Best Beaches in Palawan 2026 | El Nido, Coron & More

Palawan is consistently voted the world's best island by Travel + Leisure magazine — a 450-kilometre-long province of extraordinary environmental diversity stretching from the northernmost tip at El Nido south to Bugsuk Island near Sabah, Malaysia. The island's remarkable biodiversity status — it contains the most diverse marine ecosystem in the Philippines, itself the most marine-biodiverse nation on Earth — earned it UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve recognition and strict environmental protection laws that have prevented the mass development that overwhelmed Boracay.

Puerto Princesa, the provincial capital, is the primary arrival point and home to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, where a navigable underground river flows through 8 kilometres of spectacular cave chambers before emerging into the South China Sea. Honda Bay, 30 minutes north of Puerto Princesa, offers accessible island-hopping among Starfish Island, Luli Island, and Snake Island for those short on time.

The island's two tourism poles — El Nido in the north and Coron in the northwest (technically on Busuanga Island) — are best treated as separate destinations, each requiring 2–3 days minimum. The overland journey between them (8+ hours through mountainous interior) is increasingly replaced by inter-island flights (45 minutes) or the spectacular Tao Philippines multi-day island expedition that sails between the two over 5 days.