Backpacking Puerto Princesa
Puerto Princesa is where Palawan starts. It has the island’s only real airport, so everybody heading for El Nido or Port Barton lands here first, and a large number of them get straight on a van north without looking up.
That is a day thrown away. Eighty kilometres out of town is an underground river that runs eight kilometres through a limestone mountain to the sea, on the World Heritage list since 1999, and you go a kilometre and a half into the dark of it by paddled boat with bats overhead. Off the other coast there are whale sharks, and in between there is Honda Bay, which is white sand islands and snorkelling for about a tenner.
It is also a good deal calmer than El Nido, and cheaper. One to two days, €20 a day, and then the van north.
Why Puerto Princesa is popular with backpackers
- The Underground River: eight kilometres of it, and World Heritage since 1999
- Island hopping in Honda Bay, with good snorkelling and a lunch on the sand
- Whale sharks off the coast, wild and not fed
- A firefly cruise up a mangrove river after dark
- Fresh fish on the Baywalk, chosen by weight off the ice
- Calmer and cheaper than El Nido, five to six hours up the road
- The last reliable cash machines before northern Palawan
Best time to visit Puerto Princesa
Same season as the rest of Palawan: a long dry stretch and a wetter second half of the year, and it is the boats that decide what you can do.
One thing that catches people out. The boat to the Underground River crosses open sea, and when the swell is too big the trip is cancelled, which in the rainy season happens regularly. Put it on your first day here, not your last.
Backpacker budget: around €20 a day
- €6hostel bed
- €2.50local meal
- €1.20beer
- €7scooter for the day
Guide prices from our own days in Puerto Princesa. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best area for backpackers
The city centre
Everything is in the middle: the hostels, the cafes, the restaurants, the night market and the desks selling tomorrow’s trips. Almost every tour picks up from this area, usually before seven in the morning.
The airport is ten minutes away, which for a first night in Palawan counts for something.
Good to know about this area
- Every tour leaves from here, and most of them pick up at your hostel
- Ten minutes from the airport by tricycle
- The vans to El Nido and Port Barton go from the San Jose terminal outside the centre
- Reliable cash machines, which is not true further north
- The Baywalk is a fifteen minute walk from most hostels
- Flat and spread out, so tricycles do the work for about thirty cents
Best hostels in Puerto Princesa
All central, all cheap, and all of them will get you onto a boat in the morning.
Guni Guni Hostel
The most popular one here: social, modern and central, and the easiest place in town to find people to share a Honda Bay boat with.
A good first night in Palawan, and a good place to work out what you are doing next.
Reef Hostel
Quieter than the central options and closer to the water, with a relaxed feel. Still an easy ride from the restaurants and the tour desks.
For anyone who wants Palawan to start calmly rather than in a dorm full of plans.
Mojo Hostel
Modern, sociable and well placed for the Underground River and Honda Bay pickups. Small, with a 9.1, and the most comfortable of the three.
Best things to do in Puerto Princesa
Four things, and three of them are on water. Book the river first because it is the one the weather can take away.
The Underground River
Eighty kilometres north to Sabang, then a boat along the coast, a short walk through jungle with monitor lizards on the path, and into a cave mouth at sea level. Inside, a paddled boat takes you a kilometre and a half up a river in total darkness, with a spotlight picking out chambers sixty metres high and thousands of swiftlets and bats over your head.
Over eight kilometres of it are navigable in total. It has been World Heritage since 1999 and it is the reason most people are glad they stopped here.
Honda Bay island hopping
The other side of the peninsula, twenty minutes out by boat, and a string of small islands with white sand and good snorkelling: Luli, which half disappears at high tide, Cowrie and Starfish.
A full day on the water with lunch included, and the cheapest island hopping day in Palawan.
Swimming with whale sharks
The largest fish in the sea, up to twelve metres of them, moving slowly along the surface with their mouths open. Off Puerto Princesa these are wild animals on a migration rather than fed ones, which matters a great deal.
Nobody can promise you a sighting, and any operator who does is either lying or feeding them. Keep four metres back, never touch, and never swim in front of one.
The firefly cruise
After dark, out on the Iwahig river through mangroves, with the engine off and thousands of fireflies filling the trees on both banks so they look like they have been strung with lights.
Quiet, strange and completely unlike anything else here. Dinner is usually part of it.
The Baywalk in the evening
The promenade along the bay, and where the city eats. From sunset the grills come out: you pick your fish off the ice, it is weighed, and twenty minutes later it arrives at a plastic table with rice.
Ask the price before it goes on the grill. Fish is sold by weight and the number is easier to agree beforehand.
Baker’s Hill
Six kilometres out of town, and an odd, cheerful place: gardens, viewpoints and a bakery famous across Palawan for its hopia, a flaky pastry filled with mung bean or ube.
Free to walk around, and a cheap half hour if you have an afternoon to fill.
A scooter to the west coast
Most travellers never leave the town and the boats, which means the coast road west is empty. Nagtabon Beach is about an hour away: a proper bay with surf, a handful of huts and almost nobody on it.
Helmets are checked here, so wear one.
How to plan your days in Puerto Princesa
One or two days and then north. Pick how long you have.
The Underground River. One of the longest navigable underground rivers in the world, over eight kilometres of it. You go a kilometre and a half in, in the dark, with bats above you.
Tonight: eat on the Baywalk, with fresh fish off the grill.
Honda Bay or whale sharks. Island hopping past Luli, Cowrie and Starfish, with good water for snorkelling. Or go out early to swim with whale sharks off the coast.
Tonight: the firefly cruise on the mangrove river.
Food and drink in Puerto Princesa
The biggest town on Palawan, so it also has the island’s best eating, from plain karinderias where you point at what is in the pots to seafood on the bay.
The Baywalk grills in the evening are the thing to do at least once: you choose the fish, it is weighed, and it comes out whole with rice and a dish of vinegar. Everything else here is cheap, filling and sour in the way Filipino food is.
Getting there and onward
Puerto Princesa has the only significant airport on Palawan, so nearly everybody arrives here whether they meant to stop or not.
From the airport. It is in the middle of town, ten minutes from the centre. A tricycle is about a euro and a Grab a little more.
Around town. Spread out but flat. Tricycles go everywhere for a fraction of a euro, and for the coast you hire a scooter.
Onward. El Nido is five to six hours by van, Port Barton three. Both leave in the morning from the San Jose terminal outside the centre, and the last one goes in the afternoon rather than the evening.
- PlaneManila 1.5 hrs · Cebu 1.5 hrs
- Bus and vanEl Nido 5 to 6 hrs · Port Barton 3 hrs
- Underground RiverBoat from Sabang, a full day
- Honda BayIsland hopping, half a day to a full one
- TricycleAround town, from about €0.30
Staying safe in Puerto Princesa
One of the safest cities in the Philippines, and the things worth thinking about here are all about the water and about how the whale shark trips are run.
- Sort your Underground River permit at least a day ahead. Numbers are capped
- Ask whether a whale shark trip works with wild animals rather than feeding them
- Use sunscreen without oxybenzone around the reefs in Honda Bay
- Take cash out here. Machines are scarce further north on Palawan
- Book an operator who guarantees you will see a whale shark
- Touch a whale shark or swim in front of one. Stay four metres back
- Stand on coral in Honda Bay
- Assume the vans to El Nido run all day. The last one leaves in the afternoon
Rebels on the Road tip
The Underground River sells out and it also gets cancelled, and both of those catch people who left it to their last day. Book it for the morning after you land, before you have even worked out what else you are doing. That way the weather gets one more chance to cooperate, and if it does not you still have a day in hand. It is also worth paying the extra for the audio device: without it you sit in the dark while a boatman recites the names of rock formations, and with it you get what the cave actually is.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Puerto Princesa?
One or two. One gets you the Underground River, two adds Honda Bay or the whale sharks. Most people then go straight north to Port Barton or El Nido.
Is the Underground River worth it?
Yes, and it is the reason to stop here. Over eight kilometres of navigable river inside a limestone mountain, World Heritage since 1999, and you go a kilometre and a half in by paddled boat. Book it early in your stay, because rough seas cancel the crossing.
Do I need a permit for the Underground River?
Yes, and numbers are capped per day. Any tour you book includes it, but sort it at least a day ahead rather than turning up in Sabang hoping.
Are the whale sharks here wild?
Off Puerto Princesa, yes: these are animals on a migration and they are not fed. That is the difference between here and some other spots in the country, and it is why nobody can promise you a sighting. Keep four metres back and never touch one.
How do I get to El Nido from here?
Van or bus from the San Jose terminal, five to six hours. Leave in the morning: the last departure is in the afternoon and the road is slower than the distance suggests.
Puerto Princesa or straight to El Nido?
Stop for a night. The Underground River is here and nowhere else, it is cheaper and calmer than El Nido, and it is the last place on Palawan with dependable cash machines.
Is Puerto Princesa expensive?
No. Around €20 a day covers a bed, three meals and getting about. The Underground River and the boat trips are the real costs, and each is a day out rather than an entry fee.
When is the best time to visit?
December to April, when the sea is calm and every trip sails. May is hot and still, with the first showers. June to November is the rainy season, and the Underground River crossing is cancelled when the swell is up.
