This is Palawan

The flight Areas Towns LGUs Tours Getting around Before you go

This is Palawan

The flight Areas Towns LGUs Tours Getting around Before you go

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An area of Palawan

El Nido and Taytay

El Nido and Taytay share the northern mainland and the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, about 903 km² of land and sea declared in 1998. El Nido looks over Bacuit Bay and its limestone islands; Taytay holds Malampaya Sound, home to the Irrawaddy dolphin.

Forested limestone islands off El Nido from above, with boats anchored over the reef in a sheltered cove — Photo: Alejandro Luengo, via Unsplash

Towns: 2
Barangays: 49
Land: 2,181 km²
Signature places: 2

Taytay, founded by Augustinian Recollects in 1623 and once capital of the Spanish province of Calamianes, keeps its seventeenth-century fort.

Getting around

El Nido Airport sits about 4 km from El Nido town. Vans run the road from Puerto Princesa in about 6 to 7 hours, passing through Taytay, and fast ferries link El Nido with Coron in about 3.5 hours.

Its towns

Point at a town

El NidoMunicipality, 18 barangays, 923 km²
TaytayMunicipality, 31 barangays, 1,258 km²

El Nido and Taytay in pictures

Keep scrolling and they travel past. Press one to see it whole.

Forested limestone islands off El Nido from above, with boats anchored over the reef in a sheltered covePhoto: Alejandro Luengo, via Unsplash

A flowering tree beside the ruined stone watchtower of Taytay's Fort of Santa Isabel, with the sea and distant islands behindPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sunset on a beach in El Nido, an islet dark against the sky under overhanging leavesPhoto: Yojrel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An outrigger bangka beached on the shore at Taytay, the town's stilt houses behindPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Clear turquoise shallows below a forested island in El Nido BayPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An old cannon on the ramparts of Fort Santa Isabel, Taytay, built in 1667Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A lone limestone rock in the shallows off Corong Corong Beach, El NidoPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The coral-stone gateway of Fort Santa Isabel in Taytay, flags on either sidePhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Limestone walls of Bacuit Bay rising straight out of green water, El NidoPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Red and pink twilight over the island silhouettes of El NidoPhoto: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Outrigger boat anchored in the turquoise water of Big Lagoon, enclosed by tall green limestone cliffs on Miniloc IslandPhoto: Marciano Villavito, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The narrow limestone entrance to Big Lagoon, Miniloc Island, El NidoPhoto: Chermione16, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Green water and forested karst inside Big Lagoon, El NidoPhoto: Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The bow of a blue kayak heading into Big Lagoon, El NidoPhoto: Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nacpan Beach from the air: a long curve of pale sand and coconut palms beside turquoise water, El NidoPhoto: Rafael Loreto, via Unsplash

Sunset over the sea from Nacpan Beach, a small island in silhouette offshorePhoto: Giuliano Gabella, via Unsplash

A bangka marked Calitang El Nido drawn up on the sand at Nacpan BeachPhoto: Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Outrigger boats on the sand at Nacpan Beach, palms behindPhoto: Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nacpan Beach curving away in the sun, palms shading the sandPhoto: glwx, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Aerial view straight down on the surf line and golden sand of Nacpan BeachPhoto: Micluna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Aerial view of the four-kilometre arc of Nacpan Beach between sea and forestPhoto: Micluna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Places in El Nido and Taytay

Nacpan BeachEl Nido
Big LagoonEl Nido

North of hereCalamianes South of hereSulu Sea Islands