Finally decided to visit my work place? Awesome! 😀 There are several ways to get here:
From Manila:
Island Transvoyager Inc.
ITI flies 3x daily from Manila directly to El Nido using 19-seater Dornier aircraft. Travel time is 1 hour 15 minutes. Luggage allowance is 10 kg per person, including carry-on baggage. Excess baggage is Php 100/kg. Drawbacks: unless you’re a guest of El Nido Resorts, you can only book 5 days in advance. Tickets are also pretty steep at Php 13,500 per adult. If you’re super flexible with your travel schedule, you can look out for ITI’s seat sales, which usually happen when ENR has a large group traveling to or from El Nido (necessitating more planes from ITI) and few passengers on the way back.
From Puerto Princesa City: (you fly Manila-PPC using any of the domestic carriers)
RoRo bus
Finally, an airconditioned bus to and from Puerto Princesa City! The bus started operating just this March with daily schedules:
| PPC-El Nido |
|
El Nido-PPC |
| 6:00 AM |
non-airconditioned |
4:00 AM |
| 8:00 AM |
airconditioned |
6:00 AM |
| 10:00 AM |
non-airconditioned |
8:00 AM |
| 12:00 PM |
airconditioned |
10:00 AM |
| 2:00 PM |
non-airconditioned |
2:00 PM |
| 6:00 PM |
airconditioned |
6:00 PM |
| 10:00 PM |
non-airconditioned |
10:00 PM |
The buses leave on time even if there are no passengers, something that isn’t going to happen with the aircon shuttle vans. The seats are also bigger than the van’s and they recline. Travel time is 6 hours, with stops in Roxas and Taytay. Fare is Php 480 per way for the airconditioned bus and Php 350 for the non-airconditioned.
Eulen Joy bus
If you want the ultimate “roughing it” land trip from PPC to El Nido, take the Eulen Joy non-airconditioned bus. The bus ride is 6-8 hours, with frequent stops to pick up passengers (both human and non-human) along the way. The bus leaves PPC at 5am, 7am or 8am, 9am, and 10am. Fare is Php 350.
Shuttle van
If you’re part of a group of 6-12 people, renting a private airconditioned shuttle van may be the way to go. Renting a van is Php 7,000-10,000 per way (depending on how good you are at bargaining). Fare on the regular trip is Php 500 per person, per way.
From Coron:
Supercat fast ferry
The Supercat ferry service just started two weeks ago and will most likely supplant the large outrigger boats that also ply the El Nido-Coron route. The fare is cheaper (Php 1,720 for the Supercat compared to Php 2,200 for the outrigger boats) and it’s FASTER (4 hours for the Supercat vs 8 hours). There’s only one ferry boat and it goes back and forth within the day – El Nido to Coron in the morning then Coron to El Nido in the afternoon. I’ve yet to check the exact departure times though.
