We spent 15 nights of a 37-day trip in the Philippines in February 2025. Starting on Bohol and Panglao Islands, we moved on to Siquijor, then Coron, and took four days by slow boat to El Nido. We finished with two nights off-grid on Darocotan Island. The boat trip was the standout part of the whole journey.
This page gathers every story, every stay we scored and every film in one place, so you can decide what’s worth it for your trip.
Coron to El Nido by slow boat
Most people fly the 40 minutes from Coron to El Nido. We took four days. Big Dream Boatman’s 4D3N expedition covers about 150 km of northern Palawan, with three nights in bamboo beach huts along the way.
| Option | Time | What you see | Best if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fly | About 40 minutes | Nothing | You just need to get there |
| Fast ferry | About 3½ hours | Open sea, which can be rough | You want it cheap and quick |
| Slow boat (4D3N) | 4 days, 3 nights, 15+ stops | Palawan | You want the crossing to be the holiday |
Our Coron to El Nido boat trip guide has the day-by-day route, the price and what the huts are really like. Then see what happened when we reached El Nido.
Coron to El Nido Boat Trip: 4D3N Big Dream Boatman Expedition
El Nido Disappointment vs. Darocotan Island Bliss – A Tale of Two Palawans
Our 14-Day Philippines Itinerary
| Stop | When (Feb 2025) | Nights | We stayed | Read | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bohol & Panglao | 6–9 | 3 | Amorita Resort | Bohol & Panglao guide | Bohol, Tarsiers & Chocolate Hills |
| Siquijor | 9–11 | 2 | Coco Grove Beach Resort, Tubod Beach | Coco Grove Beach Resort Review | Transit film (in edit) |
| Coron | 11–13 | 2 | Zuri Resort | Coming Soon | Transit film (in edit) |
| Coron → El Nido by boat | 13–16 | 3 | Big Dream Boatman beach camps | Boat trip guide | Coron to El Nido | Big Dream Boatman |
| El Nido | 16–17 | 1 | The Funny Lion | A Tale of Two Palawans | Don’t go to El Nido until you’ve seen this! |
| Darocotan Island | 17–19 | 2 | Dryft Camp | A Tale of Two Palawans | See the El Nido film |
| El Nido | 19–21 | 2 | Bee’s Place (Airbnb) | A Tale of Two Palawans | See the El Nido film |
Where we stayed and what we scored them
| Stay | Where | Nights | Paid per night (Feb 2025) | Quality | Value at that price | Our verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coco Grove Beach Resort | Siquijor | 2 | About £155 | 3.81 Great | Beat its price (+0.43) | Lovely breakfasts and a near-private pool by the spa; skip the chicken adobo. We’d pay again |
| The Funny Lion | El Nido | 1 | About £155 | 3.71 Great | Beat its price, just (+0.25) | Very chic, but sandwiched between a farmyard of noisy roosters and the main road |
| Dryft Camp | Darocotan Island | 2 | About £150 | 3.67 Great | Beat its price (+0.39) | We slept in a “hive”, with all-day power and a fan. Wonderful by day, extraordinary by night |
| Zuri Resort | Coron | 2 | About £113 | 3.30 Great | About right (+0.12) | One of the better hotels near Coron town; a loud group at the bar and pool was the only blot |
| Amorita Resort | Panglao, Bohol | 3 | About £200 | 2.54 Poor | Fell short (−0.79) | A spectacular clifftop view, but an average resort for the price |
| Big Dream Boatman camps | Coron to El Nido | 3 | Included in the trip | Not scored | Not rated but outstanding. | A mattress, a net and a fan; the third camp felt like Butlins-on-Sea – but what an experience! |
| Bee’s Place (Airbnb) | Calaan Beach, El Nido | 2 | [£] | Not scored | Good value | Hosts from Los Angeles left sourdough, fresh-laid eggs and coffee |
The priciest stay of the trip scored lowest. All three £150-a-night stays beat their price bracket. Amorita ranked 97th of our 100 stays for value.
Coco Grove Beach Resort, Siquijor: Was It Worth It?
Bohol & Panglao Island: Complete 3-Day Guide
Planning your own route? Start with our free 14-day Philippines itinerary guide.
Beyond Palawan
- Bohol & Panglao: tarsiers at the 8am opening before the tour buses, the Chocolate Hills, and a Loboc River cruise we found by accident. Plus the car-hire trick that halved the cost of a hotel tour.
- Siquijor: two nights at Coco Grove, the best stay of our trip, with a near-private pool, a fire-dance BBQ and a sea krait. Read our Coco Grove review. That story is coming soon on our YouTube channel.
Getting around, in brief
We flew from Singapore to Cebu (about four hours), then took the two-hour ferry to Tagbilaran on Bohol, arriving in the dark and in the rain. From Bohol it’s a two-hour boat to Siquijor. If you just want to get to Siquijor, the same ferry starts in Cebu, which stops at Tagbilaran Pier in Bohol before heading south to Siquijor. Or just fly with Sunlight Air.
Siquijor to Coron took all day. The 7:40 Anika Star crossed to Dumaguete in an hour, in a Force 4 beam sea. Then came two Cebu Pacific flights, via Cebu to Busuanga, landing at 15:15. Coron to El Nido is a 40-minute flight, a 3½-hour fast ferry or our four-day slow boat. From El Nido it’s a shaky minibus ride to Teneguiban Pier for Darocotan, then 10–15 minutes by small boat, and you wade ashore. We left from El Nido’s tiny airport on AirSwift to Manila. For a full plan, start with our 14-day Philippines itinerary.
El Nido is beautiful, and busy: more than 500,000 visitors in 2023, according to the town’s tourism office and we heard many stories while we were there of people getting sick.
Would you swap El Nido for a coconut pod?
A short boat ride away, Darocotan Island felt like the Palawan El Nido once promised. Dryft Camp runs on solar power, there’s a shipwreck to snorkel, and there was almost nobody else. If you really want to experience desert island life, this is a treat of a place to visit. Sand in your toes. Salt in your hair. No wifi – unless you head through the palm trees to the south coast, where you might pick up a little 4G signal. Read A Tale of Two Palawans.
Watch the films
Our Philippines films get to the heart of the story. We’d wanted to visit for years and had family members sending us photos of the amazing beaches and stunning water. As a first trip, we wanted to combine it with another visit to Thailand – a country that we are more familiar with – in case we didn’t like it. As it turned out, we loved the Filipinos as much as we adore the Thais. While the food may not be quite as memorable, the kindness of the locals, and the raw beauty of the place more than made up for it.
If you watch just one film, make it the Big Dream Boatman trip, where 20 strangers became friends in four days. If you only have a few days, then start with Bohol. El Nido is a victim of its own success, which is why we were quite happy to move on. But make your own mind up once you’ve seen the film.
Coron to El Nido by boat: is Big Dream Boatman worth it (opens YouTube in a new tab)
Don’t go to El Nido until you watch this (opens YouTube in a new tab)
Bohol: tarsiers, the Loboc River and Panglao (opens YouTube in a new tab)