For Bacuit Bay, and the way it keeps its best behind rock: lagoons entered through gaps in the cliffs, and beaches walled off from the open sea. All of it is reached by boat, and the last stretch often by kayak or swimming.

How do you get to El Nido?

Fly. Lio Airport, a few kilometres north of the town, is the only airport, and the flight from Manila takes about an hour and a half. The usual alternative is the road from Puerto Princesa, about 270 kilometres and five to seven hours by van or bus. In town, the tricycle is the taxi.

When is the best time to visit El Nido?

December to May, the dry season, is the time to go, and April and May are its hottest months. The rains run from June to November, with July the wettest month of the year, and in those months a day on the water can be lost to the weather, so leave a day spare.

What are the island-hopping tours in El Nido?

Four set routes, lettered A to D, whose stops have shifted over the years. Broadly, A takes in the Big Lagoon, the Secret Lagoon and Shimizu Island; B, Snake Island and the Cudugnon and Cathedral caves; C, the Hidden and Secret Beaches of Matinloc, and Helicopter Island; D, the Small Lagoon and the Cadlao Lagoon. Each can be taken on a shared boat or a private one.

How many days do you need in El Nido?

Four days is a good minimum: three on the water, for routes A, C and D, and one on land, at Nacpan, which can move if the boats are kept in. B is the one to save for a fifth day or a return trip.

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Introducing El Nido

The town is named after a delicacy made of saliva. Until 1954 it was Bacuit; then it was renamed El Nido, Spanish for the nest, after the swiftlets' nests that set hard in the limestone cliffs and go into what Filipinos call nido soup. Busyadors still climb the cliffs for them in season. Here the prize has always been up the rock or behind it.

El Nido counts 45 islands and islets, most of them the same grey stone, sheer to the waterline and green on every ledge. The Small Lagoon on Miniloc is entered through a gap in the cliff, by kayak or by swimming, and the boats that brought everyone wait outside. The Hidden and Secret Beaches of Matinloc lie behind walls of rock, the second entered through a small opening.

Since 1998 the bay has been part of a protected area of 903 square kilometres, three-fifths of it sea. Whether anyone goes out on that sea is the coast guard's decision. On a rough morning the boats stay at anchor off the town beach, and the whole of Bacuit Bay comes down to the view from the sand: Cadlao, the island the town faces, rising to a 640-metre peak.

Browse on Map — El Nido

Explore 1 exceptional boutique hotel hand-picked in El Nido. Click a pin to discover each property.

Hotels in El Nido

Philippines, El Nido
El Nido Pangulasian
A 42-villa private-island resort on Bacuit Bay, with a long west-facing beach, a protected house reef and real conservation credentials, reached by…
4.6 (18)

El Nido Guide

Aerial view of El Nido Pangulasian: villa roofs among the forest, a pool, the white beach and the reef in clear shallows — Villas among the trees above the beach and house reef at El Nido Pangulasian 📍

Where to stay in El Nido

Where to stay depends on how much of the day belongs to the water. El Nido town has the dive shops, the restaurants and the noise, and the boats leave from its beach. Corong-Corong, a tricycle ride south, faces the sunset across the bay. Nacpan, 17 kilometres north by road, is 4 kilometres of sand, and a day on the water from there begins with the drive into town.

Out in the bay, Pangulasian is an island given over to one resort and reached only by boat. El Nido Pangulasian, which members book at rates we hold for the Club, lines villas along the beach and raises its Canopy Villas up the hillside behind, 15 to 18 metres into the trees. The house reef lies a short swim from the sand, and for once in this bay the prize needs no boat.

How to see Bacuit Bay

The lettered tours, A to D, leave the town beach each morning on shared boats, the cheapest way round the bay and the busiest. Kayaks are hired at the lagoons themselves, and the Big and Small Lagoons each charge an entrance fee on top of the Eco-Tourism Development Fee, payable at the Municipal Tourism Office. Confirm the lagoons before paying for any boat, since the tours list them as subject to availability. A private boat buys time and nothing else: it runs to your hours, out before the shared boats and back after them, but it waits for the same clearance and stops at the same places. Take one anyway, for the hour after the tours have turned back for town.

Frequently Asked Questions about El Nido

: For Bacuit Bay, and the way it keeps its best behind rock: lagoons entered through gaps in the cliffs, and beaches walled off from the open sea. All of it is reached by boat, and the last stretch often by kayak or swimming.