Let’s discover Darocotan Island El Nido, maybe you want to go to El Nido and you are wondering where is this place. When you look at booking.com and look for a place to stay and suddenly some accommodation on a remote island appears in your filter lists. There are a lot of places to stay in El Nido, especially in the downtown area.
Nowadays, El Nido Palawan is becoming a popular tourist destination around the world, there are many new things to do, and accommodations that could fit your budget. I am writing a separate blog about this trip only in the El Nido downtown, but for this blog, I want to focus on the best of Daracotan Island El Nido Palawan.
Here’s your guide to Discover Darocotan Island El Nido
Table of Contents
How to reach Daracotan Island?
If you are traveling from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila – Puerto Princesa Palawan where you can get a bit cheaper flights. The only hassle about arriving at Puerto Princesa airport is that you need to book a van from the airport to El Nido downtown which cost 12 euros per person and I book mine using Klook.
The shared transfer van will take 5 to 6 hours of travel with a stopover. If you are comfortable with that it could be a cheaper option for you, but if not there’s an airport directly to El Nido in Lio if you have the budget.
El Nido Downtown
Once you arrive in the city center of El Nido, I would advise you to stay a few days or a night just to rest and explore the town. If you decided to stay at Daracotan Island, there are only three accommodations available on this remote island.
In our experience, we book the Backpackers Island El Nido and we find it cheaper compared to the two accommodations. The communication with backpackers was great, they offer a free boat ride from 10 am – 12 pm at Teneguiban Beach.
Teneguiban Beach
In order to go to Teneguiban beach you will have to rent a tricycle or a private car. In our case, as we were three people we decided to rent a private car and it cost 1400php for all of us. If you are two people and you don’t carry a lot of things maybe it’s okay to rent a tricycle, but the road was a little bit narrow and bumpy.
We asked the backpackers to contact a private car for us, and we communicated where the driver need us to pick up the communication went smoothly even though it was last minute. Once you arrive at Teneguiban beach there is staff from Backpackers Island El Nido who will wait for fr you there and help you to be inside the boat. The travel time from Teneguiban beach to Daracotan island is approximately 20 minutes.
The Accommodation
My advice for the first-time traveler to the Philippines is to do research on where the exact places are and not just book random hotels without knowing how to get there or how far it is from the center of El Nido. For instance, you could see these promoted accommodations in your search engine, you know El Nido is too big it’s better to check the location before paying.
What I like about Backpackers Island El Nido is that we have the best beach area to swim and the water is crystal clear. As this is a remote island all the accommodations are far from each other, so you will have a lot of privacy and you will have the beach all yours most of the time.
The place is really basic but the overall experience was amazing you will have to sleep in a nipa hut in front of the beach just hearing the sound of the waves as your lullaby. Also, the signal there is really bad which is good so you can have a break from social media or the internet in general. I suggest you bring a book with you or any card or board games and take a sunbath, swim, sleep, eat and repeat.
Accommodations available on the island
Backpackers Island El Nido
I mentioned above that the Backpackers Island El Nido is cheaper than the rest of the accommodations. Also, it’s really quiet, and it’s a place where you really need total disconnection. There’s no party, no noise, just the sound of the waves and the animals around.
Isla – The Island Experience
We went to Isla – The Island Experience just to visit the place and it’s a little bit noisy as they have karaoke there and there are some events for the guest like playing board games or singing karaoke. They also have a bar there where you can have a drink or any cocktail they have available. If you are a person that likes to meet new people and be drunk and have fun maybe that’s the perfect place for you.
Dryft Darocotan Island
The other one is Dryft Darocotan Island which is the most expensive accommodation on this island I mean by European standards is just a normal price of around more or less 100 euros a night. It’s a really pretty place and they have this huge shared space in the restaurant where you can chill. This accommodation is the biggest among the three accommodations available at Darocotan Island and a bit fancier.
The Restaurant and Food
There is a restaurant in the accommodation it’s not a problem if you don’t have food. The food that we ordered was super nice and it’s really generous the amount. The menu changes depending on what they can get from the ocean. I advise you to bring some extra food or snack and drinks if you want to save a little bit. I mean, still, the food in the restaurant was amazing and the staff was really really nice.
The Experience
We like it so much that we change our El Nido Trip plan and we decided to extend our stay here at Daracotan Island. Our intention was to have a relaxing trip, the thing is in El Nido there are so many things to do and it can be endless.
There are a lot of boat tours that mostly pack with tourists and being in a group of people and you can be lucky or not if they are good to share a tour with. We really like to do a trip that is slow-paced in our own time to compensate also the long travel just to get there. I really recommend it if you like this kind of travel on a remote island with fewer people around walking around the island, snorkeling, etc.
I hope you like this blog and let me know your experience with Daracotan if you happen to visit and stay on this island. If you like my content don’t hesitate to share my blog and give and you can follow my official Instagram account @barcelonafoodhunters if you want to see my latest food blog and adventure.