Looking forward to our holiday in the Phillipines later in the year.
Any recommendations for accommodation and activity bookings? Or should we book through the usual: booking.com or agoda, and then book activities once we're there.
As for activity bookings (daily island boat tours), is it like Phuket etc. where you can negotiate pricing with the sellers?
Thanks.
Enjoy El Nido! It's a beautiful place. And yep, you can negotiate prices with the locals, just don't overdo it. Safe travels!
El nido is beautiful - if you like indian food you MUST try Gandhi's Revenge. Its a 5 hour drive from PPS Airport to El Nido. Tours are cheap we booked online i think to avoid availability issues but I think you should be ok to book there.
Shoot an email to the Member for Manila, George Christensen. He seems to know it quite well.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/jan/20/george-christ…
We visited Philippines Dec 2019/Jan 2020 and had a great time. We did Cebu City, Moalboal, Port Barton (smaller version of El Nido) and finished off with Manila.
Accommodation:
We booked through whatever had better value and offered better cashback (Cash rewards & Shoprewards)
Activities:
Tours and transport can all be booked on the spot and for cheaper value too.
Feel free to DM me
Thanks Biryani boy, very helpful post.
In Cebu, did you happen to go to Oslob for snorkeling with the whale sharks?
Also, how convenient was your ride from puerto Princesa to Port Barton? We are travelling with a 5yo so want to know how easy it is to travel to PB/El nido from puerto Princesa.
Thanks
No we didn't do whalesharks. If I recall it was quite pricey and you have to wake up at 4AM to get there from Moalboal. Other travellers who joined in on our Kawasan Falls jumping after whale sharks told us you only go to swim with them for 30 or so minutes. Great experience but not missing out if you don't go.
Getting to PB/EN from PPS is very easy. Some people hopped off a plane and transited directly. We weren't in any rush so we stayed one night in PPS. We pre-booked a van with aircon via Klook for $12pp. Van came to our place and took us there. Transit time was 2.5 hours. We got lucky as we only took 7 other people. Every family had a row to themselves. I'm sure your hotel could organise a transfer and probably at a cheaper rate.
If you do choose to stay in PPS, I'd stay next to SM Mall where the activities are. There's not much to do in PPS.
Another handy tip would be to wash your clothes before arriving to PPS. Laundry at PB was insanely expensive ($15 for two people!). We didn't have time to do laundry in PPS either.
Thumbs up
Owe you a biryani, and maybe chicken65?
Can use Diners credit card in many places if they accept credit cards.
I went to El Nido and Coron in October 2018 and used expedia to book the accomodation, but booked all activities locally. In El Nido they are all on pretty much the same page. They know that they have a decent sustainable tourism industry so they don't want to ruin it for each other by undercutting one another. Taxi trikes charge the same to go places, scooters similar prices, the day tours are also about the same in price.. I think they are about $30 a day, Just go in and either book at the hotel or one of the shops.