Palawan Travel Guide for Women: Everything You Need to Know

Palawan is the long, narrow island province that runs southwest from the rest of the Philippines towards Borneo, dividing the South China Sea from the Sulu Sea. It holds the karst lagoons of El Nido, the Japanese wreck diving of Coron, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, and the Tubbataha Reefs far offshore. It is the part of the Philippines that appears on lists of the world's best islands, and for once the lists are not wrong.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Roman Trail earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.

It is also, practically speaking, a water trip. Almost everything worth doing in Palawan happens on an open outrigger boat under equatorial sun, getting in and out of the sea at beaches with no jetty. That shapes the packing, the planning and the expectations, and it is why a standard tropical city list does not quite work here.

This guide covers the geography and how long it actually takes to move around it, when to come, El Nido and Coron and Puerto Princesa, how island hopping works and how to book it well, the reef-safe sunscreen rules, where to stay, safety for women travelling alone, and what to pack.

Palawan at a Glance

Where: the southwestern province of the Philippines, between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea, stretching towards Borneo.

Length: roughly 650 kilometres end to end, on essentially one road. This is the fact that most affects planning.

Main entry points: Puerto Princesa in the centre, Busuanga for Coron in the north, and the small Lio airstrip near El Nido.

Language: Filipino and Cuyonon locally; English is very widely spoken.

Currency: Philippine peso. Cash is essential outside Puerto Princesa.

Best months: late November through May for the dry season.

Safety for women alone: good in the tourist areas. The real hazards are sun, sea and boat safety.

The Geography Problem

Start here, because it is where most itineraries go wrong. Palawan is not a single destination you base yourself in. It is three separate trips strung along a very long island.

Puerto Princesa, the provincial capital, has the main airport and is the base for the Subterranean River at Sabang, about two hours north.

El Nido, at the northern tip of the main island, is the karst lagoon destination and the busiest. It is five to six hours from Puerto Princesa by van on a paved but slow road, or a short flight into Lio.

Coron is on Busuanga, a separate island further north. It has its own airport, or a fast ferry from El Nido that takes around four hours when it runs.

What follows: a week in Palawan realistically covers two of those three, not all three. El Nido and Coron is the strongest pairing, because both are about the water and the ferry links them directly. Adding the underground river means adding the Puerto Princesa leg and the long road transfer, and for many people it is not worth the day it costs.

Build buffer around the El Nido to Coron ferry. It is weather-dependent, the coastguard suspends sailings in rough conditions, and cancellations are routine in the wet season.

When to Visit Palawan

Dry season, late November through May. This is when to come. Calm seas, reliable boat days, and the clearest water for snorkelling and diving. March through May is the hottest and driest, with temperatures in the mid thirties and very strong sun. December through February is slightly cooler and the most comfortable overall, and also the busiest, with Christmas and Easter filling El Nido completely.

Wet season, June through October. Heavier rain, rougher seas, and more cancelled tours. It is also dramatically cheaper, far quieter, and the landscape is at its greenest. Many people who have been before prefer it. Typhoon risk is real in these months, although Palawan sits west of the main typhoon track and is hit less often than the eastern Philippines.

The shoulder weeks of late November and early June are often the sweet spot: mostly settled weather, fewer people, lower prices.

Recommended Tours and Experiences

El Nido

El Nido is a town at the northern end of Palawan facing a bay full of limestone islands, and the Bacuit Archipelago offshore is the reason it is famous. The karst rises straight out of the water in grey cliffs, and hidden inside several of the islands are lagoons reached through gaps you swim or paddle through.

The lettered tours

Island hopping in El Nido is standardised into tours A, B, C and D, each a fixed set of stops sold by every operator in town.

Tour A is the headline one: the Big Lagoon, the Small Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island and Seven Commandos Beach. If you do one tour, this is it. The Big Lagoon is entered by kayak or on foot depending on the tide and current rules, and it is the single most photographed place in the Philippines.

Tour C is the best for snorkelling and the most dramatic scenery, with Hidden Beach, Matinloc Shrine, Secret Beach and Star Beach. Many people rate it above A.

Tour B covers Snake Island with its tidal sandbar, Cudugnon Cave and Cathedral Cave. Quieter and more varied.

Tour D takes in Cadlao Lagoon, Ipil Beach and Paradise Beach, and is the closest and calmest, which makes it the best option on a rough day.

Combination tours exist and private boats can be chartered, which is worth the cost if you are a group of three or more and want to start earlier than everyone else.

Taraw Cliff

The viewpoint above town. This is a scramble on extremely sharp limestone, not a walk, and it must be done with a guide on one of the established routes. Gloves are provided or sold at the bottom for a reason. The view over the bay is the best in El Nido.

Nacpan Beach

A four-kilometre stretch of sand about 45 minutes north of town by tricycle or motorbike, and the beach day that El Nido town itself does not provide. The town beach is a working harbour full of boats, which surprises first-time visitors.

Coron

Coron is a different proposition: less about lagoons, more about what is under the water. In 1944 a US air raid sank a Japanese supply fleet in Coron Bay, and roughly a dozen of those wrecks now sit in 10 to 40 meters of clear water. It is among the best wreck diving in the world, and several of the shallower wrecks are reachable on snorkel.

Kayangan Lake on Coron Island is regularly called the cleanest lake in the Philippines, reached by a steep climb over a ridge from the boat. Barracuda Lake next to it is a dive site with an extraordinary thermocline, where the water temperature jumps sharply partway down. Both sit on land belonging to the Tagbanua people, who manage access and charge entry fees that go to the community.

Twin Lagoon, Siete Pecados for snorkelling, and the hot springs round out the standard day tours. Mount Tapyas above Coron town is a 700-step climb for sunset.

Coron town itself is unglamorous, a working port rather than a resort strip, which some people prefer.

Puerto Princesa and the Underground River

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature: a navigable river running more than eight kilometres through a limestone cave system, of which visitors see a couple of kilometres by paddled boat.

It requires advance arrangement. There is a daily visitor cap, a permit, and a separate boat booking from Sabang, and most people handle it through a tour from Puerto Princesa, which makes a long day of roughly twelve hours. It is genuinely impressive. Whether it justifies the logistics against spending those two days in the water at El Nido is a real question, and plenty of people decide it does not.

Honda Bay island hopping from Puerto Princesa is an easier, gentler alternative if you want a boat day without the transfer.

How to Book Island Tours Well

Every hotel, hostel, travel desk and street agency in El Nido sells the same lettered tours on the same boats. The difference between the prices is commission.

Book at the pier or the beachfront operator offices, the day before. It costs less and, more usefully, it lets you ask the questions that determine the quality of the day: how many passengers on the boat, what time it actually departs, which specific stops, whether lunch is grilled on a beach or arrives in a box. A smaller boat with fewer people is worth paying more for, and you cannot judge any of that through a third party.

Two other practicalities. El Nido charges an environmental fee, paid once and valid for several days, so keep the receipt because you will be asked for it. And the coastguard, not the operator, cancels tours in bad weather, which is a safety system working properly. Build a spare day into a short trip.

Before boarding any boat, look for life jackets, and for enough of them. Standards vary across operators and this is the single most useful thing you can check yourself.

Reef-Safe Sunscreen and Responsible Visiting

Oxybenzone and octinoxate, the UV filters in most conventional sunscreens, contribute to coral bleaching at concentrations a popular snorkelling site reaches easily. Protected areas in Palawan increasingly require reef-safe sunscreen as a condition of entry, and boat crews and park staff do check. You may be asked to show the bottle.

Buy a mineral sunscreen with non-nano zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the only active ingredient, and buy it before you fly, because selection in El Nido is thin and expensive. Ignore the words "reef friendly" on packaging and read the ingredients, since the term is unregulated.

The better strategy is to cover rather than coat. A long-sleeved top and a wide-brimmed hat remove the need to reapply lotion with wet salty hands every two hours.

Beyond sunscreen: do not touch or stand on coral, do not buy shells or coral souvenirs, take your rubbish back with you because island waste management is minimal, and use a filter bottle rather than buying cases of plastic. Several of the best sites in Coron are managed by the Tagbanua community, and the entry fees are how that works; pay them without complaint.

Where to Stay

El Nido town puts you walking distance from the pier and the tour offices, with everything from hostels to mid-range hotels. It is noisy, the power and water supply has historically been unreliable, and the town beach is a boat harbour. It is also the most convenient base by a distance.

Corong Corong, just south of El Nido town, has the sunset-facing beach and a quieter, slightly more comfortable set of places, five minutes by tricycle from the pier. A good compromise.

Nacpan and the northern beaches are where to go for a genuine beach stay, 45 minutes out, with a handful of small resorts. Lovely, and inconvenient for tours.

Coron town is functional rather than scenic, with good value accommodation and easy access to the boats. The upmarket resorts are out on the islands.

Puerto Princesa is a transit city for most people. One night before or after a flight is usually enough.

Safety for Women in Palawan

Palawan is a comfortable destination for a woman travelling alone. English is widely spoken, Filipinos are notably welcoming and helpful, group island tours mean most days are spent with other people, and the tourist areas of El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa are straightforward.

One important point on travel advisories: warnings that apply to parts of the southern Philippines, particularly Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, do not apply to Palawan. Read advisories by region rather than by country, because a headline about the Philippines can be misleading about where you are going.

The genuine risks in Palawan are environmental:

Sun. Severe sunburn and heat exhaustion are the most common things that actually go wrong here. Equatorial sun plus reflection off water is a stronger combination than people expect.

Boat safety. Standards vary. Check for life jackets. Do not go out in conditions that have been called off, however much you have paid.

Marine life. Sea urchins in shallow rocky areas, which is the argument for water shoes. Jellyfish seasonally, and box jellyfish are present in Philippine waters, so ask locally.

Water and food. Bottled or filtered water only. Stomach upsets are the usual traveller complaint.

Cultural note. The Philippines is predominantly Catholic and fairly conservative. Swimwear is for the beach and the boat, not the town. In El Nido and Coron this is normal and nobody will say anything, but it is noticed.

Practical. ATMs in El Nido are limited and frequently empty. Power cuts happen. Carry cash and a power bank.

What to Pack for Palawan

The full list is in the Palawan packing list for women. The essentials:

Sun layers. Two Roman Trail Women's Merino Wool Base Layers ($49-59) in long sleeve. They do the job of sunscreen you would otherwise reapply with wet salty hands, handle the swing between blazing sun and a cold windy boat ride, dry faster than cotton, and stay wearable for days of sweat and salt between washes.

A dry bag. A Dry Bag Waterproof Bag ($20), 10 to 20 litres. Outrigger boats have open decks, wet floors and no covered storage, and spray comes over the side. This is the most useful single item on the list.

Sun hat. The Wide Brim Sun Hat Women UPF 50 ($25), with a chin strap. An unsecured hat on a moving banca is gone.

Water shoes. The ELETON Barefoot Hiking and Water Shoes ($23.99) for wading ashore over rock and coral rubble, where sea urchins are the realistic hazard.

Walking shoes. The Salomon Women's X Ultra 4 GTX Hiking Shoes ($165) for Taraw Cliff, Mount Tapyas, the Kayangan Lake climb and the underground river.

Rain shell. The Marmot Women's PreCip Eco Rain Jacket ($110), which also blocks the wind on a long transfer when a soaking at speed gets genuinely cold.

Quick-dry towel. The Quick Dry Travel Towel ($15). A cotton towel stays wet for the whole trip.

Plus mineral reef-safe sunscreen bought before you fly, two swimsuits, a rash guard, a light layer for fiercely air-conditioned vans and ferries, a power bank, a filter bottle, and cash in pesos withdrawn before you reach El Nido.

Essential Resources for Palawan

Emergency number in the Philippines: 911, the national emergency hotline for police, fire and medical. The Philippine Coast Guard handles maritime incidents.

Tourist assistance: the Department of Tourism runs a tourist assistance line and there are local tourism offices in El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa that will help with disputes over tours and transport.

US consular services: the US Embassy in Manila covers the whole of the Philippines, including Palawan. There is no consulate in the province. Contact details and emergency arrangements are at ph.usembassy.gov.

Medical care: Puerto Princesa has the best facilities in the province, including Ospital ng Palawan and private hospitals. El Nido and Coron have clinics adequate for minor problems only. Anything serious means evacuation to Manila, so travel insurance with medical evacuation cover is a genuine necessity here rather than a formality, particularly if you intend to dive.

Diving note: the nearest recompression chambers are in Manila and Cebu, not Palawan. Dive conservatively and insure properly.

Official tourism information: the Philippine Department of Tourism at philippines.travel.

Health authority: the Philippine Department of Health at doh.gov.ph.

US State Department travel advisory for the Philippines: current advisory level and regional detail. Read the regional breakdown, because the warnings that drive the headline level concern the far south rather than Palawan.

UK FCDO travel advice for the Philippines: entry requirements, regional safety and health guidance.

Solo women travel assessment: Palawan is straightforward for a woman on her own. English is universal, people are welcoming, and the group tour structure means you are rarely isolated. Harassment is not a notable feature of the experience. The things that genuinely go wrong are sunburn, stomach upsets and boat safety, in that order, and all three are within your control. Check for life jackets, cover up rather than relying on sunscreen, carry cash because the ATMs fail, and insure for medical evacuation because the good hospitals are a flight away.

Palawan FAQ

How many days do I need? Five nights minimum for El Nido alone with three tour days and a weather buffer. Eight to ten nights to do El Nido and Coron properly including the ferry. Two weeks if you want the underground river as well without rushing.

El Nido or Coron? El Nido for the lagoons and the scenery above water. Coron for the wrecks, the lakes and fewer people. If you dive, Coron. If you do not, El Nido. If you have the time, both, in that order, using the ferry.

Is Palawan crowded? El Nido in high season, yes, noticeably, and the Big Lagoon has visitor management in place because of it. Coron is quieter. The wet season is a different island.

Can I snorkel without being a strong swimmer? Yes. Life jackets are provided and widely used on tours, and many people snorkel in one. Say so when you book and the crew will keep an eye on you.

What is the food like? Grilled fish, chicken adobo, kinilaw which is the Filipino cured fish dish, and a great deal of rice. Tour lunches grilled on a beach are often the best meal of the day. El Nido has a surprising number of good international restaurants.

Is there mobile signal? Patchy outside the towns and absent on most of the islands. Buy a local SIM at the airport. Treat boat days as offline.

Reading On

Palawan is usually one part of a Philippines trip. The Philippines travel guide for women covers the country as a whole, including how Palawan fits alongside the other island groups. For the wardrobe thinking underneath it, the merino wool base layer guide explains why one fibre handles sun, sweat and salt better than the obvious alternatives. The full collection is at Roman Trail women's merino base layers.

If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.