Coron belongs to the beautiful province of Palawan – which was the very reason for my long yearning desire to visit the Philippines since forever! Palawan is often touted as one of the most beautiful island regions in the world and there is no doubt why. The Philippines has over 7000 islands ( holy moly! ) of which Palawan itself has 1780 of them !! This is where you will find unspoilt white powdery sand beaches, azure lagoons and lakes, towering limestone cliffs, incredible marine life and so much more. We specifically chose Coron cos it was a lot more laidback and less touristy than the main island of Palawan or El Nido.

Banul Beach

pretty much ate my bodyweight in mangoes – so yum !

A quick fun fact – the island you actually land on is called “Busuanga”. No one can actually stay on the island of Coron (just about 10-15 minutes away from the port at Coron town proper on Busuanaga) as it is owned by the indigenous people. And Im so glad it is that way – this is what keeps it so sacred, serene and special. You can visit all the attractions in Coron via boat and each one has an entrance fee as well so definitely come prepped with cash handy. The beauty of Coron is 99% on the water so the best way to see the destination is by doing multiple day boat tours or venture out on a boating expedition for a couple of days.

Kayangan lake

To explain this you can either do the boat tours in one of two ways :

1 ) Boating expeditions :

The most popular way to see Palawan unlike any other is via a boating expedition for a couple of days. This way you will island hop, stay on different deserted islands (in clan basic accomodations), mix and mingle with locals which makes this an incredible experience all in all. If this is something you want to do – I highly recommend Big Dream Boat Man in Coron , they are hands down the best. I was in touch with them and initially had planned to do this but had to change plans due to lack of time. They have several tours from El Nido to Coron (vice versa) or just Coron.

2) Day tours :

This is what we ended up doing and did 2 different tours on 2 days. If you do a boat tour too you can either join a group tour or do it as a private tour. If you end up doing the private option there are one of two ways that you can do it :

• do a “private tour” with a company. The private tour has a set itinerary for the most part. Check out Calamianes expeditions they have both private and group tours.
• hire a “private boat”. This is what we ended up doing as it was the most flexible option as we could set our own timings as well as map out our own itinerary based on what attractions we wanted to see. Here you pay the boat rental fee, entrance fees to attraction as well as fees to have your food cooked on the boat all separately. If you want to do the private boat option for a day tour speak with your hotel concierge to book it for you (this is how we booked it via our hotel the Funny Lion) or you could also go to the port at Coron town proper and try hiring a boat there. There are several boat vendors out there in the am.

Crystal clear emerald waters

Now that I briefly explained the 101 on boat tours, in this post I wanted to recap our first tour that we did in Coron. We did a total of two boat tours during our trip – this one as well as another island hopping tour. We started our tour super early (730am) so that we could get to some of the spots before it got crowded. It definitely pays off to head out early! Depending on what you want to do and how much time you have you might want to plan what highlights you want to see. Both Anush and I aren’t divers and not big on snorekling either so instead we wanted to visit some lakes for swimming, lagoons, beaches and other picturesque spots. If you are a diver – you are going to LOVE Coron cos this is one of the best diving spots in the world so I have heard! And even if you arent a diver like us – you are certainly in for a visual treat! Here are some of the highlights of beautiful Coron island that we did :

1 ) Siete Pecados 

2 ) Kayangan Lake 

3 ) Twin Lagoon

4 ) Banul Beach

5 ) Sunset Lagoon 

Other highlights that you can add to your tour that are also popular in Coron are – Barracuda Lake (great diving spot), CYC beach (only free attraction in Coron!), Skeleton Wreck (known for diving too), Beach 91, Malwawey Reef & Coral Garden, Atwayan beach and more.

 

Here is a photo diary of our highlights from the boat tour :

1 ) Siete Pecados :

We made a brief stop here. The tide was low since we got here in the morning, so we couldnt get in the water. This spot if popular for snorkeling; the water was so clear that we could actually see the fish and corals from the boat itself!

 

2 ) Kayangan Lake : 

Unbelievably crystal clear water in this freshwater lake! Taking a dip in the water here was so refreshing and relaxing – we absolutely loved it.

In and around Kayangan lake

This water though – UNREAL!

The life jackets are a must here as per the rules of the park. Another quick tip – carry water shoes with you, the surfaces of the rock are slippery and sharp, so having a good grip on it is helpful that trying to go in barefoot.

Also when you go here – don’t forget to go up to the spot where you can see this view point from above – its perhaps the most photographed location in all of Coron!

 

3 ) Twin Lagoon

I have never seen such a natural blue azure lagoon in my life WOW! These are all just iphone pics for this location only as we left our camera on the boat. The boat is parked in one lagoon and you have to swim from one lagoon to another underneath a small cave thats exposed in low ride. I highly recommend doing this as the second lagoon is simply breathtaking.

The smaller of the 2 lagoons

Looking out to the bigger of the 2 lagoons

How insane that azure blue color is! It was glowing!

 

4 ) Banul Beach

This was our lunch stop for the day and was my personal fave of all our stops. Banul beach is just picture perfect with its jagged towering limestone cliffs, fine white sands and warm turquoise waters. Every corner is a literal postcard you guys – sp #sorrynotsorry for the content overload from here!

Approaching breathtaking Banul beach

In heaven!

Shells everywhere on the beach!

So the little mermaid in me was so excited!

We especially loved this yummy fresh lunch our boat crew cooked for us – delicious seafood and mangoes was pretty much our Filipino diet for our entire trip.

Delicious lunch cooked by our boat crew

 

5 ) Sunset Lagoon 

Ended our tour at this scenic lagoon right next door to Banul beach. Again these shades of blue were totally insane!

In sunset lagoon

 

Shop my looks from this blog post :

 

This was definitely one of our favorite days of the trip – Coron is beyond stunning in every way! I hope these photos inspire you to book a trip to the destination real soon :).

 

Stay tuned for my travel guide to Coron later this week. You can also check out details of our second island hopping tour here.

Thanks for stopping by! xoxo

Jyo