SAN VICENTE, Palawan - A travel guide to Philippines next big tourist destination
San Vicente is a municipality of Palawan located 3 hours from El Nido and 3,5 hours from Puerto Princesa. The main tourist village of the municipality is Port Barton, known to be a backpacker’s heaven. But what many tourists don’t know is that there is another awesome place in the area. That is the poblacion of San Vicente. To be honest we enjoyed it even more than Port Barton because it’s even more raw and authentic and because there are more things to do as you will see in this post. San Vicente isn’t a famous tourist destination - yet. When we visited it we thought it was very underrated and we saw a big potential for it becoming a big tourist spot in Palawan. Unreal island hopping, the longest white beach in the Philippines and an incredible tropical view point are some of the things that wait for you!
Getting there
By air: There’s actually an airport in San Vicente. It’s very small but you can fly there from Manila (with SkyJet in a 50 minute flight) or from Clark (with Philippine Airlines in a 1 and a half hour flight).
By public transportation: From Puerto Princesa (Palawan’s capital) you can get either a public bus, which is cheaper but takes 4-5 hours, or a public van which is not as cheap as the bus but takes 3-4 hours,
By private van or car: you can always hire a private van or car or even rent your own car in Puerto Princesa and drive to San Vicente. This is the most comfortable and flexible option.
By motorbike: that’s the option that we chose from El Nido. We drove our rented motorbike and it took us about 3 hours. The road from El Nido and also the road from Puerto Princesa are good (for Philippines).
To get around San Vicente you have the option to hire E-Trikes (electric tricycles) or you can rent your own motorbike. The second option will end up being cheaper and will give you more freedom. So if you can ride a motorbike, that’s the option that we recommend.
Where to stay
As the poblacion of San Vicente isn’t very developed for tourism yet the accommodation options are not many. There are a few resorts and guesthouses but it’s nothing like El Nido or Puerto Princesa where you have hundreds of options to chose from.
Budget friendly: You have a few options like Zaragosa Lodgings (about $15/night for a couple) or Marianne's Guest House (about $15/night for a couple).
Not so budget, not so expensive: If you’re looking for a beach front accommodation Acuario Beach Inn (about $56/night for a couple) or Milanel Beach Resort (about $45/night for a couple) may be good options. Or if you prefer a place with a jungle vibe you may like JAMM Tourist Inn (about $41/night for a couple).
A bit of luxury: There just a few more upscale options but as of now we haven’t heard of any super luxurious hotel or resort in the area (compared to the European standards). But there are two places with a better infrastructure and nice amenities. One is Marina 4Rooms (about $58/night for a couple) and the other one is the resort Club Agutaya (about $100/night for a couple).
Our recommendation: We stayed in a kinda fancy backpacker place called Elements. The resort has 3 minimalist Eco-Pods that are some sort of eco friendly containers. Elements is a very trendy place and its very close to everything. If you have a motorbike in 5 minutes you get either to Long Beach or to the restaurants area. The price is also great for what you are getting - 30 or 35 USD depending on which container you stay. Very affordable! They are on Airbnb: Link to EcoPod 1, link to EcoPod 3. You can check this accommodation in our video below:
Things to do
Visit Long Beach
The longest white beach in the Philippines and the second longest white beach in Southeast Asia! The 14.7 km beach is beautiful and extremely peaceful with many coconut trees. It wasn’t as white as we expected but we loved it anyway. It’s a great place if you want to take nice drone shots since it’s so big and empty (no need to disturb other people). And in some periods you can have good waves for surfing. You can see the beauty of the beach in our video below:
Go Island Hopping
There are famous island hopping tours in Port Barton but what many people don’t know is that you can do the same tours for the same price from San Vicente.
In the video below we did the main one called Essential Tour and we loved every minute of it.
The snorkeling spots were unbelievably cool because the marine life was so well preserved. We hope it stays like that. The sand in the beaches were always super fine and white and the ocean… just extremely beautiful and clear! It was a memorable day and we strongly recommend this experience. For us it was even better than the island hopping tour in Honda Bay (Puerto Princesa). The price is about PHP1,300 (USD27) per person for a group tour and about PHP7,000 (USD144) for a private tour for 2 people. Both rates include lunch, snorkeling gear and environmental fees.
Visit Bato ni Ningning
Ningning view point was one of the highlights of our trip to San Vicente. There are two different places to stop and in each one you have to pay 20 pesos to enter. I suggest you to go to both since the fee is so affordable. The views are amazing! A sea of coconuts in the middle of thick long grass with a beautiful white beach as the background – it’s like you’re in a movie. It’s great for pictures and drone shots as you can see in our video here.
It’s important to mention that the road to get there is very bumpy so it will probably take more time than what Google Maps shows you to get there. And it can be dangerous for people who are not used to riding motorbikes.
Visit 100 steps
This place is relatively a new tourist spot. Most of the other travel blogs and vlogs don’t talk about it. 100 steps is a view point located very near the center of the poblacion of San Vicente. If you’re riding a motorbike it will take you less than 8 minutes to get there from the village center. We heard good things about the place but unfortunately when we tried to go there the gate was closed due to the Covid situation. From what we heard it’s a great spot to watch the sunset.
Spend some time in Port Barton
From San Vicente you can also visit Port Barton and explore one of the most famous backpacker places in the Philippines. The village is very authentic and you can get to see the simple Filipino province life. The area has been getting more and more famous over the last years and we believe it will become less authentic with time. So you better visit it soon! They are currently building a direct road from the poblacion San Vicente to Port Barton so we believe in a year or two it will be very easy to travel from one place to another. But for now you have to drive all the way back to the main highway of Palawan and turn into a road to Port Barton. Or you can try to find some fisherman and negotiate a price for him to take you there by boat - this is the fastest way.
There are many hostels and lodges in case you want to stay for some nights in Port Barton and now there are a few new accommodations that are a bit more upscale. Regarding food options there are some restaurants that offer western food and also a few vegetarian-vegan places. Besides the island hopping tours one of the common things to do in Port Barton is to enjoy the main beach of the village. We have a video of one of the cool days that we had there and it can give you an idea of what you may find there:
Surf
Surfing/body-boarding is an option in San Vicente! Depending on the conditions of the ocean you may be able to catch some waves. The main part of Long Beach is famous for surfing but you can also have good waves in Tagpis beach and Alimanguan beach.
Explore the local beaches and villages
If you’re a traveler like us that enjoys seeing the most raw and authentic parts of the places, you should definitely drive around some areas up north the poblacion. Alimanguan is a great barangay (Filipino word for district) for you to see a different and real side of the Philippines. The locals will probably be happy to see you and the kids usually give you a big smile and a happy “hello”. It’s a very cool experience.
You can also stop by some Sari-Sari (famous Filipino convenience store) and buy some refreshments and local snacks.
Erawan beach is a nice one to go for this kind of experience as well. It’s located in a fishing village so you will see many boats and maybe many fish drying in the sun – dried fish is a big thing in the country.
Watch the sunset with the locals
Besides the options to watch the sunset at Long Beach or on the 100 steps view point you can also go to the pier that is located right in the center of San Vicente. You can go through a small street at the side of the Public Market and ride your bike until the end of the pier. We did this in one of the days that we were in the area and it was very fun seeing all the locals gathered in groups to watch the sunset. We featured this moment in this vlog:
Where and what to eat
San Vicente is not a diversified place when it comes to restaurant options. We were there during the Covid lockdown and the only place we could eat was in a food court that had just 2 or 3 canteens. And they all had pretty much the same menu with Filipino food only. But during normal times there are some restaurants in the poblacion with local and western options. Nipa Hut Grill Hauz and the food court located on the side of the Public Market are good places to eat if you’re looking for affordable Filipino food. For Western cuisine you can try Mango Bar or Buena’s resto.
We recommend embracing the culture and trying some local food. If you eat meat you should definitely try some Adobo dish which is usually Chicken or Pork slowly cooked in a tasty sauce with vinegar and soy sauce. Lechon (roasted pork) is also a famous dish in the Philippines. They also have something called Pancit which is a local noodles food with veggies and meat.
Philippines is not the best country in the world for vegetarians-vegans but since the people there are usually very friendly and helpful you can always ask the restaurant staff to prepare some vegetarian version of their dishes. The easiest one is the Pancit. We always order it with vegetables only, no meat. You can say “ walang karne” that means “no meat” in Tagalog (Filipino language). Another very tasty vegetarian option is the Filipino spring rolls, also called Lumpia. The veggie version is very common but in some places they also have them with meat.
Other information about the area
Don’t forget to bring enough cash (Philippines currency) for your stay because there are no ATMs in the area. Most hotels and restaurants don’t accept cards and if you happen to find someone that accepts exchanging currencies, the rate is likely to be very bad. The currency used in San Vicente and in the entire country is the Philippine Peso (PHP).
Filipinos in general are very friendly and have a great hospitality with foreigners so you are probably going to have great experiences with the people of San Vicente.
The official languages of the Philippines are Tagalog (Filipino) and English. But pretty much everyone you meet speaks good English. That’s one of the reasons we like to travel the country. Language barrier is almost never an issue.
We mentioned that the roads from El Nido and from Puerto Princesa are good but if you want to drive around San Vicente and explore the rural and raw places of the area, you will probably have to drive through very bumpy and maybe muddy roads. But we think it’s worth it if you want to have an authentic stay (and if you really know how to drive a motorbike).
Be aware of Nikniks (sandflies). They were a nightmare for us not only in San Vicente but basically in every beach of Palawan. Take mosquito repellent to the beaches and if you see a tiny little fly (it’s smaller than a mosquito) pass the repellent to avoid their bites. For most people the inconvenience comes only the day after (or a few days after) the moment of the bites and it can stay itchy for days.
San Vicente is a Filipino province area and that usually means internet and electricity issues. So even if you stay in the most expensive resort you may have some power cuts and connectivity problems. The infrastructure in most areas of Palawan isn’t very developed yet so it’s important to visit with an adventurous mind.
Regarding the weather, we recommend you plan your trip during the dry season - from October to May. The wet season can have many days and even weeks of continuous rains that can force you to cancel some travel plans in the area.
We hope all the information from our post and from our vlogs will help you while planning a great trip to San Vicente. We had an awesome time there and we couldn’t believe the fact that the place isn’t more famous. But we definitely see that gradually changing over the next years. People will start wanting to explore this current undiscovered paradise.
