Puerto Princessa Palawan

December 15-19, 2009








Puerto Princesa City is the capital of Palawan and is a pleasant, albeit busy, commercial center. It is often merely a stopover for tourists heading off to other famous Palawan holiday destinations. I have found many things to like about this city, including some fantastic restaurants and cafes. Puerto Princesa City still has some of its exotic character as an old port and fishing city.

Navigating your way around “Puerto”, as the local call it, is simple. The main road is called J. Rizal Avenue and almost everything of interest to you is on it. It runs EW and the part of interest to you starts at the Airport entrance in the east and ends at the pier less than 3km away to the west. On Rizal Avenue you will find most of the restaurants and cafes, the immigration office, banks, souvenir shops, the tourist office, etc. Although the walk down the main street is interesting, it is not particularly pleasant because there is no footpath as such and you will end up having to walk amongst the traffic which can be heavy at peak times, but certainly not heavy by Manila standards.

Transportation around town is mainly by tricycle. The cost is P7 per person for short trips around the city center. From the airport to your lodgings, expect to pay about P50 for the tricycle. You can also just walk 100 meters out of the airport to Rizal Avenue and catch a tricycle there for the P7 per person. There are no taxis in Puerto Princesa, but vans can be hired if you want to go around the city, or anywhere else in Palawan.

Puerto Princesa is the name of the municipality which covers about 2,540 square kilometers. Its capital is Puerto Princesa City. To the locals, the city center is called Poblacion. When something is stated as being in Puerto Princesa, check that it is not some 100 kilometers away from the city center


Underground River
Probably the most popular activity out of Puerto is the day trip to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in Sabang which is 80km away. The underground river day trip is P1500 fixed price and includes all costs - hotel pickup, park entrance fees and lunch on the beach. Any guest house or hotel will gladly book this for you. If the park is not too busy, you can expect the whole trip to take about 7 hours. If you are on a tight schedule, beware that bad weather or peak season can stretch out this 7 hours to many more. If you have the time, I would highly recommend that you spend at least one night in the seaside village of Sabang and do the underground river tour from there. For more information click here - Travel Guide for Sabang and the Underground River

Honda Bay Island Hopping and Snorkeling
There are a number tour packages to Honda Bay where you can choose your own islands you wish to visit. It is a full day activity. The tour package costs P1100, and for that you get picked up from your hotel or guest house, and includes lunch on the beach. Most people speak well of this tour but it is most popular with tourists who have only a few days to spend in Palawan, which is often the case for Filipinos. Maybe skip Honda Bay if you are going on to Port Barton or El Nido.