ADVENTURE

How to wake a sleeping princess
in the buzzing rainforest

Our Puerto Princesa fun guide leads wends through the Palawan hills and beaches where adventure lurks at every turn, beginning with the aircraft toilets. This laid back city — with some luxe hideaways — is a friendly staging point for ecotourism wanders.

written and photographed by Vijay Verghese

March 2026

SEE ALSO Cebu resorts and Bohol romance | Boracay | Manila business hotels | El Nido guide | Bali resorts review | Sanya | Asian resort weddings | Vietnam resorts | Maldives resorts review | Mergui island guide | Sydney fun guide | Hong Kong Guide to Milk Tea | Sabah Rainforest Escape | Sandakan Wildlife Guide

Amorita Resort Puerto Princesa

Scenic Nagtabon Beach is an hour's drive from Puerto Princesa with an arcing bay dotted with bancas and fishing catamarans. A storm comes in as the sun peeks through briefly/ photo: Vijay Verghese

JUMP TO Puerto Princesa hotels | Nightlife, Bars, Food and Ssights | Honda Bay, Underground River, Best Beaches

UNUSUALLY, the PAL Express flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa pushes back 10 minutes early. We then amble up to the runway for a take-off exactly on time. Incredible, I think. Then the final announcement crackles over the intercom: “Passengers please be reminded that smoking and bathing are not allowed in the toilets.” I decide to remain wedged into my A320-200 seat for the brief one hour flight. Heroic baths can come later.

I have been scratching my head to put together a Puerto Princesa fun guide. Named after a Spanish princess, this place halfway down Palawan’s east coast is a flat, sleepy town with a population of a little over 300,000, just enough to tease out some nightlife in the few bars and nudge a little traffic onto the two main streets of Rizal Avenue and Malvar. It is not particularly pedestrian friendly though smiles are aplenty in shops and streets where jeepneys, minicabs (minibuses), and tricycles (tuk-tuks or trikes) putter about.

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Side streets quickly melt into the countryside giving this low-rise town a laid back and green village look. Minicabs charge passengers around P20-P30 for rides up and down Rizal and Malvar (where feisty tuk-tuks are banned). The brightly painted tricycles wait like piranhas on side streets to get tourists to city resorts and around town for P150-P250. If sharing with the general public or negotiating like a local it may cost just P50-P100 around town. In any event it is not a large sum with the exchange rate at US$1 = 58 Philippine pesos.

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Puerto Princesa top beds, luxe to boutique

But first, the hotel scene for those in need of a trusty bed. Among the new Puerto Princesa resorts in this review are an intriguing odd couple setting the hospitality benchmark — The Funny Lion (since early 2024) and Amorita (the first export of this brand since the popular Amorita Resort Bohol opened). Part of the same group, The Funny Lion Puerto Princesa (www.thefunnylion.com/puerto-princesa) has two more ‘Funny’ siblings, in El Nido (a six hour drive north) and on Coron Island, which is also part of the Palawan cluster.

The Funny Lion Puerto Princesa extends the brand to three with its simple 'brutalist' concrete design and zen minimalism fronting a mangrove beach with sun-dappled pool, swings, kayaks for a paddle across to a sandbank, and birdwatching — (right) GM Michael Mahinay (left in glasses) grabs me for a quick selfie/ photos: Vijay Verghese

This youthful escape, bubbling with energy and young smiles, offers a simple if intriguing design, with a slim three-storey building running ramrod straight — like some futuristic freight train — to the open-sided Hunt restaurant that faces a good sized pool on a timber sundeck adjoining a grassy lawn and the sea. The brutalist architecture with flat stacked concrete — all in trendy charcoal with a rustic cement finish (mimicked by its neighbour) — is surprisingly easy on the eye and efficient in layout. No one will get lost here. A second restaurant, the French-Vietnamese fusion C75 is open for dinner just above. Hunt starts serving breakfasts — a buffet with an egg station and Filipino favourites — at 6am and gets full fast as people prepare for a day’s jaunt in the jungle or cruising the seas. For the first time ever I had my eggs scrambled soft and easy, just right, without it being meticulously rolled into a perfect omelette as taught at hotel schools. Hurrah! And the burger I chomped on later was juicy with a delicious bun.

The Canigaran Beach stretch along this coast is peppered with a few resorts, all within a 10 to 15-minute drive from Puerto Princesa International Airport. It is a mangrove zone, beautiful, stark and silty with rocks at low tide. It is a birdwatchers’ delight. But serious swimming and snorkelling has to be done elsewhere. The Funny Lion offers a white sandbar accessible by kayak or a motorised boat. The 77 rooms are simple, neat, generous and welcoming of light, and lower floors open onto the sandy gardens. Rooms weigh in at a roomy 30sq m. Expect fast hot water in rain showers and hand showers, the luxury of actual soap, toiletries, an open closet, safe, hairdryer, a large smart TV (with somewhat fiddly controls), complimentary WiFi and the obligatory coconut, top sliced off with a paper straw for your sipping pleasure. The mini-bar is stocked with complimentary juice, and filtered water is on hand with an electric kettle for tea and coffee. For those sunrises, there’s a large wooden swing by the sea.

The Funny Lion Puerto Princesa rates high vs other similar resorts and punches well above its class aided, in large part, by its on-the-ball staff. Definitely one to take note of. The place is helmed by affable GM Michael Mahinay who hails from a community not far from here where he continues to immerse himself in rice fields from time to time. He makes for a knowledgeable and courteous host.

Amorita Puerta Princesa offers a new design direction for this brand. It offers space, luxe touches, great service, and a quiet feel with birdsong. Party, play or ponder undisturbed. A switched-on young team is led by GM Nilo Quizon (green tee), with Mike Knight (pink tee) on F&B and Jamaica Lerona on Sales/ photos: Vijay Verghese

Across the broad circular cobbled driveway is the Amorita Puerto Princesa (1 March 2026, www.amoritaresort.com/puerto-princesa). This is the refined elder sibling as it were. And while in outward appearances it goes toe-to-toe with its insouciant cousin, it maintains an inner sense of calm zen, relaxed decorum and design minimalism with a few quiet tech twirls like the all-weather wristbands for room access. Here too the grey-black building runs arrow-straight towards the beach, corridors open to the elements and paved walkways etched across the grassy sands. The staff is intuitive and attentive and quite unwilling to turn down any request, howsoever outlandish. Smiles are aplenty and it is clear that an eagerness to please is at the heart of this hideaway.

Amorita rooms are more spacious with a refined aesthetic and the minimalism runs right through without overcooking things. A Junior Suite weighs in at 44sq m with French bay windows and a wedged in divan looking out through blinds. Find a small round coffee table, a red-cushion chair, large flat-screen TV, a sliding-door wardrobe with laptop-friendly safe and a clean white and grey granite bathroom with rain shower and hand shower. One well-lit vanity runs across a marble counter. The black trim on doors and windows adds a classy DIOR feel. It is tasteful touches like this that set Amorita Puerta Princesa apart from other high end hotels. It is a restrained luxe feel without hysterical bling. Walking me around, GM Nilo Quizon — an energetic and hands-on former manager of Funny Lion El Nido — points out small details, assisted by Jamaica (Jamie) Lerona from the sales team. “We do our regular beach clean-ups here too,” he says with a broad smile, reminding me of an El Nido tradition.

Resort options around Puerta Princesa include the Dome Hotel (left) on Canigaran Beach; Four Points by Sheraton on Sabang Beach (centre), which took over from the Sheridan; and the sprawling Astoria (right) some distance north with a large waterpark for kids/ photos: hotels 

A 67sq m Premier Suite is dauntingly expansive with two hanging bedside reading lamps and wall cabinets lending a homey touch. Another hanging lampshade resembling a drooping flower lights up a corner table next to the cream sofa. Floor-to-ceiling glass streams light into the room and, just outside in a small private balcony, is the piece de resistance — a tiled rectangular soaking tub looking brazenly onto the surrounding trees. While The Funny Lion looks onto a building in the distance, Amorita faces a patch of forest and this creates both mystery and mood. Electric sockets are three-pin international with USB and Type-C sockets. Elsewhere around the city most sockets tend to be the local two-pin variety.

Located at the far seaward end of the resort, near the circular pool, sundeck, and pool bar, are premium 109sq m Palawan Pool Villas with A-frame roofs, twin his-and-her vanities, a sheltered alfresco tile-tub and a slim lap pool with steel chair. The pool runs between a high outer wall and the living room full length glass doors. Walls are in a pastel ochre rustic finish. As it rolls out and tweaks things, Amorita is set to raise the bar for beds. Mark it down in your diary.

(Amorita Resort Puerto Princesa features in our exclusive by-invitation Top Asian Hotels Collection, featuring the best Asian hotels, resorts and spas in a printable A4 page with stunning visuals.)

In the same area just north of the airport find the pleasant Costa Palawan Resort (costapalawanresort.com) that adjoins Funny Lion with intervening greenery and is lower priced with bright well-appointed wooden-floor rooms; the Carpe Diem Villas & Resort (www.carpediem-hotel.com); and intriguing The Dome Hotel Puerta Princesa City (thedomehotelsresorts), pitched higher in price with simple boutique touches and the signature thatched domes with rattan-weave walls. While cheerful and friendly, none of these are at the level of Amorita or The Funny Lion when it comes to design, trained staff, and attention to detail.

A broad range of resorts are available near the airport, including the elegant and roomy Princesa Garden (left) ; and the atmospheric Dang Maria's (centre and right) is an upgrading B&B in a green compound in a large green cottage that will remind traveller's of their grandmother's attic/ photos: Vijay Verghese

An hour-and-a-half north is the Astoria Palawan (astoriapalawan.com) that opened in 2014. This is a large low-rise resort with colourful rooms, gym, several pools, conference facilities for 450 (seated), and a 4,000sq m waterpark for kids and family frolic. There is an entry charge for the water park. The one-way van transfer from the airport is P3,500 (about eight persons). The beach is sanded but, as all along this mangrove coast, is silted and rocky in parts at low tide and not ideal for swimming. Avoiding the beach dilemma are the simple and modular Aziza Paradise Hotel (AzizaParadiseHotel) in the town centre; and the modestly priced Hue Hotel Puerto Princesa (www.thehuehotel.com/hue-puerto-princesa) closer to Robinson’s mall.

South of the airport is another clutch of resorts, the benchmark easily set by the older, spacious and attractively manicured Princesa Garden Island Resort & Spa (www.princesagardenisland.com), which at first glance has a very Balinese feel to it like one of the Nusa Dua escapes. It has neat hotel accommodation as well as over-water stilted villas A 15-minute drive from the airport, rooms here run from simple to grand (with four-poster beds and large balconies). Expect breezy views, a no-swimming mangrove coastline, welcoming mature foliage and facilities for meetings and events (a 600-seat ballroom and a 200-seat function hall). The 1,650sq m saline pool is split into various sections with a fun area for kids.

On the loop road that leads to Princesa Garden are laid back 25-key Acacia Tree Garden Hotel (Acaciatreehotel) with pool and billiards, and the enticing large green cottage of Dang Maria’s (dangmaria17/) that was closed for redevelopment when we visited in February 2026. Keep an eye on this boutique B&B that prides itself on its menus and catering with the added allure of relaxed gardens, trees, driftwood furniture and grandma-attic spaces.  

Farther away in Honda Bay the upscale Dos Palmas Island Resort is now closed after its damaging earlier brush with Abu Sayyaf extremists in 2001 and the more recent typhoon damage. It had been operating from time to time as a day-use resort.

At night much of the action is in bars at the head of Rizal Avenue. Sleepy side streets take you right back into the countryside. Viet Ville (left) has passable Vietnamese and an interesting story; Tiki Bar (centre) is the main draw while t2f (right) offers a breezy second floor venue/ photos: Vijay Verghese

For an international brand experience travellers will need to venture farther out to Sabang Beach (the starting point for the Underground River excursion) and the low-rise Four Points by Sheraton Palawan Puerto Princesa (four-points-palawan-puerto-princesa/overview) arrayed around a large pool overlooking pristine sandy shores. A two-hour drive from Puerto Princesa, Sabang is known for its strong currents that limit swimming. A bright white-and-pastel 28sq m room at Four Points offers rollaway beds, hairdryer, iron, ironing board, bidet, WiFi and cable TV with CNN for news junkies. Expect fitness facilities and a Cubs Club for kids. Marriott’s Four Points by Sheraton brand took over from the former Sheridan Beach Resort in late 2023.

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Nightlife, bars, dining and sights

Much of the sparse nightlife in Puerto Princesa is concentrated at the upper end of Rizal Avenue where it hits North Road. Here you’ll spot the Tiki Bar, a cavernous dark neon KTV and billiards hall with dancefloor and live band that starts stirring after 6pm but hits its stride about 10pm. This is the city hangout, Jamaica from Amorita informs me with a bright smile, perplexed at my insistence on visiting the place at 6pm. Sure enough when I reach I am alone in the dark trying to find my favourite Hong Kong fix — hot water. Ah well, just taking notes.

Next door is the large open veranda t2f ‘the second floor’ (the former J1), another vast popular billiards and KTV sprawl with a small red-seat diner section overlooking the main road.  And just down Rizal is the woody, packed-tight UG Tavern where the discerning head for a pint unless the kids drag them off to Shakey’s Pizza, Jollibee, Chowking or McDonald’s that line Rizal like lonely force-feed-your-family sentinels as night arrives and the street quietens, the glow reducing to a few food courts and fitness joints.

Nagtabon Beach is a local favourite with easy access from the city; the scenic bay from the View Point on the road anaking by above (left); and (right) colourful fishing boats lined up on Nagtabon Beach watching the tide roll in as storm clouds approach/ photos: Vijay Verghese

Appropriately, salvation lies at the other end of beer-swilling Rizal where the Immaculate Conception Cathedral (or Puerto Princesa Cathedral) rises up above Plaza Cuartel with its awful buried secrets and a serene Virgin Mary who looks across the square towards a thoughtful statue of intellectual revolutionary Jose Rizal. Ever-patient Jamaica Lerona, on loan from Amorita, walks me through the history. On 14 December 1944, an estimated 150 American soldiers were burned to death here as they attempted to flee through a tunnel. This is a place for quiet contemplation and remembrance.

Around the coastline is the Baywalk with its seafront promenade. While unadorned and asleep at daytime, it fills up evenings as food vendors arrive with their pushcart aromas. A 10-minute drive north along the coast is Balayong People’s Park where evening light shows (for a fee) and the Palawan white-flower cherry blossoms attract family crowds in season from February to early May.

Restaurants and cafes — mainly offering Filipino fare — are scattered about, often around parks, jetties and transport hubs. Seafood is everywhere and those in the know head straight for Badjao Seafront Restaurant (badjaoseafrontrestaurant/) on the southern coast of the city, for the additional lure of romantic sunsets amidst the mangroves. On the southeast coast not far from Princesa Garden is Balinsasayaw where the butter garlic prawn is a particular favourite, served in stilted pavilions over the sea. Another pleasantly offbeat BYO choice is a ‘floating cottage’ from Camigaran Beach that can be hired at around P1,500 for a day to laze about Honda Bay munching on your own store-bought snacks. Hotels can arrange excursions on these thatch-roof rafts. Family breakfast favourite Pancake House is located on North Road next to a Starbucks, just across from Robinson’s. And Itoy’s Coffee Haus (Itoys-Coffee-Haus) on Rizal is one of the oldest cafes around these parts with its popular brand of cakes and Filipino and Italian bites.

TALA Beach (centre) is our favourite stretch of sand — peaceful, expansive, clean, and shaded; The Immaculate Conception Cathedral (left) is a mainstay of city sightseeing, adjoining Plaza Cuartel, which hides a grim past; and (right) brightly painted tricycle or tuk-tuk/ photos: Vijay Verghese

Viet Ville Restaurant (VietVilleRestaurant/) just outside town on North Road offers laid back dining in a wooden cottage and rustic garden setting. At one point the leafy enclave of Viet Ville was home to some 2,000 Vietnamese refugees cared for by the Catholic church. It was a lively community with a small noodle and fish sauce plant as well as a French bakery. When sponsorship funds dried up in the 2000s much of the population moved out. Just five families remain, caring for the place, including its small chapel and Buddhist temple. The restaurant offers an ambitious menu — with only a hint of its former authenticity — but serves as a pleasant stop enroute from the beaches. It has clean toilets too.

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Honda Bay, Underground River, beaches

Other close-to-town activities include firefly tours and island hopping in Honda Bay to take in the white sand stretches around Cowrie and Luli islands as well as snorkelling at Pambato Reef. There are several waterfalls in the vicinity of Puerto Princesa with smaller ones like Salakot a short walk from the highway and others like the larger Tibag rock cascades about a two-hour hike. These are best viewed in the wet season.

The spectacular 8km ‘underground river’ that burrows through the limestone karsts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site — the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park —  70km up the west coast near idyllic Sabang Beach is a longer excursion that will take up the better part of a day. Around 4km of the river can be explored by paddle boat.

Beach hopping is a big draw in the Puerto Princesa area, with several scenic spots within an hour-and-a-half drive from town. Napsan Beach an hour to the west of the city (passing Salakot Falls) is a pretty stretch with shade trees. More popular is the string of beaches to the northwest with varying moods and Instagram appeal.

Tagkawayan Beach to the south of Nagtabon is a rustic escape with a rocky section (left), local shacks, and a nice expanse of sand beyond for families and kids (far right); comfortable day-use cottage at Pakpak Lauin the privately managed section of TALA Beach (centre). Takgawayan has simpler cottages too/ photos: Vijay Verghese

Nagtabon Beach, a long arc of pale yellow sand with its fishing boats and tree-lined cove is a particularly photogenic spot and popular with locals and tourists for whom it is just about an hour’s drive from Puerto Princesa Airport. As the narrow concrete road climbs over the hilly island spine and then drops down the hills to the west you spot glimpses of Nagtabon. We drive past a posse of cyclists taking group photos above the valley, racing motorcyclists, and quaint thatch-roof coffee shops set in the lush vegetation.

For the most part the traffic is light to sparse and drivers are courteous. Nagtabon’s gentle incline invites waders who circle past rocking catamarans and clumps of algae and seaweed brought in by the tide. Others wait for the surf to come up and hold their boards at the ready.

We continue north along the hills past Sunset Hill Café with its endless stairs circling up the hill and the small but popular View Deck — a crudely cemented area beside the road with red plastic chairs, tea, coffee and local nibbles and a P20 entry. A Philippine flag flutters vigorously as if to herald the approaching storm and, below us, beautiful Nagtabon displays its sandy crescent lapped by blue waters. With a storm on its way and the rain starting we eye the charcoal clouds and scurry on.

A winding 20-minute drive north brings us to Talaudyong Beach (or just TALA Beach) where the blue waters are distinctly clearer and the vast expanse of sand less ruffled. Huge shade trees make this a perfect spot for a picnic or day out. This is certainly the best beach in the Puerto Princesa area for its accessibility, cleanliness, size, facilities and photogenic appeal. TALA Beach is popular with snorkellers, surfers, campers and even a few trying their hand at fishing.

The drive across the hilly spine of Palawan and down to the various beaches leads past scenic rice fields as the road switches from broad highway concrete to snaking strips winding down to the sand. And this is where you'll see the heart of Palawan, emblazoned in the green/ photo: Vijay Verghese

There are beachside sit-out camps for P1,500 and larger cottages set inland on a grassy park. Pakpak-Lauin (pakpaklauindaytour), which forms the southern stretch of this lovely bay, is privately managed for day tours with a P100 entry fee and better cottages. This is a good bet for families as well as for romantics in search of a clean, less crowded beach, and blazing sunsets..

Tracking back over the roller-coaster road, 20 minutes south of Nagtabon is the very rustic and unassuming Tagkawayan Beach with a few sari-sari convenience stores, cottages, and beachfront sitting areas. There are a few rocky areas along this strip with a decent stretch of rough sand. Tagkawayan is a friendly laid back area. As the rain starts pelting down we head back past green paddy fields and lush orchards.

Flying out of Puerto Princesa Airport is a doddle. The passenger shed is practically empty when I arrive and I am the first to check in. There are a few food stalls and sleepy shops selling gewgaws. More exciting is the overhead display with flight departures. The storm that has been tracking me through this visit has delayed several flights including mine.

Eventually when our plane bounces in sending up a huge plume of spray the passengers burst into applause. I board and am sat across the narrow aisle from two rambunctious kids tossing their chips and spilling Coca-Cola. My heart sinks. They are wedged in by their sun-tanned mother — a Catherine Zeta-Jones doppelganger — who flashes an apologetic smile. I smile back and decide these are lovely kids. The Philippines is all heart after all. And that’s our Puerto Princesa fun guide in a nutshell.

Section of the roller-coaster strip of road that runs south from TALA Beach to Nagtabon and then Takgawayan (left); cyclists pose for a photo above the valley just outside the city (centre); and looking down at Takgawayan Beach through the fronds (right)/ photos: Vijay Verghese

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