Palawan's crown — limestone karsts, hidden lagoons, and emerald bays
El Nido is the northernmost gateway to Palawan's Bacuit Archipelago, a cluster of over 45 islands studded with sheer limestone karst towers that plunge into some of the clearest water in the Philippines. The island-hopping tours — labelled A, B, C, and D — navigate through hidden lagoons, snorkelling reefs, white-sand sandbars, and mangrove kayaking passages that change with the tide. The food scene in the town proper is straightforward but excellent: fresh tuna, shrimp sinigang, inihaw na pusit (grilled squid), and coconut-based Palawan dishes served in open-air restaurants overlooking Bacui…
El Nido municipality takes its name from the Tagalog word for 'nest' — specifically the edible nests of the Collocalia swiftlets that still breed in the limestone caves above the bay. The nests were harvested for the Chinese bird's-nest soup trade from at least the 17th century, and the colony remains legally protected today. Modern El Nido town grew around the bay in the 20th century as a fishing and copra-farming community; tourism began in earnest only in the 1990s and accelerated after Condé Nast Traveler ranked Palawan the world's best island in 2013.