Port Barton vs El Nido: Here’s My Honest Opinion | Philippines

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My original Palawan itinerary was to visit El Nido and then the Balabac islands. Balabac was cancelled 4 hours before my pick up, so I made a last minute decision to visit Port Barton instead. In all honesty, there was quite a lot that I liked better about Port Barton compared to El Nido! Here are some of the differences!

Port Barton	El Nido
🧍🏻‍♀️Fewer crowds 😴Slower pace 🏝️Better beaches (in my opinion!)	🌄Dramatic scenery 🍻More tours/nightlife 🏨More accommodation choices

Atmosphere & Vibe

• 🥇Port Barton – Quieter & more relaxed
• 🥈El Nido – More developed, busier

For me personally, I preferred the atmosphere of Port Barton. It was much more relaxed and quieter than El Nido. As a solo traveller I don’t particularly travel for the social side, I’m happy to just plod along and do my own thing. El Nido is good if you like lots of choice when it comes to bars, restaurants and cafes, nightlife etc.

I was also surprised by how much construction there was in El Nido. One of the streets was completely dug up and many of the beach front properties along the main El Nido beach were actually empty and potentially being redeveloped/built? Even though Port Barton was a bit more rustic, this is part of its charm.

Beaches & Scenery

Beaches

• 🥇Port Barton – Coconut Beach & Exotic Beach
• 🥈El Nido – Lio Beach

Port Barton 100% wins this category for me. I preferred the main Port Barton beach, compared to El Nido. The beachfront restaurants are actually on the sand too in Port Barton, whereas in El Nido the dining is within the buildings.

I also went to Coconut Beach in Port Barton, which was probably my favourite of all the beaches I visited. I loved the hammocks, the water colour with all the palm trees and it had pigs! It was what I was expecting Seven Commandos Beach in El Nido to be like…but for me that one didn’t really live up to the hype. The Port Barton beaches on the island hopping tour were better too (see below).

In El Nido, along with the main beach, I went to Vanilla Beach, Las Cabanas Beach, Lio Beach and then the beaches on Tour A. Out of the El Nido beaches, Lio Beach was my favourite. There was a FREE shuttle bus from the main town plus free umbrellas and beach chairs.

It was also right next to the airport, so you could watch planes take off and landing, you can also surf, and there are restaurants and cafes.

It’s also worth noting that El Nido Beach actually had no swimming signs and the water quality is said to be questionable. Several of the beaches in both Port Barton and El Nido had warning signs for jellyfish too, but these are supposed to be seasonal (May-July/rainy season).

Scenery

• 🥇El Nido
• 🥈Port Barton

There’s no denying though that El Nido has the more dramatic scenery. It’s surrounded by islands and towering cliffs. Kayaking in the Big Lagoon was one of my highlights, the water colour was amazing and you can even go through a cave!

Island Hopping Tours

• 🥇Port Barton
• 🥈El Nido

Both tours cost around the same (about £20) and included lunch. The base tour for El Nido was cheaper, but then you had to pay additional environmental fees, entrance fees, kayak rentals, snorkel hire etc. Whereas everything was included in the Port Barton tour.

Once you pay the environmental fee in El Nido, you don’t have to pay that again if you then decide to do another tour, so subsequent tours would then be ‘cheaper’.

I would highly recommend getting a dry bag if you plan on doing island tours in Palawan. At most of the stops you have to wade out to the boats and being short, I often had to swim!

Port Barton

I LOVED the Port Barton island hopping tour. It visited: Starfish Island, Exotic Beach (Cayoya Island), Paradise Beach, Twin Reef and Fantastic Beach. I thought the beaches were better (including water colour!), the food was better, I saw turtles at 2 of the stops, the starfish sand bank was cool, and the reefs were a bit nicer too. Overall it was more relaxing and went to nicer places.

El Nido Tour A

In El Nido I did Tour A, the most popular tour. As I mentioned above, Big Lagoon was my highlight, it wasn’t as busy as people say…you just have to kayak further away to escape the crowds. It was worth doing purely for Big Lagoon.

The other stops were at: Shimizu Island, Secret Lagoon, South Manioc Dive Site, Seven Commandos Beach.

Shimizu Island was the lunch stop but the beach was SO small, had 3 different boats, plus it was high tide, so everyone was crammed in and having to eat while standing up. Secret Lagoon involved swimming through an underwater tunnel into a cave type area, the snorkel spot had jellyfish and Seven Commandos Beach only had a very small swimming area, the rest of the beach had boats docked along it.

Things To Do

• 🥇El Nido – Canopy walk and zip line
• 🥈Port Barton – Beach massages and crafts

Not including the boat tours/beaches, I’ve ranked El Nido top for things to do, mostly because the Canopy Walk was really cool! This was probably my highlight in El Nido. It’s a 1 hour tour climbing up one of the cliffs, along a suspension bridge, to a viewpoint. I paid extra to do the ‘dreamcatcher’ route down which I highly recommend doing too.

Another fun thing to do is the zip line that goes over the water to an island. Thanks to social media, it is EXTREMELY popular. As someone that’s done zip lines all around the world, it was fun, but I wouldn’t say it’s life changing. I got there 30 minutes before it opened and it already had a queue. Any later the wait can be +2 hours and can ‘sell out’ completely. In all honestly, I don’t think it would be worth a 2 hour wait.

In Port Barton the things to do are definitely more relaxing. I loved my beach massage, free painting supplies at Oastic Beach Restaurant and beaded jewellery making at Obra.

Food, Cafes & Nightlife

• 🥇El Nido – More choice, plus supermarkets and corner shops
• 🥈Port Barton – But I preferred the beachfront dining and more relaxed nightlife

I ranked El Nido top in this category, BUT I preferred the beachfront restaurants in Port Barton. I loved just sitting and watching the world go by without the pressure to feel like you had to go because people were waiting for a table. These restaurants were catered slightly more towards Western tourists though, so prices were a little higher at these compared to the local eateries in the town.

El Nido has a night market, budget friendly street food stalls, a wide choice of restaurants and cafes for all budgets, lots of bars if you like nightlife, plus a large supermarket and plenty of corner shops. (There’s even a McDonald’s near Vanilla Beach and the zip line).

Accommodation Costs & Budget

• 🥇El Nido – More choices for accommodation from budget to resort style
• 🥈Port Barton – I booked very last minute so lots of the budget friendly options had gone

I gave the gold to El Nido because it has accommodation options for all budgets, from hostels, all the way up to resort style hotels. I paid around £18 a night for a private room, with a small balcony along the road that runs parallel to the main El Nido Beach.

Port Barton has smaller, more basic style accommodation options. Because I booked last minute, I was limited for choice. I paid £28 a night for a private room (bigger than what I had in El Nido) in a guesthouse that had a small plunge pool, a 3 minute walk from the beach. If I had booked further in advance I could have got something similar to what I paid in El Nido.

I am a middle of the road traveller, I like private rooms but I’m happy staying in budget accommodation, I just want a bed and sleep! I don’t necessarily need ‘social hostels’, or fancy resorts, so I can often find it quite easy to find something suitable in most places I visit.

I often use Booking.com, filter from low to high and then use the map to search for the rough area where I want to stay. You can find El Nido accommodation options* here or Port Barton accommodation options* here.

For a more in-depth budget post check out: Is The Philippines Expensive To Travel? My Palawan Budget Breakdown!

WiFi & Connectivity

• 🥇Port Barton*
• 🥈El Nido

I found that there were black spots for phone signal in El Nido, especially in the area near Vanilla Beach and the zip line. My accommodation had StarLink WiFi but I found this very unreliable.

I had no problems with mobile data or WiFi at my accommodation in Port Barton. (I used Airalo eSims, use code: KYLIE6856 for £2.50 off your first eSim).

*Something worth noting though is that from the end of April 2026, since my visit and correct at the time of writing in May 2026, Port Barton have a scheduled power outage between 4am until midday, due to the fuel crisis. My accommodation have said that their WiFi connection will not be affected, but you may need to make sure power banks are fully charged, or charge devices earlier etc. As far as I’m aware, I don’t think El Nido has this issue.

Ease of Getting There

• 🥇Port Barton – shorter bus ride to/from Puerto Princesa: Bus transfer from Puerto Princesa approx 3.5hrs
• 🥈El Nido – there is an airport and lots of people connect it with Coron: Bus transfer from Puerto Princesa approx 6hrs

PP to Port Barton	PP to El Nido	Port Barton to El Nido
–Journey time: Approx 3.5hrs -Via minibus transfer -Accommodation in Puerto Princesa pick up, drop off at Port Barton bus station -Mostly day time departures	–Journey time: Approx 6hrs -Via minibus transfer or Cherry Bus -Minibuses pick up from accommodation and drop off at El Nido bus station -Lots of departure time options -Alternatively El Nido does have a small airport	–Journey time: Approx 4hrs -Via minibus transfer with only a couple of daily departures.

Bus Transfer From Puerto Princesa

When flying into Palawan, the biggest airport is Puerto Princesa, serving the most destinations, and has the highest frequency of flights. From here most travellers then get a bus transfer onto both Port Barton and El Nido.

Port Barton is the closest out of the 2 and has minibus transfers. El Nido is further away and has either minibuses or the Cherry Bus. All bus routes can be booked via 12Go*.

The minibus transfers offered accommodation pick up within Puerto Princesa and dropping off at the main bus stations in bus Port Barton and El Nido. On the return journey, they leave from the bus stations and then mostly just drop off at Puerto Princesa Airport.

Both routes stopped half way for a toilet break and a place where you could buy drinks and snacks.

I’m not going to lie, the journeys are pretty miserable. It makes the world of difference if you can get a window seat rather than being stuck in the middle, as it’s a bit of a core muscle workout. The roads are windy and it feels like the drivers are practicing to be in the World Rally!

I lucked out of the Puerto Princesa – Port Barton route though as on the way there, it was more like a small coach rather than a minibus, plus it wasn’t full.

For the Cherry Bus to El Nido, it departs just outside of Puerto Princesa centre, so you may need to arrange a tuktuk to the pick up point. Other travellers have said it is the nicer of the 2 options, especially for a 6 hour journey as it has reclining seats and more leg room as it’s more like a coach, rather than a minibus.

El Nido Airport

El Nido also has an airport, so you can fly direct and save yourself a bus ride, but these flights are more expensive, less frequent and doesn’t have as many connections.

Something also worth noting, during my trip, Palawan was experiencing high winds, most of the flights from Puerto Princesa were still able to operate as normal, however I was speaking to someone whose friend had been trying to leave El Nido for 3 days and the flights kept being cancelled.

Can You Visit Both?

Absolutely you can visit both, I did! Although my itinerary was a bit of a mess and it could have been done in a much better way (hindsight is a great thing and I wasn’t expecting Balabac to be cancelled!). Lots of travellers use Port Barton as a stopover to break up the journey between El Nido and Puerto Princesa.

A popular one way itinerary option is:

Puerto Princesa – Port Barton – El Nido – then onto the El Nido to Coron Expedition

Alternatively the route can be reversed:

Coron to El Nido Expedition – El Nido – Port Barton – Puerto Princesa

You could also fly in to, or out of, El Nido rather than doing the Coron Expedition if you wanted to do it in a one way route.

My route…DON’T do this (unless you need a Plan B after a cancelled Balabac trip):

Puerto Princesa – El Nido – Puerto Princesa – Port Barton – Puerto Princesa

If I had of known earlier that Balabac was going to be cancelled, I would have got a bus directly from El Nido to Port Barton, cutting out the 6 hours back to Puerto Princesa and then the 3.5hr bus back to Port Barton.

If you plan on staying the night in Puerto Princesa, check out: Puerto Princesa Accommodation Guide: My Experience Across 3 Different Stays | Philippines

How Many Days Do You Need In Each?

• El Nido: 4 nights
• Port Barton: 3 nights

I am happy with the amount of days that I had in each place.

I spent 4 nights in El Nido, which gave me 3 full days. I did the zip line and canopy walk one day, boat tour A on the second, and Lio Beach on the 3rd.

In Port Barton I had 3 nights/2 full days. I did the island hopping boat tour on the first day and Coconut Beach on the 2nd.

If I was able to adjust my itinerary (to avoid the random night in Puerto Princesa due to the cancellation), I would have used that night and had a 4th night in Port Barton. There was a waterfall hike that I probably would have checked out if I had the extra time, or would have gone to White Beach too.

My Honest Verdict

So if every gold medal is worth 2 points, and every silver is worth 1 point, here are the totals:

• Port Barton = 14 points
• El Nido = 13 points

…they got almost exactly the same! It does completely depend on what you are after from a destination though. I preferred Port Barton, it’s great if you just want something relaxing and as I said, the beaches and island hopping boat tour were in my opinion better, which is where I gave it most of its gold medals.

But for practicality El Nido got the extra points for the amount of choice that it would have for all different types of travellers…you want a luxury, beachfront resort…El Nido’s got it…you want the backpacking, social hostel vides, it’s got that too.