Althea's Adventures

When you miss the beach so much and you suddenly had the urge to book for the next day’s flight, is that called crazy or what? It might have been because that’s exactly what I did LOL. We were just at Kwentong Dagat and I felt like our stay was too short so I booked a flight to El Nido the next day! It was also my first time to book with AirSWIFT Airlines and I love how fast the flight was. We didn’t have to take a 5 hour bus ride from Puerto Princesa to El Nido. It saved us a lot of time! Although, the airfare was not cheap, we paid PHP 12,000 per person round trip, but it was worth it!

Requirements to be presented at NAIA and Lio Airport (hard and soft copies are accepted):

1. Roundtrip airfare tickets
2. Vaccination card or VaxCert
3. For unvaccinated tourists – Negative result of COVID-19 Antigen test taken 72 hours prior arrival to El Nido
4. Valid Government ID – make sure it’s not expired. They allow school ID for kid

Accommodation:

Since it’s an unplanned travel and our airfare was expensive (not my usual budget), I booked the cheapest hostel I found in my Agoda app. We stayed at Frendz Hostel and only paid PHP 500 per night per bunk bed. Yes, Kyle and I stayed at an 8-Bed dormitory room (our first time, actually). We had two separate beds.

This hostel has such a cozy vide, even the staff and guests! They promote making friends (it’s FRENDZ HOSTEL, obviously), and meeting new people from different countries. 

They also offer island tours! And since our flight was very early, we arrived in El Nido at around 7:00AM and immediately booked the Tour A. Good thing, there were two cancellations, so we were able to get slots for the tour that day!

Here are the inclusions of the tour:

It was Kyle’s first time in El Nido so he’s pretty excited. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect time to do the island hopping. I’ll let the photos speak for itself.

We enjoyed kayaking at the Big Lagoon. To better appreciate the clear waters, you may watch the full reel here.

We met new travel friends and our boat became a party boat! You can watch some fun reels on my Instagram.

Since we woke up at around 2:30AM to prepare for the flight, right after the island hopping, we freshened up and already fell asleep at the hostel. We didn’t even ate dinner anymore LOL.

Day 2 breakfast at the hostel. Coffee was great!

Angkla Beach Club and Boutique:

We only have two and a half days to spend in El Nido, I want to make the most out of it. I’ve been seeing Angkla Beach Club and Boutique Resort on Instagram for quite some time now. There are a lot of celebrities and influencers staying there, so I got curious. I checked their rates (It’s PHP 23,000 to PHP 27,000 per night) and it is way over my budget! So, I asked my friend how much they paid for the day pass and found out that you can use their amenities plus consumable food/drinks for only PHP 800 per person! Of course, the budget traveler in me said yes!

Sadly, I don’t know how to drive a motorcycle, so we rented a tricycle service outside the hostel to drive us to Angkla Beach Club and Boutique Resort and wait for us and drive us back to Frendz Hostel for PHP 1,500. If we rented a motorcycle, I would’ve only paid for PHP 500 (what a bummer haha!) After about 45 minutes of travel time with some rough road, we’re finally made it! Angkla Beach Club and Boutique Resort is located along the stretch of white sand in Nacpan Beach, El Nido.

The clear blue waters, luscious green plants, and the overall interior of the place, ahhh! This resort is amazing!!!

We had lunch here, we ordered mango shake, chicken tinola, and rice. Here’s their menu for your reference.

We really enjoyed our stay at Angkla Beach Club and Boutique Resort. We’ll be back there for sure!

Back at the hostel, we took a shower then walked the streets of El Nido. There’s so much cute cafes and establishments.

We tried the gelato at Gusto Gelato

We also went to Las Cabanas Beach Resort to catch this beautiful sunset

Before going to the airport, we saw this shop that got me curious because of its brand name “Walang Problema” which means no problem in English. We checked it out, it has cute concept, cute aesthetic, and their items are simple and fashionable. I bought myself a cap, just in time for the sunny day on the way back to Manila!

On our 3rd and last day, we woke up early and looked for a place to have breakfast. We found this one and only place that’s open at 5:00 AM called Pita House. Of course, we had the all day breakfast.

Overall, I spent more than what I was supposed to, mainly because of the airfare. But, you can go to El Nido via Puerto Princesa and spend about PHP 5,000 per person. Here’s the guide if you’re coming from Puerto Princesa El Nido 2017. Below was our expenses excluding food, souvenir, and tips.

There goes our El Nido adventure, it was short but sweet! I hope this blog helps for those who are planning to visit this amazing island. The Palaweños are very friendly and they’ll make you feel at home.

For more of my adventures, please follow me on Facebook and Instagram. Travel safely everyone!