Palawan Island in the Philippines is often referred to as paradise for good reason. In this 48-hour adventure, the Passport Couple take you on a tour of two of the island’s most stunning natural attractions – the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and Nacpan Beach in El Nido.
The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is one of the longest underground rivers in the world and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Passport Couple takes you through their entire experience, from renting a motorbike to navigating the boat tour and witnessing the beautiful cathedral-like cave room inside the river.
They also take you on a journey to Nacpan Beach, a picture-perfect beach known for its pristine white sand and crystal-clear waters. The couple showcases the local atmosphere, from the friendly locals to the fresh juice stands along the way.
Throughout the video, the Passport Couple captures both the beauty of Palawan Island and the challenges that can come with exploring such a remote and stunning location. As they navigate transportation and tours, their candid reactions and experiences provide an authentic and immersive look at the island.
For travelers seeking a glimpse into the natural wonders of Palawan Island and the adventure that comes with exploring it, this video provides an excellent overview and firsthand account of what to expect during a visit to this breathtaking destination.
Watch the video by The Passport Couple
Over the next 48 hours, we’re exploring the beautiful Palawan Island. And let me tell you, it was an adventure. Wow. my gosh. Do I look like a mess? Definitely. But it was so worth it. This is amazing. We stayed in a not so private private bungalow with a breathtaking view,
Which just happened to be near one of the longest underwater rivers in the world. I’m scared. Aw. Baby, it’s okay. And we even got a taste of the island’s transportation. I think we got off at the right spot as we set off to enjoy the absolute paradise that is El Nido.
And that is the absolutely ridiculous view from our little bamboo bungalow eco hotel that we’re staying at. We’re going to one of the new seven natural Wonders of the World today, and we’re trying to beat the crowd. Perfect thank you.. We just rented a motorbike for the day
To see the underground river and the motorbike we rented has no gas. We haven’t seen any gas yet and we just drove through town No gas stations, no little side stands with bottles of gas. So I don’t know what we’re going to do Can you help? Do you know where there’s gas?
We need gas. Sorry. Coastin’ down hill. How many liters do you want? How many? Two. We got gas. Luckily, a nice Filipino man guided us all the way down to the gas station, which we never would have found. Really appreciate it. One liter of gas.
We should be good for the day hopefully. Or two, yepp two. Thank you. The people are always my favorite reason we travel. I love them. Between Buena Vista, where we’re staying and Sabang right now. The roads are excellent. Like really, really in good shape. It was just beautiful.
There’s all these little small towns. There’s really cute kids and dogs and chickens and goats. A turkey. I saw a turkey! Good morning. Here’s you receipt, ma’am sir. Thank you. You can proceed to the dispatching area. Ok. Great. Thank you.
We had to deal with ten different people in order to just get in the one boat and like eight different papers but got it. I think Hey, you guys Hello. Good morning. Jim? Yes. Alicia. Same boat going back at the end. Okay. Okay. It’s so beautiful. Woah!
We’re on land now, I think part one of the boat journey is over. We’re actually heading into the underground river right now, and we saw the plaque that they got for being the new seventh Natural Wonder. And he grabbed helmets. I didn’t know we’d have to wear helmets today.
We got a private boat and we have audio guides, audio guide was required to It wasn’t an option like that. We added on. It’s just part of the entire package that they require you to have. Okay, again. Good morning. You are all my special guests. Thank you. Inside the cave, no sleeping.
And if you look up, don’t forget to close your mouth. Okay. Good luck to our tour.. See you tomorrow. We can already see the bats flying around. my God. They make such interesting noises. The Puerto Princesa Underground River is one of the longest underground rivers in the world,
Just recently surpassed by the one in the Yucatan, which we’ve actually seen. But it’s an UNESCO World Heritage site, one of the new wonders of the world. It’s really spectacular. And I just want to cry the whole time, I feel like they’re just going to run into me.
There’s birds and bats mostly at the entrance because it’s easy to fly in and out. So I’m hoping the farther we get in, the less bats there will be. They’re playing Batman on the audio guide. So I think it’s going to be a minute.
Someone told us a long time ago, like don’t get bit by a bat because you can’t feel it and they have rabies. So I’m a little nervous. Oh, my God. I’m freaking out. What happened? It was so close to me. I could feel the wind. my gosh.
I’m literally going to start crying. I’m scared It’s okay. So it’s really quiet in here. We just entered into the cathedral, and it is this huge cave room. It really feels like we’re in a cathedral in Europe. they have, like, a Virgin Mary statue, a candle statue.
Just as it’s like using your imagination to make the stalagmites and stalagtites different. So this is a very spiritual experience. They say it’s like holy water falling on you We came early enough that it’s like by ourselves, basically we’ve only seen two other boats. so dark, so quiet, really beautiful in here.
Literally, you just saw Jesus’s face. Mother Nature is the best artists and architecture, that’s what our guide just said. it’s so true. He literally was like Jesus’s face. That was so crazy. Or that Over there, is the front of the ship Titantic. Yeah, That was so good
Thank you for coming and have a good day to all. Are you enjoyed we enjoyed it very much. Thank you. You really get used to the darkness. It’s very bright right now, but I’m so glad we came early when we did because we’re sitting in a boat with two people
And as we’re seeing all of the boats going and now they’re they’re full ten people each. So we got really lucky. So I’m very grateful for that. Okay, Bye. Thank you. So care here. Thank you. yeah. Maybe I should keep it on. Yeah, you almost hit that tree. That was amazing.
My gosh. Do I look like a mess? Definitely. Like 110%. Completely A few. I feel like one. You look like A soccer mom with her first day on the job, We’re heading back to the boat. There’s actually, we did the regular tour. It’s like, 45 minutes.
But as you get inside, I think towards the end, they offer you to go even farther. It’s a special permit. It’s like $1,000 pesos per person or something like that. And it turns into a three hour tour. But 45 minutes was perfect for us, and Sun has officially come out beautiful now.
You whacked your head too! That was awesome though. I was honestly very scared at the beginning and I almost cried because I was scared of the bats. But I came around. I wasn’t scared when we left. Good job. Thanks. Facing your fears. Yeah, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Cash in the Philippines so difficult. Hi ma’am, fresh juice? Hi yeah, can I get a juice? Banana, please? Yeah. No sugar. All right. Well, what do you want? A banana? It’s so good. Banana? Here, sir. Thank you so much. You’re so sweet. Thank you.
Before we even got on the boat, we met this really sweet lady, and she was telling me about one of the mountains nearby. That’s a male mountain that you can see the face with the eyes, the nose and the beer belly. I can relate to that. So we stopped here.
At her stand afterwards got our favorite shakes in Southeast Asia, banana shakes and no sugar. And I would just watch on the boats, take off with a lot more passengers than we saw this morning. The next day. We’re going to give a quick tour of our bamboo bungalow slash eco hotel.
I think that both of us weren’t prepared for what we had booked. Actually, Nate saw a review that said it was like glamping and that is very accurate. There’s no AC, but they do have a fan and we’re basically outdoors with
How much space is left between the wall and the roof and between the wall flats. But it’s all homemade, all made of bamboo and is a really a large space for just the two of us. We have three beds, but we just use like a couch and a table instead.
We still have electricity inside, so we’re able to charge everything. It’s not as like off the grid as it looks, but this is where we spent most of our time in this outdoor area. There’s an amazing breeze from the ocean.
It’s in the shade most of the day and it’s just really like cozy, comfy out here. Like even these windows don’t close all the way. Even when they’re closed, they are not all the way closed. So there’s quite a few opportunities for bugs, creatures,
The like to get in and you don’t have any like crazy weird experiences though. That does not mean that Alicia wasn’t very squeamish and just like put my hand on her in bed to just like, waken her slightly and she freaked out. She thought something was crawling on her.
It was pretty hilarious. It happened two more times. on accident. There is an en suite bathroom. It’s not directly connected to the bedroom, so you do have to go outside to get to it. But it is your own private bathroom with running water and a flushing
Toilet and a full shower where they provide soap and towels. There’s not a ton of privacy because the wall doesn’t go all the way to the top. So and I think that’s about it. Basically, you don’t spend a lot of time inside the bungalow just to sleep.
You spend all your time outside or at the amazing pool. The view here is definitely why you pay to stay. But as a bonus, every once in a while we catch these places with just amazing food. And this is one of those places. Everything we had was just absolutely delicious.
It took a while, but I think it’s because everything was just homemade and I wish we could eat here longer since we only have 48 hours on Palawan Island and it’s huge. There’s so much to see. We got to rush off to our next city. We got dropped off
Somewhere that looks like a bus stop, not like a bus station. So we really don’t know how to get on one of these shuttles. But the guy who drops us off here seems to be sticking around, so hopefully he’ll help us. Otherwise, we’re definitely lost. Right now.
Getting around in the Philippines has been a struggle. Do you know what time they come back? What time? They basically just said to wait. It should be here in 30 minutes, I think. 40 minutes later. I think you’re the one who making reservation. For two people? Yeah, that’s us? Okay.
Just wait here. Still don’t know what’s happening. Didn’t say our names or anything, but I guess we’re the only two sitting here. So we’re going. That’s the important part. looks like storage is pretty tight already. We made it. That’s what’s important. We’ve had a lot of plans
Change since we’ve been in Palawan, so. And now we don’t have a hotel for tonight. I’m trying to find it while we have two bars of data. Fortunately, we were able to book our hotel, made a quick pit stop and eat some pizza, fed the dogs
The rest and crossed our fingers one more time. I think we got off at the right spot. The next day All right. We are on one of the main streets here in El Nino with all the restaurants, all the shops. But it’s 10:00 in the morning. So it’s very quiet
Because everybody’s out on their tours, which we’ll be doing in our next video. But today we’re picking up a motorbike, so we get to head to what is promised to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Asia. I love how easy it is to rent motorbikes sometimes.
We just left one of our IDs doesn’t even have to be our passport, which we’re okay with. And $500 pesos and we’re on the road. Let’s go explore it. is. So pretty. Yes. This is why we came to the Philippines. This is amazing.
One thing I love too, about traveling by motorbike is you can get farther away from all the tourist stuff. Because I know this beach. I’ll get busier as the day goes on, but it’s very quiet compared to what I’m sure the beaches closer to our hotel looks like
This is one of the most beautiful beaches in Asia and in the world. And in the 5 seconds we’ve been here. I think I agree. Should we get chairs? How much for these? 500 pesos, ma’am. Do you know how much this would be in the US? Probably like $100.
These are actually like the nicest chairs we’ve ever rented by far and away. They’re super comfortable. Usually the umbrellas are just like rust covered and you don’t know when they’re just going to snap into to house like hooks to hang stuff that has like shade for your face.
It’s pretty well spaced out from the next couple of chairs. You know, sometimes they’re like right on top of you. Look at how big this is! I’ve never seen this. It’s a liter of beer, They’re ice cold. That’s the most important thing. Okay. I’m really surprised.
Honestly, the price for beer is exactly the same on this insanely beautiful beach as it is in most restaurants. We’ve been to all over $100 pesos at our hotel. It’s 80 here on the beach. That’s crazy. All right, we got lunch.
Fortunately, on this beach, everything is within about a 20 foot walking distance. So we got a burger and chicken sandwich, all for, like, $12. So I don’t really think you can beat that, Especially in the US. It’s actually pretty good. I actually took the time to try the bun at step
I don’t expect from a beach restaurant. it’s not bad. Right. It’s good bread. The bread in El Nido has been better than any other place we’ve been in the Philippines. Doesn’t like the vegetables. We bought that water dish in Thailand before we came here.
This is the first time we’ve actually got to use it. He is totally indifferent. Couldn’t care less. Maybe he’ll figure it out. Good job. finally getting out of our chairs. to actually walk the beach. It was a tough decision because it’s just so comfortable sitting there. What does this say?
Dave is 22 today. Hey! Happy Birthday! It’s definitely gotten busier since this morning when we got here. But you don’t have to walk far to basically get the whole beach to yourself again. Come on, you can don’t think about it. Five, four, three, two, one. Go. Just get up there. Yes, yes.
How do I turn around? I don’t know. You got it? No. I can’t do it, but I see people climbing the palm trees and they make it look so easy They’re just like… Not you. Right now my frickin feet are burning up. We’ve seen some beautiful beaches,
Some beautiful water, and I think this might be number one. It’s massive. The sand is soft. There’s like, no, no trash. There’s nature lining up against the back of the sand. The water is so clear and shallow and the waves aren’t bad. It’s sunny, there’s islands. There’s literally nothing wrong with it.
This beach is supposed to be fantastic for sunset, so we’re just going to hang out and enjoy it. We’ve been… OW. that was a really hard coconut. damn you there has been very loud thunder and I don’t. And this enormous cloud has formed.
I don’t want to leave because the sun’s about to set we have like an hour, but I don’t want to rain in a 45 minute drive. That’s all we got. If it does rain Are you getting itchy? I am itchy. you’re so cute.
We were going to get a beer and watch the sunset. But all the places are just closed and we didn’t even notice. So strange. There’s literally more people here than they have been all day now. Seems to be coming this way. Ummm yeah. Spend the day at Nacpan Beach
Look at the sunset. We’re both exhausted after the day on the beach. So we got pizza and it looks so good. It’s Woodfired pizza here at Basil. And I’m really happy with my choice. Do you have Wi-Fi? Not yet. We have. Hold on.
Do we have Wi-Fi? Not yet. So he said Talk to you later He found a toy. What is it? Oh, it’s a pad?
Video “48 Hours on PALAWAN ISLAND, PHILIPPINES (aka paradise)” was uploaded on 12/23/2023. Watch all the latest Videos by The Passport Couple on Gretopia