12 Best Things to Do in El Nido, From Hidden Lagoons to Cliff-Top Views
El Nido runs on boat engines and sunscreen. The town itself is small — a few streets wedged between limestone cliffs and a working harbor — but the water out front hides some of the most photographed lagoons on the planet. Most visitors book a single island-hopping tour, take their photos, and leave thinking they've seen the place. They've seen maybe a third of it.
Here's the version worth planning your days around.
1. Kayak the Big Lagoon the Moment It Opens
The Big Lagoon is the shot you've already seen — a wide channel of jade water threading between towering walls of rock. It's the headline stop on Tour A (around ₱1,400 / $25), and it fills up fast. The smart move is to be first in the water. Rent a two-seater kayak (₱350–400, about $7) and paddle to the back of the lagoon before the mid-morning fleet arrives. By 10am there are fifty boats fighting for the same frame. At 8:30am, it's just you and the herons.
2. Squeeze Into the Small Lagoon Next Door
A short hop from its bigger sibling, the Small Lagoon hides its best part behind a gap in the rock barely wide enough for one kayak. Slip through and you land in a near-enclosed pool with cliffs closing overhead. Bring a dry bag — you'll want your phone, and you will get wet doing this. Go early here too; the entrance becomes a traffic jam by late morning.
3. Swim Through the Crack Into Secret Beach
On Tour C (also around ₱1,400), Secret Beach is exactly what it sounds like. There's no path in. You swim through a narrow slot in the limestone and pop out on a sliver of sand ringed by rock on all sides. It reportedly helped inspire the setting of the film 'The Beach'. One thing to know: when the swell is up, guides close it for safety, so treat a calm-day visit as a bonus rather than a guarantee.
4. Climb Taraw Cliff at Sunrise
This is the one that gets your heart rate up. Taraw Peak is reached by a guided via ferrata — a fixed-cable route bolted into the karst — not a casual stroll. Book a sunrise slot (roughly ₱500–800 with harness, helmet, and guide included) and you'll be standing above the whole bay as the light comes up, cliffs and islands stacking off into the haze. Wear proper shoes and gloves; the rock is sharp.
5. Give Nacpan Beach a Full Day
When you need a break from boats, head north. Nacpan Beach is a four-kilometer curve of gold sand about 45 minutes from town — around ₱700–800 for a round-trip tricycle, or cheaper by shared van. Walk to the twin-beach viewpoint, then do nothing at all. Coconut stands sell cold buko for pocket change, the surf is swimmable, and the crowds thin out the moment you walk past the first cluster of beach bars — if Boracay's white-sand crowds wore you out, Nacpan is the antidote.
6. Snorkel the Tapiutan Strait
The channel between Matinloc and Tapiutan islands, a regular Tour C stop, has some of the better coral you'll reach on a standard day out. Drop off the boat, keep the reef on your right, and drift. You'll see clownfish, parrotfish, and the occasional sea turtle grazing — the same cast you'll drift over on the reefs of the Andaman Islands if you want more of it. Ask your guide for a mask that actually seals — the rental gear is hit or miss, so bring your own if you can.
7. Poke Around the Abandoned Matinloc Shrine
Also on Tour C, the Matinloc Shrine is a half-ruined religious complex left to the elements, with a short scramble up the rocks behind it to a viewpoint over the strait (small ₱150 entrance). The building itself is eerie and quiet; the view from the top is the payoff. Grip the cables on the way up — the limestone is jagged and unforgiving on bare hands and feet.
8. Watch the Sunset From Las Cabanas
El Nido faces roughly the right way for a proper sunset, and the strip around Las Cabanas and Marimegmeg Beach on the Corong-Corong side is where to be for it. Grab a spot at Republica Sunset Bar, order a San Miguel, and watch the sky go orange behind the islands — it's the same golden-hour beach-bar ritual that made Bali's west coast famous. For an adrenaline chaser, there's a zipline running out to Depeldet Island (about ₱500) if you'd rather fly over the water than sit beside it.
9. Book Tour B for the Caves and Empty Beaches
Most people default to Tours A and C, which means Tour B stays comparatively quiet. That's the appeal. You get the Snake Island sandbar that surfaces at low tide, the cathedral-like Cudugnon Cave, and beaches like Entalula where you might have the sand mostly to yourself. If you're doing three tours, slot this one in the middle as a change of pace.
10. Eat Wood-Fired Pizza at Trattoria Altrove
Nobody comes to El Nido for the food, and then everyone ends up talking about it. Trattoria Altrove turns out genuinely excellent wood-fired pizza (₱400–600) from a tiny upstairs kitchen — get there before 7pm or expect a wait. Follow it with a scoop from Gusto Gelato down the street. For breakfast, the long-running Art Cafe and The Nesting Table both do a solid job before your boat leaves.
11. Kayak Cadlao Lagoon on Tour D
Tour D is the underrated one. It hugs the islands closest to town, so there's less open-water travel, and its centerpiece — the lagoon at Cadlao Island, the largest island in the bay — sees a fraction of the Big Lagoon's crowds. If you've got four days and want your last tour to feel calm rather than frantic, this is the one to save for the end.
12. Extend to Coron for Kayangan Lake
You'll see Coron sold as a 'day trip,' but be honest with your schedule: the fast ferry runs about 3.5–4 hours each way (₱1,800–2,200), so a same-day round trip is a punishing waste of a beautiful place. Give it two nights instead. Kayangan Lake — often called the cleanest lake in the Philippines — sits behind a short climb to a viewpoint that's on every Palawan postcard for good reason, and Coron's WWII shipwreck dives are world-class.
Pro Tips Before You Go
Pay the eco fee once. The Eco-Tourism Development Fee (₱200, about $3.50) is valid for 10 days, so keep the paper slip — you won't need to pay it again for later tours.
Book through your guesthouse, not the beach touts. Prices are near-identical and you'll have someone accountable if a tour is cancelled.
Leave a buffer day. Tours get called off in rough weather, and you don't want your only chance at the Big Lagoon washed out.
Bring cash. ATMs in town run dry regularly and many places don't take cards. Withdraw in Puerto Princesa before you make the drive up.
Pack reef-safe sunscreen. You'll be in and out of the water all day, and it's the decent thing to do for the coral you came to see.
Do three tours, one big beach day, one cliff climb, and a couple of long sunsets, and you'll leave El Nido having actually met the place — not just its highlight reel.
