El Nido's Twin Beaches: Nacpan and Calitang Beach

In today’s travel report from El Nido we take you to the Twin Beaches – Nacpan and Calitang Beach. They are not far from El Nido and it is a great destination for a trip.

A trip from El Nido to Nacpan and Calitang Beach

After 2 days of bad weather and rain caused by the typhoon Hagupit the sun was finally shining in the morning. Time to discover the vicinity, to enjoy the sun and go for a swim!

How to get to El Nido, Palawan

To reach El Nido, there are several options. The airplane would be a possibility, but you can fly only to Puerto Princesa, which is located in the center of the island of Palawan. Here you can, for example, arrive from Manila or Cebu. Even El Nido itself has a small airport, which is hardly served. More information and prices can be found at Skyscanner.

From Puerto Princesa there are regular minivans and buses to El Nido. These bus ride takes between 5 to 7 hours on the more than 200 kilometers long route. The minivans are slightly faster, but usually more dangerous. The trip costs about € 10. You can find tickets and times on 12go.asia.

Another variant to get to El Nido would be the ferry from e.g. Manila, which needs about 30 hours. If you are staying for your holiday in Coron or Linapacan, then there are also boats to El Nido, as these islands are located north of Palawan.

Accommodation in El Nido – our hotel tip

El Nido has developed strongly in recent years and the choice of accommodation in all price categories is growing. During our trip we decided to stay in Corong Corong, a place just a few minutes south of El Nido Town that is a bit more quiet. There you can also watch wonderful sunsets every evening.

We can recommend the Suites by Eco Hotel El Nido, which is located directly on the beach. The rooms are clean, modern and in the hanging chairs you can make yourself really comfortable. We definitely recommend a room with sea view. More hotels in El Nido can be found here.

How to get to the Twin Beaches

There are 3 options how you can visit the Twin Beaches Nacpan and Calitang Beach:

• 1. Inland tour (Tour E) – Many of the travel agencies offer the standard tours A, B, C and D. Some are offering a so-called Tour E. A tour around the inland beaches and waterfalls, where you will also visit the Twin Beaches. A tour like this will cost you around 700-800 Pesos.
• 2. Motorbike – There are some shops where you can rent a scooter and drive on your own to the Twin Beaches. The prices for a scooter are in comparison really high in El Nido and so you have to pay around 700 Pesos per day.
• 3. Tricycle – We chose the third option. You can just stop a tricycle driver along the road. Normally, they will pass by every couple minutes. Ask him for a trip to Nacpan and Calitang Beach. Most drivers are offering the tour for 1500 Pesos, but with a little bit of bargaining you can get the trip for around 1000 Pesos. For instance, if you are a group of three people, then it will only cost you around 330 Peso for each person. So I think this is the cheapest way to visit the Twin Beaches.

The way to the Nacpan Beach

The road to the beaches isn’t fully developed yet and after a few kilometers of paved roads you will eventually continue the drive on the good old dirt road. Our really young tricycle driver who we rented in front of our hotel, had some real issues with that. Maybe he’s been driving his tricycle only a couple of months or even weeks.

The closer you get to the beach, the worse the road conditions will get! In our case they were awful, but I think this was caused by the rain the days before.

Our driver had to struggle with some big puddles and inside a curve with deep tracks it eventually happened: the tricycle tilted to the side of the sidecar. Thank God nothing bad happened! With some effort we had to climb out of the sidecar and a few Filipinos around helped us to set the tricycle upright.

Now the drive slowed down a little bit more and from time to time we hopped out of the tricycle, in order to get through the big and deep puddles. It wasn’t to bad at all, but rather funny and despite the long ride, we had much fun.

Finally at the beach

After almost 1 to 1 ½ hours we finally arrived. Before we could continue the last few meters to the beach, we had to register ourselves with names as visitors. You should be aware that you’re only allowed to go swimming near the volleyball court. This is caused by the currents and waves, which can be sometimes very strong.

The first impression of Nacpan Beach was outstanding. Kilometers of sandy beach and a bright blue ocean. The first big points for the beach were the relatively few visitors and lots of shady spots.

First we relaxed a little bit at the beach and enjoyed the atmosphere with a cold beer from one of the shops. Apple flavored San Miguel – highly recommended!

After that 2 small girls came over, who sold self made coconut ice cream at the beach. But instead of trying to sell some ice to us, they had another question for us: “Do you want to sing some Christmas songs with us?”. Those two girls were really friendly and cute. But singing Christmas songs in English, I think that’s not my strong point.

The two girls sang quite unconcernedly their carols and had a lot of fun. We bought their last ice cream and they left. There’s nothing against a visit like this at the beach.

After a quick swim to cool off we went to the viewpoint, where nobody from the few people at the beach was heading. Really weird. The view at the Twin Beaches was on top of my list and I wouldn’t miss that for sure!

The view at Nacpan and Calitang Beach

While we were walking along the beach to the viewpoint, we were accompanied by three small boys. However, they didn’t say anything but just walked with us together from Nacpan to Calitang Beach and then up to the lookout.

The way up there wasn’t difficult at all and after a few meters you’re on the hill and can enjoy the stunning view at the Twin Beaches. I would almost say it looked like paradise from up there.

After the way up, you can even go on a few more meters, but the view doesn’t change at all. It’s not worth it, because the pictures do look quite amazing from here, too.

I can’t explain to myself why nobody of the visitors at the beach is going to the viewpoint, but you shouldn’t miss this one!

After a couple of more pictures, another swim and relaxing at the beach, we went back to El Nido.

The whole day was dry, but this didn’t help the road either and so we had another adventurous way back with the tricycle and our young driver. This time we hopped off a couple of times more and walked a bit, hence our driver didn’t have to struggle so much.

I can only recommend to make a tour to the Twin Beaches. It’s really beautiful and most of all, really quiet there!

El Nido: Tours and Tickets

Do you prefer to travel with a guide who knows the area very well? Then we recommend a guided tour with a local. This way you can get to know El Nido in a completely different way. GetYourGuide offers a wide selection of exciting tours for El Nido.

Have you ever been to the Twin Beaches? Did you like it? Leave us a comment right now!