By Linda Gocon
July, 2026 – El Nido is a birding destination I never thought I’d ever get to because it’s so hard to reach – or so I thought. When I saw on Facebook that Carmen Bonavente, a former WBCP member, was posting bird photos from El Nido, I asked her how she got there. I knew you could take a fast craft from Coron, but it takes around 4 hours. I also knew you could fly to Cebu, Boracay, Tagbilaran or Busuanga and get a connecting flight, but that also takes hours. The cheapest but longest route is to fly to Puerto Princesa and then take the 5-6 hour van ride. But, Carmen told me to just take a taxi to Trinoma and get the P2P bus (Point to Point) that leaves almost every hour going to Clark Airport because Cebu Pacific has a direct flight to El Nido. So, that’s what I did. I caught the 7am bus to Clark and flew out at 11:20 am landing at the Lio Airport at around 12:30 pm and then took a trike to my hotel. Here are some things I learned from my 4-night stay in El Nido in July, 2026 that might help other birders who have never been there.
It costs P200 for the trike from the airport to the Villa Libertad area where I stayed at the Namal Apartelle (a trike from the airport to the town center costs P300). I booked on Agoda and chose the Namal Apartelle because it was near the Lio Forest. The rates were low and you got free use of a scooter (I didn’t use it), free breakfast (Filipino and Western options), a daily 30-minute massage (the best!), access to a gym and a swimming pool. My King Studio came with a kitchenette plus a table with chairs, a place to hang clothes and a clothes rack outside the door to hang swimsuits or wet towels on. It also had a water filter because the tap water all over Palawan is contaminated. The bathroom was complete with toiletries and hot water. To get to the restaurant and pool, you had to walk down the road where they have built an annex, the Namal Resort.
Carmen and Ed Bonavente were ending their time there and were staying at the El Nido Garden Resort in the town proper, but they had a car so could easily get around. That first afternoon, Carmen met me at the Kalye Artisano near the Lio Estate and guided me down Kalye Katinlo to the Lio Pond and all the way to the end of Kalye Katinlo past the road leading to the Dalimatan Beach. She said she did this walk often by herself and that it was perfectly safe. We racked up quite a list including a Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, White-vented Shama, Lovely Sunbird, Green Imperial Pigeon, Greater Coucal, Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Palawan Fairy-bluebird, Yellow-throated Leafbird, Common Iora, and a perched Crested Goshawk. Ed met up with us at Lio Beach to catch the sunset, and we had supper together at their favorite Italian cafe, the Clay Kitchen Bistro.The wood-fired pizza was fabulous!
My daily routine followed the same pattern, leaving the Namal Apartelle at 6am and birding in the Lio Forest until around 9:15 when I would go back and have breakfast (breakfast is from 7:30-10:00), take a nap, have my daily massage and then go back to the Lio Forest. The locals are super friendly and honest. I tried to give P100 to a trike driver I took from Kalye Katinlo to my hotel the 1st morning, but he said it was only P50. On the 2nd afternoon, my trike driver named Danny dropped me off at Kalye Katinlo/corner of road to Dalimatan Beach and asked if I’d like him to come back and get me. He became my personal trike driver for the rest of my stay..
Day 2 – Two Wandering Whistling Ducks were swimming in Lio Pond and a Palawan Hornbill flew over. At the end of Kalye Katinlo, the highlights were 2 Spot-throated Flamebacks, a Venriloquial Oriole, and a White-vented Shama.
For dinner that night, Ed and Carmen took me to the Big Bad Thai Restaurant in town, and then we got a gelato across the street at Gusto Gelato + Bistro. I highly recommend both!
Day 3 – Two Chestnut-breasted Malkohas perched on a bare tree along with several Green Imperial Pigeons and a couple of Ashy Drongos.
On the road leading to the Dalimatan Beach, a local guy on a motorbike passed me and told me he had just seen a Labuyo (Red Junglefowl) 50 meters further around a bend, so I walked down there. I could hear it crowing in the forest, but it was too far to spot. I continued on to the Dalimatan Beach and enjoyed seeing the offshore islands with their limestone cliffs. A plane took off from the Lio Airport and flew north along the coast. It was so serene and peaceful.
Day 4 – Danny picked me up and drove me to the town where I joined an island hopping group. At one of the islands, I was snorkling and saw some white terns with black on their heads screeching up on the rocks (Black-naped Terns?) Thinking that there must be nests up there, I quickly swam away. Do these terns breed here?
Day 5 – Danny came promptly at 6am and dropped me off again in the Dalimatan area where I birded until he came back at 9:15. While walking back to our meet-up point, I casually looked into the forest and saw something orange. I thought it must be a leaf, but was thinking “Could it be???” And it was! On a horizontal branch deep inside the forest was perched a Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher! It was preening and sat there for several minutes.
I went back to Namal for breakfast and saw 5 Green Imperial Pigeons in a tree behind the resort. Danny came back to take me to the airport where I flew back to Clark and took the P2P bus back to Trinoma and then caught a Grab home. It was a full and wonderful trip!
General Information
Check here for the P2P Bus Schedule from Trinoma to Clark and back.
P200 is the trike rate from the Lio Airport to Namal Apartelle in Villa Libertad. Trike rates are higher around the airport in the Lio Estate. One evening, I walked back from Lio Beach to Namal and it took around 35 minutes.
P50 is the trike rate from Villa Libertad to the Dalimatan Beach area.
P300 is the trike rate to town.
Danny Amilhamja, my trike driver, is on Messenger if you want to hire him.
Marjun, Carmen’s inaanak sa kasal (godson) owns the Marjun El Nido Island Hopping Company: Isla Adventure El Nido. He organized my island hopping trip and gave me a discount. He can be contacted via WhatsApp 09604291177.
Restaurants
- Daanan Cafe is two doors up from the Namal Apartelle and next to the Lio Lio Suites. It is owned and run by a Michelin-awarded French chef married to a Filipina. I felt transported to France with my smoked tuna with capers and olives. It is not a big place with only a couple of small tables outside and a bar counter inside, but the food is amazing. They also have a fine dining place in town called Taas, but it’s much more expensive.
- The Namal Resort Restaurant serves meals with Mediterranean and Filipino cuisines. I had the Greek salad with feta cheese which was really good. They also have hummus with pita bread, etc.
- The Clay Kitchen Bistro at Lio Beach has Italian cuisine with wood-fired pizzas; highly recommended.
- The Big Bad Thai Restaurant in town has great authentic Thai food and they will make it non-spicy if you want.
- Gusto Gelato + Bistro – has great gelato.
My eBird checklists:
July 18 afternoon – with Carmen at the Lio Pond and Kalye Katinlo https://ebird.org/checklist/S373433057
July 19 morning – Lio Pond https://ebird.org/checklist/S373727661
July 19 morning – Kalye Katinlo https://ebird.org/checklist/S373743160
July 19 afternoon – Kalye Katinlo https://ebird.org/checklist/S373818459
July 20 morning – Kalye Katinlo and Dalimatan Beach https://ebird.org/checklist/S374200402
July 22 morning – Kalye Katinlo https://ebird.org/checklist/S374906764