Vivito IT Solutions · A website concept
Palawan, the long voyage, is a design study by Vivito IT Solutions, made to show the beauty of the province: its islands, its sea and its people. It shows what is possible, so some pictures are placed for mood and may not match their captions. It is not the official website of the Provincial Government of Palawan. For services, visit palawan.gov.ph.
Some places are found.
Others wait at the edge of every map.
Skip to the island“We called that land the land of promise, because we suffered great hunger before we found it.”
Antonio Pigafetta, reaching Palawan with Magellan’s fleet, June 1521
The last frontier.
Franz C. Trinidad · CC BY-SA 4.0
In 1962, in a cave at Lipuun Point, Robert B. Fox of the National Museum found the bones of people who lived here long before anything was written down.
A piece of skull, dated directly: 16,500 years old, give or take two thousand.
A shinbone from later digs: about 47,000 years, by uranium-series dating. The figure is still debated, but these are the oldest human remains yet found in the Philippines.
About 3,000 years ago · Manunggul Cave, Quezon
A burial jar from the Tabon caves. On its lid, two figures paddle a soul to the afterlife.
Vivito Tech · Watercolour
2000 BC to AD 1000 · The sea roads
Palawan was a stop on the Maritime Jade Road, one of the oldest sea-trade networks in the region.
Jarno Colijn · Unsplash License
1200s · Chinese records
Chinese records list Palawan and the Calamianes among the islands of Sandao, under Ma-i in Mindoro.
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
Before the Spanish · The south
The Tagbanwa and the Palaw’an lived from the land and the sea. Settlers from Borneo brought new ways of farming, and Islam to the south.
Jared Rice · Unsplash License
Late 1400s to 1749 · The south
Brunei ruled Palawan through its vassal, the Sultanate of Sulu. It ceded the south to Spain only in 1749.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
1600s · Cuyo, Agutaya, Taytay, Cagayancillo
Spanish friars founded missions on the islands, and against Moro raids walled their churches into garrisons.
KG Dela Peña · Unsplash License
1738 · Taytay
Fort Santa Isabel: a wooden palisade in 1667, rebuilt in coral limestone in 1738.
Rommel Paras · Unsplash License
1872 · Puerto Princesa
Puerto Princesa was founded on 4 March 1872. In 1905 the province of Paragua was renamed Palawan, with Puerto Princesa its capital.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
1898 · The whole province
The Americans took over from Spain and brought public schools, new roads and help for the farms.
Eibner Saliba · Unsplash License
1906 · Culion
Culion became the Philippines’ leprosy colony in 1906, and was declared leprosy-free in 2006.
Johann Ocampo · Unsplash License
1944 · Coron Bay and Puerto Princesa
US aircraft sank a Japanese supply fleet in Coron Bay. At Puerto Princesa, 139 Allied prisoners were killed; 11 escaped.
John Hernandez · Unsplash License
1978 · Kalayaan
Presidential Decree 1596 made the Kalayaan Island Group a municipality of Palawan, far out in the West Philippine Sea.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Bacuit Bay, El Nido
Towers and islets of old reef rock, with forest clinging to the cliffs.
Eibner Saliba · Unsplash License
Sabang, Puerto Princesa
Forest runs from the ridges to the beach without a break.
Jules Bassoleil · Unsplash License
El Nido
White sand fills the gaps the limestone leaves.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Secret Beach, El Nido
A beach walled in on every side, open to the sea through one gap.
Geio Tischler · Unsplash License
Mike Gonzalez · CC BY-SA 3.0
Puerto Princesa
The Cabayugan River goes underground for 8.2 km and comes out into the sea, through a cave system at least 32 km long.
The park around it covers 22,202 hectares. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, and one of the New7Wonders of Nature since 2012.
Sailko · CC BY 3.0
Coron Island
Coron Island hides about a dozen lakes in its cliffs. The Calamian Tagbanwa hold it as ancestral domain, recognised in 1998, and consider the lakes sacred.
Bacuit Bay
The shallows are where the dive begins.
John Hernandez · Unsplash License
Tubbataha, Sulu Sea
Rangers keep watch over reefs 150 km from the nearest city.
Geio Tischler · Unsplash License
Palawan
In the lagoons the water is shallow and clear enough to read the bottom.
Bernd Dittrich · Unsplash License
Palawan
Sandbars rise and vanish with the tide.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
The shallows
The giant clam was thought gone from Philippine waters by the 1980s. It survived in Palawan: at Dos Palmas in Honda Bay, a spawning in 2019 gave about 9.5 million eggs to a university hatchery.
The meadows
Around Calauit Island in the Calamianes, surveys have followed dugongs for decades; sightings rise and fall with the seagrass. Tagbanwa guardians, the Bantay Dugong, help watch over them.
Ryan Sia · CC BY-SA 4.0
14 to 46 metres
On 24 September 1944, aircraft of US Task Force 38 attacked a Japanese supply fleet at anchor in Coron Bay. The Akitsushima, the Irako, the Olympia Maru and others still lie there, now reefs themselves.
Anna Varona · CC BY 4.0
Tubbataha · “long reef exposed at low tide”
97,030 hectares, the country’s first national marine park (1988) and a World Heritage Site since 1993. No fewer than 600 fish species, 360 corals, 11 sharks and 13 kinds of dolphin and whale.
Eye1979 · CC BY 4.0
Onok Island, Balabac
Hawksbill and green turtles nest on Tubbataha’s islets and swim the reefs of the far south.
Palawan’s animals came from Borneo across land bridges, then stayed and changed. A field journal of five, with their Red List status.
Vivito Tech · Watercolour
Vivito Tech · Watercolour
Vivito Tech · Watercolour
Vivito Tech · Watercolour
Vivito Tech · Watercolour
The Pala’wan of the southern uplands, the Tagbanwa of the centre and the north, the Batak of the north-east, the Molbog of the far south, and the Cuyonon who sailed in from their islands. Here in their own names.
Vivito Tech · Painting
Coron Island
In 1998 Coron Island was recognised as the ancestral domain of the Calamian Tagbanwa. They keep its lakes sacred, and manage Kayangan under a plan of their own.
Calamian Tagbanwa is its own language, distinct from the Tagbanwa spoken around Aborlan and Quezon.
The main indigenous people of the island group, around Mantalingahan. The island’s name is linked to them.
Central Tagbanwa around Aborlan, Quezon and Puerto Princesa; Calamian Tagbanwa on Coron, Busuanga and in El Nido.
About 1,500 people. They helped lead the protection of Cleopatra’s Needle, their homeland.
The people of the southern tip and its islands, with kin in Mapun.
A Visayan people now across the province. Their word bagat, to meet, named the provincial festival.
Their language is Agutaynen; settlers also founded New Agutaya in San Vicente.
A Sama-speaking people centred on Mapun, with communities in southern Palawan.
“People of the rock”, of the valley below Mantalingahan. Visit only with their permission.
The Tagbanwa script
An indigenous syllabary of the Tagbanwa and Pala’wan. With the Hanunoo and Buid scripts it was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 1999. Each sign is a syllable; marks above or below change its vowel.
From Busuanga in the north to Balabac in the south, then five hundred kilometres west to Pag-asa. Every town, and the city, and the best of what each one keeps.
Leg one
Four towns at the top of the province, where the limestone begins.
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
Landfall 01 / 24Bayan ng Busuanga12.13° N, 119.94° E
Quieter and greener than its neighbour: cattle land, limestone islets, and giraffes on an island.
The story
Busuanga covers the western third of Busuanga Island and all of Calauit Island, at the top of the Calamian group. It was carved out of Coron’s barrios in 1951.
On Calauit, a sanctuary set up in 1976 still keeps the giraffes and zebras brought from Kenya, alongside native animals it protects: the Calamian deer, the Palawan bearded pig and the Philippine mouse-deer.
Best of Busuanga
lumoplank · CC0
A wildlife sanctuary since 1976, where reticulated giraffes and Grévy’s zebras roam beside the Calamian deer.
North side of Busuanga; about 4 hours by boat from Coron town
ProjectLumiere · CC BY-SA 4.0
A dark limestone island with three small caves holding pools, and a white beach.
From Ocam-Ocam on the west coast
pablosievert · CC BY-SA 4.0
A sandbar islet near Black Island, usually visited on the same trip.
From Ocam-Ocam
Johann Ocampo · Unsplash License
Japanese ships, tankers among them, sunk by US aircraft on 24 September 1944. The Skeleton Wreck is shallow enough to snorkel.
Bernd Dittrich · Unsplash License
A freshwater fall 17 km from the poblacion, reached by road or by water.
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
Landfall 02 / 24Bayan ng Coron12.00° N, 120.21° E
Fifteen lakes inside a limestone island, a fleet of warships under the bay, and a town that keeps both.
The story
Coron town sits on eastern Busuanga Island and is the commercial capital of the Calamian Islands. Across the bay rises Coron Island: jagged limestone holding about fifteen lakes.
The island is the ancestral domain of the Calamian Tagbanwa, recognised in 1998. They opened Kayangan Lake to visitors in 2001, after a ritual, and manage it under their own plan. Under the bay lie the Japanese supply ships sunk on 24 September 1944.
Best of Coron
H.abanil · CC BY-SA 3.0
A brackish lake sacred to the Tagbanwa, often called one of the cleanest in the country. The viewpoint above it is one of the most photographed places in Palawan.
Island-hopping boat from Coron town; tickets in town
Sailko · CC BY 3.0
Two lagoons joined through a gap in the rock: kayak under it at low tide, swim through or take the walkway at high tide.
Sailko · CC BY 3.0
The second lake the Tagbanwa opened. Divers pass through warm thermoclines and a halocline where fresh water meets salt.
Ryan Sia · CC BY-SA 4.0
About ten Japanese wrecks lie at 6 to 46 metres, among them the seaplane tender Akitsushima, the Irako and the Olympia Maru.
Firth m · CC BY-SA 4.0
Seven islets 3.5 km east of town where the reef starts right off the beach. A Blue Park Award winner in 2024.
lumoplank · CC0
The hill above town with a cross and a viewpoint, a short climb and the classic place to watch the sun go down.
10 to 15 minutes up from town
Coron
Coron Island keeps about fifteen lakes inside its limestone; the Tagbanwa have opened only a few to visitors.
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
Coron
Outrigger boats wait under the cliffs while their passengers go on foot.
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
Coron
Day boats thread between the limestone islets of the Calamianes.
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
Coron
Still green water under cliffs thick with trees.
Johann Ocampo · Unsplash License
Coron
From above, reef and sand show through the shallows between the islands.
John Hernandez · Unsplash License
John Hernandez · Unsplash License
Landfall 03 / 24Bayan ng Culion11.89° N, 120.02° E
Once the country’s leprosy colony; now a harbour town that calls itself the Paradise Regained.
The story
From 1906, Culion Island and its 41 islets were the Philippines’ leprosy colony. The WHO declared the town leprosy-free in 2006, and its leprosy archives joined UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register for Asia and the Pacific in 2018.
Its waters hold 201 fish species, 17 kinds of mangrove, 9 of seagrass and 47 coral genera.
Best of Culion
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
The record of the colony years and the cure of leprosy, on UNESCO’s regional Memory of the World Register since 2018.
Ferry from Coron port, about 1½ hours
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
A stone fort of 1740 whose coral stones the Jesuits reused for the Immaculate Conception Church in 1930. A national historical landmark since 1939.
Tuderna · CC BY 3.0
Beaches, snorkelling and dive sites, wrecks among them, in some of the richest water of the Calamianes.
Johann Ocampo · Unsplash License
Landfall 04 / 24Bayan ng Linapacan11.49° N, 119.87° E
No mainland at all: ten island barangays and some of the clearest water anywhere.
The story
Linapacan is a scatter of small islands between Culion and El Nido. Its water is so clear that a 2013 list put it first among places to swim before you die.
It lies roughly halfway between El Nido and Coron, a stop on the multi-day boat expeditions between them.
Best of Linapacan
Tuderna · CC BY 3.0
Snorkelling is the reason to come: reef and sand under water described as exceptionally clear.
On El Nido to Coron boat expeditions
Kaspars Upmanis · Unsplash License
Powdery white sand and turquoise water.
Florian Delée · Unsplash License
An uninhabited island, one of the most visited in the area. Boats can also be hired from San Fernando, El Nido.
Leg two
Bacuit Bay, an old Spanish capital, and a beach that keeps going.
Jared Rice · Unsplash License
Jared Rice · Unsplash License
Landfall 05 / 24Bayan ng El Nido11.18° N, 119.39° E
The nest: forty-five limestone islands and islets in one bay, named for the swiftlets on its cliffs.
The story
El Nido sits at the northern tip of mainland Palawan. Founded as Bacuit in 1916 and renamed in 1954, it takes its name from the edible swiftlet nests gathered from its cliffs.
It is the gateway to Bacuit Bay’s 45 islands and islets, a managed resource protected area. Under a limestone tower in the Dewil Valley, Ille Cave has given up cremated human remains 9,000 years old and tiger bones that prove tigers once lived on Palawan.
Best of El Nido
Eibner Saliba · Unsplash License
The poblacion on the bay, backed by limestone cliffs. The island-hopping boats leave from its beach.
Jules Bassoleil · Unsplash License
The largest of the Miniloc lagoons, on the island’s north coast: still green water between walls of limestone.
Island-hopping Tour A
Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy · CC BY 2.0
A shallow cove entered by kayak or by swimming through a gap in the rock.
20 to 30 minutes by boat from town
Mario von Rotz · Unsplash License
A beach closed in by rock on Matinloc Island, reached by swimming through a gap in the cliff.
Island-hopping Tour C
Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy · CC BY 2.0
A long beach stop on Tour A, palms and soft sand under the cliffs.
Tours leave about 8 to 9 am
Micluna · CC BY-SA 4.0
A long white-sand beach north of town, at the end of an unpaved last stretch.
About 45 minutes by scooter or tricycle
Micluna · CC BY-SA 4.0
The highest island in Bacuit Bay, 640 m, standing right across from the town.
Tuderna · CC BY 3.0
A white-sand beach south of town, for the last light of the day.
Tricycle and a short walk
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
15–18 March, the town fiesta
A street parade in costumes made of kulambo, mosquito nets, with dancing, singing and local food.
El Nido
Kayaks are the way into the shallow lagoons, where the boats cannot follow.
Roman Lezhnin · Unsplash License
El Nido
Island-hopping boats anchor in the lee of the limestone.
Kaspars Upmanis · Unsplash License
El Nido
Limestone rises straight out of clear water.
Rommel Paras · Unsplash License
El Nido
Out of town, a quiet shore and a boat waiting offshore.
Jarno Colijn · Unsplash License
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Landfall 06 / 24Bayan ng Taytay10.83° N, 119.52° E
The old Spanish capital, the Star of the North: a coral-stone fort between two seas.
The story
Founded in 1623, Taytay was the capital of Calamianes province from 1818 and of Castilla from 1858. It lies between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea.
To the west, Malampaya Sound has been protected since 2000 as a 200,115-hectare landscape and seascape, one of Palawan’s richest fishing grounds and home to the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin.
Best of Taytay
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
A wooden palisade of 1667, rebuilt in coral limestone in 1738 against raids and restored in 2018–19. Its chapel and cannons survive.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
A sheltered maze of bays, coves and islands where Irrawaddy dolphins feed. Dolphin-watching trips run from town.
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
Island-hopping and snorkelling, including Elephant and Castle Island, a protected swiftlet nesting site.
Rommel Paras · Unsplash License
A lake 7 km south-east of town where you can kayak.
By tricycle
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
1–4 May
Song and folk dance, with shows of the crafts the town’s people make.
Eibner Saliba · Unsplash License
Landfall 07 / 24Bayan ng San Vicente10.53° N, 119.25° E
A settler town with one of the longest white beaches in the country, and Port Barton round the corner.
The story
San Vicente was founded by Cuyonon and Agutaynen settlers on the north-west coast, 186 km from Puerto Princesa.
Its Long Beach runs about 14.7 km across four barangays, split by two rocky points into three coves you can walk around at low tide.
Best of San Vicente
Jimaggro · CC BY-SA 4.0
About 14.7 km of white sand, from the poblacion through New Agutaya and San Isidro to Alimanguan.
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
A quiet bay village and the base for island-hopping: Twin Reef, German Island, Exotic Island, Starfish Island.
Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy · CC BY 2.0
A small uninhabited island off Port Barton for snorkelling and a long lunch. No one stays the night.
GSMHERO · CC BY 3.0
An island off the San Vicente coast, reached by bangka.
Rommel Paras · Unsplash License
A tiered waterfall a short boat ride and a walk from Port Barton.
About 20 minutes by boat, then 10 on foot
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
The bay goes quiet when the boats come in.
Leg three
Farming towns facing the Sulu Sea and its seagrass bays.
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
LGU of Roxas · roxaspalawanlgu.com
Landfall 08 / 24Bayan ng Roxas10.32° N, 119.34° E
A young farming and fishing town on the east coast, facing small islands and seagrass bays.
The story
Roxas faces the Sulu Sea, about 135 km by road from Puerto Princesa. Green Island Bay, off Barangay Tumarbong, is a case study in dugong and seagrass conservation.
Typhoon Odette made its final landfall here on 17 December 2021. The town rebuilt.
Best of Roxas
Modessa Island resort · the resort
An island resort of bamboo cottages, formerly Coco Loco Island.
About 45 minutes by boat from the wharf
LGU of Roxas · roxaspalawanlgu.com
A centre you can walk end to end in fifteen minutes, with boats leaving the wharf for the islands.
About 2½ hours by van from Puerto Princesa
Kingnaharry · CC BY-SA 4.0
Islands and sandbars of the poblacion, Purao and Johnson among them, on the town’s island tours.
LGU of Roxas · roxaspalawanlgu.com
Thin white sandbars over the reef, there at low tide and gone at high.
Shared publicly online · owner unknown
A long, quiet beach under the hills.
David Stanley · CC BY 2.0
The cashew harvest is the one the whole town waits for.
LGU of Roxas · roxaspalawanlgu.com
15–16 May
The town fiesta and foundation day: cultural dances on stage, pageants, a battle of the bands and motocross.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
Landfall 09 / 24Bayan ng Dumaran10.53° N, 119.77° E
Farms, fishing boats and forest that still shelters the katala.
The story
Dumaran covers part of north-eastern mainland Palawan and the southern half of Dumaran Island. Its first settlers came from Cuyo in 1875.
Its remaining forest shelters the Philippine cockatoo, the Philippine pangolin and the Palawan forest turtle.
Best of Dumaran
Troy Kolokoy · CC BY 3.0
The town’s best-known spot: a beach, clear water and coral reef.
Troy Kolokoy · CC BY 3.0
An island 2.7 km off the mainland, shared with Araceli and reached by pump boat.
Mario von Rotz · Unsplash License
Landfall 10 / 24Bayan ng Araceli10.55° N, 119.99° E
Our Lady of the Altar of the Sky: a Cuyonon town barely on the tourist map.
The story
Araceli covers roughly the northern half of Dumaran Island and nearby islets. It was the original Dumaran until 1954, and is named after its parish, Nuestra Señora de Araceli.
Typhoon Odette in 2021 destroyed nine in ten of its properties.
Best of Araceli
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
A white-sand beach in Barangay Tinintinan.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
Islands and marine life all around; boat trips can be arranged locally.
Regular boat from Roxas, 4 to 5 hours
Leg four
The Cuyo islands, and the far reefs of Tubbataha.
LuzViMindaLife · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Landfall 11 / 24Bayan ng Cuyo10.85° N, 121.01° E
The oldest town in Palawan and the heart of Cuyonon culture, in the middle of the Sulu Sea.
The story
Cuyo was the provincial capital from 1873. It has a fort around its church, its own mazurka, and tipano fife-and-drum bands.
Its language, Cuyonon, gave the province its festival name: Baragatan, from bagat, to meet.
Best of Cuyo
National Historical Commission of the Philippines · Public domain
A one-hectare fort finished in 1680, walls 10 m high and 2 m thick, enclosing the church, convent and chapel.
A few minutes’ walk from the port
LuzViMindaLife · CC BY-SA 4.0
The town beach and its long sandbar; the kiteboarding spot in the amihan months, December to March.
The original uploader was Ortmann at English Wikipedia. · CC BY 3.0
A sandy island 2.5 km long in a 7 km² reef, privately run as a resort.
John Hernandez · Unsplash License
Life-size Stations of the Cross on the path to the top; pilgrims climb on Holy Thursday.
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
August
An Ati dance like the Ati-Atihan: faces in soot and indigo, headgear of coconut fibre and feathers, and a clown who chases the women until coins are thrown. Parades re-enact Saint Augustine meeting the islanders.
Jarno Colijn · Unsplash License
Landfall 12 / 24Bayan ng Magsaysay10.86° N, 121.05° E
The quiet east side of Cuyo Island, once the short-lived Republic of Lucbuan of 1899.
The story
Magsaysay is the eastern half of Cuyo Island plus Alcoba, Canipo, Siparay and other islets. Cuyo Airport is here, twenty minutes from Cuyo town.
Best of Magsaysay
Jarno Colijn · Unsplash License
Quejano and Victoria beaches, with chest-deep clear water for learning to kiteboard.
About 20 minutes from Cuyo town
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
St. Michael the Archangel church, where the town fiesta is held, and the ruins of an unfinished fort.
Rommel Paras · Unsplash License
Landfall 13 / 24Bayan ng Agutaya11.15° N, 120.94° E
A four-peaked volcanic island and its islets, home of the Agutaynen.
The story
Agutaya is the eastern, smallest part of the Cuyo Archipelago, cut off for long stretches by the monsoons. Its people speak Agutaynen.
Best of Agutaya
Bernd Dittrich · Unsplash License
A church of 1683 remodelled into a fort after raids; it sheltered the town in the Second World War.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Little-known white-sand beaches and long sunsets.
About 3 hours by outrigger from Cuyo
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Landfall 14 / 24Bayan ng Cagayancillo9.58° N, 121.20° E
Thirty-one low islands far out in the Sulu Sea, and the keepers of Tubbataha.
The story
Cagayancillo is closer to Negros and Panay than to Puerto Princesa. Its jurisdiction runs about 130 km south-west to the Tubbataha Reefs, which its people call Gusong.
In July 2026 a provincial health mission reached it with consultations for more than 500 residents.
Best of Cagayancillo
q.phia · CC BY 2.0
Two atolls and the Jessie Beazley Reef: 97,030 hectares, at least 600 fish species, 360 corals and 11 sharks.
Only by licensed liveaboard from Puerto Princesa, mainly March to June
Dianathegreat2018 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rangers from the park, the Navy, the Coast Guard and Cagayancillo keep watch from the North Atoll.
Mario von Rotz · Unsplash License
A diamond-shaped fort of sea rock and lime, walls 12 m high and 3 m thick, enclosing a church.
Leg five
Gateway, capital, and a forest with a river underneath.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
Landfall 15 / 24City of Puerto Princesa · independent city9.74° N, 118.74° E
The capital and the gateway: a bayside port that is mostly forest, with a river that runs under a mountain.
The story
Puerto Princesa has been a highly urbanized city since 2007, legally independent of the province it is capital of. It is one of the largest cities in the country by land, and most of it is forest.
On 14 December 1944, at Plaza Cuartel, Japanese soldiers killed 139 Allied prisoners of war; eleven survived. The site is now a memorial park beside the cathedral.
Best of Puerto Princesa
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
A navigable river 8.2 km long that runs beneath a limestone mountain into the sea. UNESCO World Heritage since 1999, a New7Wonder of Nature since 2012.
From Sabang wharf, a short boat ride to the cave mouth
Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
The village beach where the river trips begin, with the forest coming down to the sand.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
A bay north of the city scattered with small islands, Luli, Cowrie and Pambato Reef among them.
Joelaldor · CC BY-SA 4.0
A memorial to the prisoners of war killed here in 1944, beside the neo-Gothic cathedral on the old hill.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
The Immaculate Conception Cathedral, neo-Gothic in white, beside Plaza Cuartel on the hill above the bay.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
A city beach in Barangay San Pedro, with cottages on stilts out over the shallows.
Robertmarrel · CC BY-SA 4.0
A limestone rock above the paddies of Tagabinet that you climb, then leave by zipline.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
The seaside promenade for sunsets, street food and a slow evening.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
Night boat rides on the Iwahig River, to watch the fireflies in the mangroves.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
Winding paths and a round viewing tower, named for the balayong tree.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
A garden of native butterflies and plants in the city.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
June
The city’s feast of the forest, when residents plant trees in its watersheds.
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
March, on the city’s founding
Named for the Palawan cherry, which blooms in February and March. Parades, street dances, sports and pageants, in costumes drawn from the balayong tree and the spirits of the forest.
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
14 February
On Valentine’s Day the city plants mangroves along the shore at Barangay San Jose, and couples can marry in a mass wedding held for the environment.
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
Third week of June
A week on the Capitol grounds for the founding of the provincial civil government: a parade of floats and street dances, then contests, concerts and huts where far towns sell their crafts, cashews and delicacies.
Puerto Princesa
Most of the city is forest, from the mountains down to the bays.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
The Underground River
Lamplight on the ribbed limestone walls of the river cave.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
Puerto Princesa
A long sandbar and mangrove islets in a calm bay.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
Puerto Princesa
A lone boat between forested banks at the end of the day.
City of Puerto Princesa · puertoprincesa.ph
Leg six
Rice plains, the Victoria Peaks, the Tabon Caves and the end of the west-coast road.
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Jules Bassoleil · Unsplash License
Landfall 16 / 24Bayan ng Aborlan9.44° N, 118.55° E
A quiet plain between the Sulu Sea and the mountains, where Tagbanwa heritage is part of daily life.
The story
Aborlan began as a Tagbanwa reservation and became a municipality in 1949. It lies 68 km south of Puerto Princesa.
In July 2026 the Ibato-Iraan small reservoir, reported as Palawan’s largest irrigation project, was inaugurated here for its farmers.
Best of Aborlan
Rommel Paras · Unsplash License
A forest stream of tiered pools, where the Tagbanwa community hosts cultural performances.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
A west-coast road under leaning coconut palms.
USAID Biodiversity & Forestry · Public domain
A small museum keeping Tagbanwa, Pala’wan and Batak heritage; artisans nearby weave rattan and pandan.
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
Full moon of December
A Tagbanwa ritual of thanks for the harvest and of healing for the sick.
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
Third week of January, at full moon
Ritual dances of the Tagbanwa and the Batak after Pagdiwata. The Batak dance in woven dress to drive away evil spirits.
Geio Tischler · Unsplash License
Landfall 17 / 24Bayan ng Narra9.27° N, 118.40° E
Rice country under the Victoria Peaks, and the last great flock of the katala.
The story
Narra is both the national tree and an acronym: the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration, which brought landless settlers from Luzon from 1954.
On Mount Victoria, a pitcher plant collected in 2007 was named after Sir David Attenborough.
Best of Narra
Ranieljosecastaneda · CC BY-SA 4.0
A flat coral island ringed by mangroves, holding the largest wild population of the Philippine cockatoo. Protected since 2006.
Jimaggro · CC BY-SA 4.0
The most accessible of Narra’s falls, 20 to 30 minutes from the town centre.
sussexbirder · CC BY 2.0
Twin peaks called the Teeth, on the same ultramafic range as Mantalingahan.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
A semi-private resort island in Barangay Panacan, named for its fine sand.
Travel Palawan · travel-palawan.com
Last week of October
Once the Anihan Festival. The “Rice Granary of Palawan” gives thanks for the harvest with street dances, parades and its rice and farm produce.
Elaine Ore · Unsplash License
Landfall 18 / 24Bayan ng Quezon9.24° N, 117.99° E
The town once called Tabon, where the oldest known people of the Philippines were found.
The story
Quezon is a west-coast town about three hours by road from Puerto Princesa. At Lipuun Point, the Tabon Caves are called the country’s cradle of civilisation.
The National Museum opened the Tabon Caves Museum at the site on 1 February 2024.
Best of Quezon
Alexcooper1 · CC BY-SA 3.0
A cave complex at Lipuun Point: 215 caves known, 29 fully explored, seven open to the public.
Gary Todd · CC0
A burial jar of 890–710 BC from Manunggul Cave; two figures in a boat on its lid carry a soul to the afterlife. Now in Manila.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
Falls in Barangay Maasin, a short ride and a 20-minute hike from the highway.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Islands off the coast for a day of island-hopping.
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Landfall 19 / 24Bayan ng Rizal9.03° N, 117.64° E
The end of the west-coast road, below the highest mountain on Palawan.
The story
Rizal began as the town of Marcos at Tarumpitao Point and was renamed by law. It is 203 km from Puerto Princesa.
In the Singnapan Valley live the Tau’t Bato; the valley’s charcoal drawings are on UNESCO’s Tentative List. Visit only with a guide and the community’s permission.
Best of Rizal
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The highest point on Palawan, 2,085 m, inside a protected landscape of 120,457 hectares.
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Where the town began, and its favourite place to watch the sun go down.
P1898 · CC BY 4.0
Baskets and crafts made by weavers of Punta Baja and Candawaga.
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Inner tubes on a fast, clear turquoise river.
Shared publicly on Facebook · Rizal, Palawan public posts
Coconut palms running down to long, quiet beaches.
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Rice fields at the foot of the forest and the range.
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Rambutan season
A festival of the town’s rambutan harvest, held for the second time in 2026.
Leg seven
Market towns, the mainland’s last cape, and islands facing Borneo.
Mario von Rotz · Unsplash License
Jared Rice · Unsplash License
Landfall 20 / 24Bayan ng Sofronio Española8.96° N, 117.99° E
Palawan’s newest town, a farming coast on the Sulu Sea.
The story
Sofronio Española was formed from nine barangays of Brooke’s Point and named after a former Palawan congressman. Its Barangay Abo-Abo is one of the earliest Tausug settlements on Palawan.
Best of Sofronio Española
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
The town seat, its plaza and the Sto. Niño parish, where the January fiesta fills the nights.
P1898 · CC BY 4.0
Hand-carved blades by a Pala’wan carver of Sofronio Española.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Landfall 21 / 24Bayan ng Brooke’s Point8.77° N, 117.84° E
The south’s market and port town, watered by mountain rivers.
The story
Brooke’s Point, first called Bonbon, is an agricultural centre with the Mantalingahan range for a skyline.
In 1934 a giant pearl, once thought the largest in the world, was found in its waters.
Best of Brooke’s Point
Johann Ocampo · Unsplash License
A river that drops about 50 m into a pool, with hot springs a few metres away.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
A calm fall in the Pala’wan ancestral domain, kept by a community that has pledged sustainable tourism.
About 30 minutes from town
P1898 · CC BY 4.0
Tingkep baskets woven by Pala’wan weavers.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
Landfall 22 / 24Bayan ng Bataraza8.67° N, 117.63° E
The southern tip of the mainland: Molbog and Pala’wan homeland, pineapple fields, Cape Buliluyan.
The story
Bataraza is named after Datu Bataraza Narrazid and is the second most populous town in the province. Boats for Balabac leave from Buliluyan.
Best of Bataraza
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
An island bird sanctuary.
About two hours by boat from the Bataraza pier
Rommel Paras · Unsplash License
A tall waterfall in the south of the town.
Michael Maga-ao · Unsplash License
A three-storey pineapple of metal and glass at the trade centre in Barangay Bulalacao.
Mario von Rotz · Unsplash License
Landfall 23 / 24Bayan ng Balabac7.99° N, 117.06° E
About 36 islands at the very end of Palawan, facing Borneo across the strait.
The story
Balabac is the homeland of the Molbog. The pilandok, the Philippine mouse-deer, lives here and on nearby Bugsuk and Ramos, nowhere else.
Its sandbars include the third and fourth longest in the Philippines.
Best of Balabac
Hanna Zapant · CC BY-SA 4.0
Turquoise shallows and coral, privately owned; visits need arranging ahead.
Ervin Malicdem · CC BY-SA 4.0
A wide sandbar on the shallow south side of Candaraman Island.
DarwinNaredo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Clear water and an old boat resting in the shallows.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
White sand and leaning palms on the outer islands.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
A Spanish-era first-order light, lit in 1892, guarding the Balabac Strait.
Leg eight
The last landfall, across the open sea.
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Cris Tagupa · Unsplash License
Landfall 24 / 24Bayan ng Kalayaan11.05° N, 114.29° E
One barangay on Pag-asa Island, about 500 km west of Puerto Princesa.
The story
Kalayaan is the smallest municipality in the Philippines by population. Its seat, Pag-asa Island, has been open to civilian settlement since 2002, with a school, a clinic, an airstrip and a coast guard station.
The Spratly Islands are claimed in whole or in part by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Best of Kalayaan
Department of National Defense of the Philippines · Public domain
Thirty-seven hectares, the second-largest natural island in the Spratlys and the town’s seat.
Senator Kiko Pangilinan · Public domain
Since April 2026, small patriotic tours have carried visitors out to Pag-asa.
In June the whole province meets in Puerto Princesa for Baragatan sa Palawan, from the Cuyonon bagat, “to meet”. It marks the founding of the civil government on 23 June 1902: a trade fair with a booth for every town, a float parade, and the Saraotan sa Dalan street dance.
The west coast has a pronounced dry season from November to April; the east is milder. Typhoons are rarer here than in the east of the country, but Haiyan (2013) and Odette (2021) both made landfall.
Services, offices and hotlines of the Provincial Government. Concept only: for transactions, use palawan.gov.ph.
Weather and sea, now
Pick a town.
Provincial Capitol
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Assumed Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 5:00, the standard government schedule. The province doesn’t publish its hours; please confirm.
Office finder
Town finder
Hotlines
As published on palawan.gov.ph. Each town also has an MDRRMO line.
The building
Filipinayzd · CC BY-SA 4.0
Address from third-party listings, unconfirmed. The Capitol is being renovated to preserve its history.
Governor’s corner
Governor of Palawan since 30 June 2025, with Vice Governor Leoncio N. Ola presiding over the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
This corner is where the Governor’s messages and programmes would live. In this concept it holds only what is on the public record.
News from the province
The Provincial ASF Task Force, led by the Provincial Veterinary Office, culled 344 pigs in Barangay Concepcion after African swine fever was confirmed.
The Provincial DRRM Council closed National Disaster Resilience Month by recognising its partners.
A three-day YAKAP outreach gave consultations to more than 500 residents and dental care to 124.
“Makukulay na Yaman, Iisang Palawan”: the province’s 124th founding anniversary.
Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Twenty-four landfalls, and still more islands than anyone has counted. Come back.
Jarno Colijn · Unsplash License