Coron, Busuanga (Northern Palawan)

My wife and I went to Coron, Busuanga (Northern Palawan) for four days this week. The town itself is small and typically Filipino except it has more hotels / Lodgings and restaurants due to the tourist industry there. The tourists are mainly divers, backpackers, and locals visiting from Manila. Our general impression is that the rooms and food were overpriced and there was very little to do in and around the town itself, unless you call walking up to the top of a hill, about 715 steps, exciting. There is a zip-line suspended on metal towers in the harbor but I would much prefer the zipline at Terra Alta. You can also go to a hot spring outside of town; P300 for a pedicab plus P150 per person for entrance. Although nice, again, I would prefer our local hot springs at Pulanbato for P10 or Ocean 24 Resort at P30 per person.

For everything else, you need to take a boat ride. Luckily the boat tours are less expensive than one might imagine; the basic boat trip is P650 per person (same trip can be had for P550, I will explain later), that brings you to 6 different swimming / snorkeling spots including a decent lake and a steep coral wall, from 8:30 am until 5 pm. As far as the snorkeling goes, I prefer the marine reserve herein Dauin and I am sure that Apo Island also offers much more to see than anything I saw while in Coron. There are other boat trips to the nicer beaches in the area, to wrecks and to an old leper village, complete with museum. Diving is apparently excellent with about 12 sunken Japanese vessels from the end of WWII. There are also diving trips to Apo Reef, beach camping trips, and hiking trips available.

I found that the best prices for trips and the best service was given at Kawayanan Island Tours. An example is the basic boat tour at P550 instead of P650 offered by the hotels and other tour vendors in the Town centre. They also offer transportation to and from the airport (30 minute ride with no other options except the vans) for P120 compared the P150 asked by the other operators and hotels. Additionally, the complex has one of the better restaurants in town, Kawayanan Grill (where we ate our best meal, a tasty seafood platter); a Souvenir Shop; and the town’s only real nightclub, Subasco. The complex is located about 1 km west of the town centre on the National highway.

We spent our first night at Sea Dive Resort (raised on pylons out into the harbour), P1300 for a room with aircon, WiFi, and hot water but no TV. They had an expensive restaurant overlooking the sea with poor service and I was served a (less than) half-cooked hamburger steak that actually looked good from the outside although I wouldn’t risk the salmonella poisoning. They also have a bar called Helldivers that has a pool table, big LCD TV and they serve some pretty good drinks.

For the following three nights we moved a bit to the west but still within walking distance of the market area, called Amphibi-Ko Resort, also on concrete pylons. For P1350 they offered about the same room quality as Sea Dive but with cable TV and bar fridge included. My wife managed to negotiate a 10% reduction since we were reserving for 3 days bringing the cost down to P1215 per night; much more reasonable, and in my opinion, the best deal in town. The Resort boasts a Japanese restaurant, called Sky, on the third floor, with a great view of the harbor but the meals are a bit pricey, following the rest of the town. For those that enjoy or require more luxury, there are many more expensive hotels and resorts and, on the other end of the spectrum, there are also several backpacker lodgings.

If you do visit Coron, try the local lobster and especially the Pitik lobster as well as the variety of other seafood available. Take at least one boat trip but bring extra food and maybe a cooler full of beer to make the day more enjoyable! If you can drive a motorcycle, rent one for a day (P500) to tour around the area (beware that the concrete road only extends west for the first 20 kms) and take your scooter to the hot spring after an early supper to save the P300 for a pedicab. Something I found interesting; there were not many coconut trees on the Island but there several large cattle ranches. Get your airport transportation and tours from Kawayanan Island Tours. Try some of the food at the market stalls; especially the tuna and chili lumpia rolls. Buy some local cashews (about P300 per half kilo).

All in all, I am happy we went to Coron, but frankly, if you are not a wreck diver, I think your money would be better spent going to Puerto Princessa and the surrounding areas instead!