It’s not that organized but I don’t think I missed much detail, here are my expenses for my 14-day vacation/business trip (un-bolded items are just regular meals, snacks, etc):
1842 plane ticket from Manila
2700 dallas inn, 450×6 (jan9-14)
50 trike, 20 tip from airport
80 coffee
172 shakeys lunch
210 dinner
92 jollibee
200 medicine supplies, water
8, 8 trike
1300 underground river tour
80 bfast, jollibee
35 laundry
30 medicines
25 drinks
178 dinner (balinsasayaw? (sp?))
10 trike
158 chowking
1100 honda bay tour
25 buko juice
200 massage
70 snacks, water, bread for fish
150 groceries, water, ice cream, drinks
7 trike
152 dinner chinese rest.
95 bfast chowking
470 ka lui restaurant
95 bfast jollibee
50 water x2
———————–
9612, 6 days at Puerto with 2 tours
700 el nido van, 6hrs
85 van lunch trip
70 burger snack
95 off lotion
25 coke
150 bulalo meal
700×2 = 1400 2 day stay in friendly inn
285+60 swedish viel sausage with potatoes, pineapple juice
300 back & forth trip to las cabanes
285 food, drinks, 60 coke.
65 carinderia el nido
20 chips ahoy, 15 gum
150 american bfast
690*4days marina stay = 2760
30 mineral water
210 curry chicken meal
200 las cabanes trips
150 american bfast
560 las cabanes food
215 squidoo’s, yuck
50 brewed coffee marina
25 mineral water 1l
70 fail laundry marina
150 bfast
100 coke and trip stay
800 tour b
130 beef and veg stir fry
25 sprite
20 street bbq
??? se xperia mini x10 pro damage
??? se battery
700 tour A
40 drinks for tour A
50 salted nuts
57 gum, etc
150, 60 ew tuna sandwich and calamansi juice
220 art cafe pizza, yum
60 coke zero
50, 20 trike to corong-corong and viewdeck
400 stunning vistas inn
500 roughly on food and drinks on las cabanas, free iced tea
100 trike to stunning
100 trike to city and back to stunning
600 back to puerto from el nido
———————-
13047, 7 days at El Nido with 2 tours
1800 plane ticket
210 bfast
165 shakeys lunch
950 royal crown inn at puerto
60 laundry
37 print out of plane ticket
50 trike from bus terminal to town (solo is 100)
125 extension at royal crown
175 chicken lunch
80 bfast
150 souvenirs
200 mitra & baker’s
36 airport
40 terminal fee
70 coffee
220 taxi back home
50 hotdog
30 ice cream
30 water
———————
4518, 1 day at Puerto with 1 short tour, flight back to home
The loss of my xperia x10 mini pro hurts the most :( that’s 15k in damages, oh well. I replaced it with a samsung galaxy 551 now and am much much happier with it.
Wow, imagine all that expense and I couldn’t even explore everything. Also it looks like I indulge too much on restaurants haha.
One can see now how much expenses it can take for both Puerto and El Nido, feel free to use the data to mix and match your itinerary. 3-4 days should be much, much cheaper but it also depends on which area to explore. Puerto has the Underground river which is quite good, Honda bay is ‘ok’. El Nido is just awesome, oodles of islands to choose from, but also expensive.
Here are some tips for travel:
- Bring cash to El Nido: There are NO atm or banks nearby, if you can’t bring cash then bring at least two working credit cards. The only place that can exchange your credit for cash is Art Cafe, for an 8% fee.
- Protect your gear! : I had to suffer 15k even though I did the right thing to bring ziplocks, it’s just silly for me to forget to lock it.
- Mind the weather : Tours can get ruined by bad weather, especially those that had to pass by the oceans. Philippine boats are tiny and the waves are huge, it’s quite scary. If the boats survive then expect to get very wet from the splash.
- Native boats breaks down a lot : So if you plan to travel a long time using boats (to Coron), I wouldn’t recommend it. There are horror stories of tourists getting stuck for more than 24 hours on the boat because it breaks down often, especially if it tries to cross the wavy seas. Mind the weather too. Read reviews on each boat company from El Nido. Tour boats however are fine.
- Bring mosquito repellent : what they say about the mosquitoes are true, and it’s not just them. There are sandflies as well, they itch! Try the lotions.
- Peak time is from Dec-May, that’s when foreigners come in due to winter season. Expect a lot of resorts to be filled.
- Try to avoid asking lodging advice on trike or van drivers : they usually get a commission so they can get a bit biased on deciding for you.
Here is a gallery of tour rates from both Puerto and El Nido, also contains El Nido resort rates! (2011 rates) :
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- Dallas Inn rates | Puerto Princesa
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- Skipped Tour C ’cause of the weather
thanks for the info :) i really enjoy reading your travels, & nice pics, we plan this Nov to el nido, just in time, i will consider your advise, be safe always.