El Nido, Palawan, PhilIppines

After an overnight layover in Manila, we hopped on a quick one-hour flight to El Nido on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. As we stepped out of the airport, we saw a line of trikes waiting to transport people to their hotels.  These trikes are basically motorcycles with big sidecar attachments and is the main source of transportation here. They were probably built to hold 1-2 people, but we’d come to find out they can hold MANY more (not so comfortably). We hired two trikes to take us and all our luggage on a bumpy ride to Cadlao Resort, a boutique beachfront property that faces the beautiful Cadlao Island.
 
The resort was stunning! This place has 37 Filipino style beach bungalow rooms and the most amazing ocean views.  As we waited for our room to be ready, we enjoyed a fresh fruit welcome drink and some tasty lunch at their oceanside restaurant. By the time we were done eating, our room was ready. We followed the receptionist down a zigzagged stone pathway to our very own bungalow. It had two separate bedrooms that faced the pool and a connecting bathroom in the middle. Perfect setup for families!

We all changed into our swimsuits and headed straight to the pool. The hotel has three of them, including an infinity pool with an amazing backdrop of the nearby islands. Absolutely breathtaking! After relaxing at the pool for a bit, we were eager to explore the town and grab dinner. We had a trike from the hotel drop us off at the edge of town then we strolled along the beach in search of a fun dinner spot. A restaurant we walked past had a live DJ playing some bumpin’ beats and had a great ocean view. Sold! We ordered a variety of small plates to share, all of which were delicious. The boys had a coconut water, straight out of a freshly cut coconut. They were really excited to try this, surprisingly for the first time. They didn’t like it to say the least, lol. Oh well, worth a try.

After finishing dinner and seat dancing to the jams, we walked back along a winding half-paved road  through some sketchy areas back to our hotel, stopping by a few little shops along the way to grab snacks for our boat tour the next day. They didn’t have any good options for food and we knew we were going to be on the boat ALL DAY. We ended up settling on their version of Ritz crackers, some pringles, and little sweet bananas we bought from a sweet old lady on the side of the road. We got to our hotel just in time for me to get a heavenly massage. Although they got a little too close to my butt crack for comfort, I still enjoyed every minute of it! Massages are dirt cheap here - only $20 for 75 minutes!

The following morning we had a full day boat tour planned which is the number one thing to do in El Nido. We realized we had to pay in cash and didn’t have Philippine pesos. We tried to explain this to our tour guide who spoke broken English, and he proceeded to walk us about a mile to the other part of town where the only open bank was located so we could convert some US dollars to pesos. Apparently, most places here don’t accept credit cards which is unfortunate because (of course) this is the moment we realized it’s the one and only time we’d forgotten our debit card at home and didn’t bring nearly enough cash with us for the rest of the trip. Ooops! We’re gonna need to get creative to figure out how to get more cash. We mentioned to the boys maybe they could put on a song and dance performance and put out their hat for tips….only to be met with rolled eyes and a grunt.
 
Once we converted our final little bit of USD into pesos and settling our bill, we were ready to board our boat along with our 3-man crew and head out on our private tour of some nearby islands. So excited! Let’s do this thang!! Our first stop was the big lagoon which is an absolute must-see! A local guy brought over two kayaks to our boat for us to hop on. Marshall and I shared one and our tour guide paddled the boys on the other. We paddled through the bright turquoise waters surrounded by massive and super sharp limestone cliffs on either side. The guide also led us through narrow cave tunnels and gorgeous lagoons while also being our personal photographer. What a guy!

The next stop was snorkeling at a small lagoon. We put on our snorkel masks and peeked down in the water to see a few colorful fish. We didn’t spend too much time there because there wasn’t much to see honestly. We did all feel some slight stinging in the water that may have been jellyfish babies or something. We were all starving and ready to eat lunch. The tour guides brought out a variety of local dishes including fish, shrimp, chicken, chow mein and fresh fruit while we sat on a beach overlooking some of the islands. Delicious and an amazing experience!
 
The last stop was a beautiful beach to swim and relax at before heading back to our hotel. We were all pretty pooped by that time, so we took a short dip in the ocean and got back on the boat to head back to the hotel. This boat tour is the perfect way to spend a day here and definitely a must-do when traveling to El Nido!
 
By the time we got to the hotel, we were all exhausted and just wanted to relax by the pool and have some free time the rest of the afternoon.  Even though we applied sunscreen multiple times throughout the day, we all realized we got super sunburnt. Dang it! Now I can’t wear my off the shoulder dresses that I brought with these jacked up burn lines, lol.
 
Later that evening I convinced Marshall to do a couples massage with me. I mean how could anyone say no to a $20 massage?? He agreed, the massage was amazing. He thought he’d get a deeper Thai massage the next day, but ended up being pretty sore after even the basic massage, haha. These ladies don’t mess around!

​The next morning we took a trike to Corong Corong beach to enjoy some coffee at the Lazy Hammock Cafe. They have hammocks hanging from the ceiling everywhere. Such a cool spot to swing around while sipping coffee!
 
We walked along the beach and checked out a few clothing and souvenir shops before the boys spotted a small arcade that they had to check out. We exchanged a couple dollars worth of pesos for a bunch of tokens and then realized half the games weren’t working. Maybe the maintenance guy went on strike? All good, they still had fun for about half an hour. For a couple bucks, not bad!

Once we got back to our hotel, we ordered lunch poolside and spent a few hours playing in the pool. There was nobody else at the pool so the boys could do as many canon bombs as they wanted without annoying anyone. Perfect!

The boys were craving some ice cream to cool down from the heat so we strolled into town and stopped at the first ice cream shop we stumbled upon. It was so warm out, it was hard for them to finish their ice cream before it melted all over them. Luckily I was right beside them with a spoon to help them out!

Later that evening Marshall and I enjoyed a date night in the town right near our hotel while the boys enjoyed free time in the room. We got them settled with dinner and made sure they could call us from their iPads before hitting the town. As we were roaming the streets looking for a place to grab dinner, we stumbled upon a huge street food market. They were grilling all kinds of fresh meat including various local fish, squid, and even live lobsters. We weren’t super hungry so we just grabbed some fried rice and pancit noodles to share from a small restaurant. I realized after we left the restaurant that my phone was nowhere to be found. You’ve got to be kidding me! I panicked about the idea of not having a phone for the rest of the trip. We retraced our steps and eventually found it at a restaurant we had walked into earlier. Thank God!
 
Earlier in the day a local had recommended we check out Pangolin Cocktail Bar which had a live DJ that evening. We walked up a steep staircase to enter the bar and grabbed a corner window spot that overlooks the town. Looking down at the street reminded me of Bourbon Street, minus the beads and the weirdos, lol. This place was hoppin’ and had the best cocktails we’ve found so far on our trip! And low and behold, the DJ they had was the SAME DJ from the restaurant the other night. Guess he was the only DJ on the island or something? We didn’t mind, he played great music and kept the place bumpin’. We wished we could have stayed longer but needed to get back to the boys at a reasonable time.

The following morning we were on a mission to figure out how to get cash for the rest of the trip. We had tried everything and was about to ask a random person at our hotel if we could pay for their room and they give us the cash (which would have been EXTREMELY awkward). Then Marshall happened to find a Cash App card in his wallet that said ‘Visa Debit Card’ on the back. We got creative and reached out to one of Marshall’s friends and my brother to send us some funds on CashApp. After a few hours of trying to figure that out and convincing them we weren’t scammers, we were finally able to get the funds transferred and head to an ATM to try to withdraw cash. Thank God their ATMs accept Cash App cards and we were able to get some cash! Tip for anyone traveling to the Philippines – bring plenty of cash along with a debit card in case you need more!

​El Nido was one of the most picturesque places we’ve been and we’d highly recommend stopping here if you are planning a trip to the Philippines!
 
Next stop: Bohol, Philippines