backs onto one of the cliffs and we spotted some tiny clown fish within this hidden lagoon!
Watch out for the territorial, stand-off fish who literally stare right at you then charge at you! These ones were a little more tame than the angry ones in Coron that bit my ankle, drawing blood!
How to do tour D on your own
If you're a fit pair, then kayaking to Cadlao island is definitely doable. Plenty of pairs do it, just be prepared for some choppy conditions on the way back and for your bags to get soaked! This would be the perfect time to stop ignoring the pesky street vendors and actually buy a water bag!
Rent a kayak from a bunch of places in town including Asia Kayak Tours, El nido Boutique Art cafe or Aqua travel lodge…600 pesos for a half day (~4 hours) on a double kayak or 500 pesos for a single kayak. You might want the double as it gets super choppy especially on the way back to El nido island so make sure you have a decent level of fitness first!
Cadlao island is the only feasible island to kayak to as it is the closest from El nido island. Paradise beach is the easiest spot on Cadlao island to get to and definitely lives up to its name! This is where we went for a snorkel and found a turtle, bright blue starfish and hundreds of tropical fish!
If you kayak further up the island into the next little bay, you’ll find another tropical beach with nothing more than a small stretch of sand, a set of rickety stairs leading up to a viewpoint and plenty of little fish to see when snorkelling – paradise beach version 2! Spend a couple of hours having a picnic, sunbathing, relaxing in the shade and making underwater friends.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can kayak even further up around the island to Pasandigan cove, otherwise head back to El nido island when you feel ready!
If you don't think you're quite up for kayaking to Cadlao island then tour D can still be done, it is the cheapest one out of all the tours.
Best place to eat in El Nido?
By far the best place to eat in El NIdo town is Angel’s wish restaurant.
If it’s extensive menu, reasonable prices and the fact that they are full every single night isn’t enough to convince you, the food was so amazing that we came back every night!
Don’t miss out on the fresh seafood on offer here, with the seafood chowder, fish curry and mussels as stand-outs. You will probably find yourself here every night too as you just won’t know what to pick!
Where else can you enjoy sunset drinks?
Corong Corong sunset beach
If you want to escape the tourist bubble of El nido main town, head to the relaxed Corong Corong sunset beach.
Our first accommodation actually backed onto Corong corong beach so we found ourselves going for a morning beach run. This is when we discovered all the restaurants and bars along this stretch of beach.
If you’re willing to spend a little more, then eat at these restaurants and bars but be aware that they only serve western food, mainly Italian so if you’re looking for local produce then stick to El Nido main beach (cheaper too).
So hope that answers all your island hopping questions!
For tips on the best Philippines itinerary, whale shark diving or barracuda lake, check out my other blog posts!
