Puerto Princesa Travel Guide
Hello The best thing about traveling freely, without our backpacks and without sponsors, is to be able to say bad when writing about our trips.. That’s why we will be objective about Puerto Princesa.
Puerto Princesa was our first stop in Philippines and we calculated that we would stay for 2 days. But when the typhoon hit here the day before we arrived, the whole city was turned upside down and all touristic activities were cancelled.. That’s why we couldn’t do the underground cave tour of ‘Subterranean River National Park’, which is the main reason we came here.. From the city where we planned to stay for 2 days, we stayed for 1 night and went to El Nido in order not to waste time.. To put it more clearly, if one eye saw Puerto Princesa, the other eye did not.. We didn’t really like what we saw.
When we think of the Philippines, we all think of beaches, nature and magnificent colors.. Puerto Princesa is far from all this, it is a capital city with a population of around 200,000.. capital of the island of Palawan. If there were no underground cave and airport, which is one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world, I guess no tourists would come here.
How did we get to Puerto Princesa?
Puerto Princesa’s very small, local and city center There is an airport 5 minutes away from the center.. We bought a Manila – Puerto Princesa ticket from Air Asia for 30 Euros one way per person and arrived like this.
You may have noticed, travelers usually go the same route in the Philippines, or the same route in reverse.. Therefore, we guess that you will either go on the same route as us, or you will go on the reverse route to Coron – El Nido – Puerto Princesa, in this case you can reach El Nido’ to Puerto Princesa with a 7 hour minivan journey.. Let’s be warned, the road is very bad and after a while your brain cells are damaged.. Then don’t say you didn’t say it!
There are three-wheeled motorcycles called ‘tricycle‘ in the city and this is the most popular mode of transportation.. You can get anywhere in the city with these sympathetic vehicles for 20 – 40 pesos (less than 1 USD).. It may not seem very safe when you first get on, but these guys are experts!
If your next stop after Puerto Princesa is El Nido, make sure to book your minivan ticket the night before, because there may not be a place at the last minute.. There are minivan companies’ phones in the hotels, they can call and reserve a place for you if you request.
Accommodation:
The city center is Rizal Avenue. If you choose your accommodation on this street or close to this street, you can walk everywhere.
We stayed at Susan’s Place on Rizal Avenue, where we paid 27 Euros per room per night.. They took great care of us, reimbursed us for the second night as we changed our plans and stayed for one night, and booked a minivan so we could go to El Nido.. The breakfast was very good, the rooms were also very comfortable.. It is a hotel that we can comfortably recommend.. If you want to review, you can check the Tripadvisor reviews here..
Places to Visit in Puerto Princesa
There are two activities that come first when you say Puerto Princesa. The first is the ‘Subterranean River’ that we mentioned above, and the second is the Honda Bay Island Tour (known as island hopping). We couldn’t do both because of the typhoon.. Let’s write as much as we researched here before we go.
Subterannean River
This place is considered as one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world and has a length of more than 8 km, formed by limestones. an underground river.
You have two options to get here. Arrange with a tour agency from Puerto or by motoring to the town of Sabang and from there to a more local tourism agency. It is certain that local tourism agencies will be cheaper, but there is a situation like this; A limited number of visitors are taken to this river every day and when you go to Sabang, if there is no place on the tour, you may return.. If your time is limited, it makes more sense not to take risks.. Also, take into account that this tour will take a full day with going, returning and sightseeing.
You were traveling with canoes inside the cave and because it was completely dark inside, the guides would illuminate the environment with the lanterns they held in their hands.. It would be a different experience if we could go.. When we asked a random tour agency in Puerto Prince, they said 1400 Pesos per person for the tour, including breakfast and lunch.. This is on average 28 USD with today’s exchange rate.
Honda Bay Island Tour
Honda Bay island tour is a tour especially attended by travelers who come to Puerto Princesa and do not have time to El Nido. Since we could spare 5 days for El Nido, we had not thought about the Honda Bay island tour from the beginning, but even if we had thought about it, it would not have been possible because of the typhoon. circling. Pambato Reef, Cowrie Island and Luli Island. Of course, we can’t comment because we haven’t seen it, but we saw that travelers didn’t like it much in the comments we read on the internet.
The decision is ultimately yours When we asked an agency in Puerto Princesa for the price, they said 1300 Pesos per person for the tour.. It costs 26 Euros on average.
There are not many places to visit in the city center of Puerto Princesa.. Plaza Quartel and Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception are two structures within walking distance. Other than that, we couldn’t find many places to visit.. And if you have time, you can take a walk along the promenade.
Finally, Crocodile Farm, Butterfly Ecogarden and ‘Wahig>, where those who have time in Puerto can rent a motorbike. Prison and Penal Farm’ destinations. Among them was Wahig Prison, which we wish we had time to go to.. Are the prisoners living in an open-air prison and is the prison open to visitors?. The remaining two did not interest us much.. More precisely, we can say that we do not enter any environment where the habitats of animals are restricted..
Food and Drink Moroccan in Puerto Princesa
The Philippines has a very famous ‘fast food’ chain, its name is Jollibee. This place was like our ‘wildcard’ guy during our Philippines trip. If you don’t like Asian cuisine, this place can be your savior.. It has at least 3 branches in Puerto Princesa.
Although the local food of the Philippines is not as bad as a Thai or Chinese cuisine, it certainly did not appeal to us and we are both people who get food poisoning very easily.. So we tried very little street food during the trip.. Before we went, we had researched places in Puerto Princesa where we wouldn’t be ripped off, but where to eat well.. From the list we made, the first place we tried was ‘Taco Loco’, a small taco tent. It was cheap and very tasty.. Mexican cuisine lovers can save this place.
Another place we recommend is Kusinero’s Tacos and Burger. Not a Taco Loco but still go-to. Kalui Restaurant is a place we saved but could not go.. Maybe you can try it.
If you like tropical fruits, you should definitely go to the ‘Fruit Market’ in the city center.. One of the things we remember from Puerto Princesa is still the fruits here.
That’s what Puerto Princesa was for us.. It was a city where we spent the least amount of time during the trip, we did not travel much because of the typhoon, and we did not like it very much.. When we boarded the minivan to El Nido the next day, we could not have guessed that the trip had just begun..
The next morning, we got on the minivan and after a rather uncomfortable 7-hour journey, we arrived in El Nido in the red of the evening.
Click for our El Nido guide.
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