Ultimate El Nido Tour A Island Hopping Day Trip Itinerary

Last Updated on 22nd July 2023

This post about the El Nido Tour A island hopping day trip contains affiliate links.

If you’ve been keeping up with my other Philippines blog posts, you’ll know that El Nido was a place that I’d wanted to visit for years, ever since I started writing about it for a freelance travel client.

So when the time came to head to Palawan and hang out in El Nido for a few days, we were so excited to book a boat trip on the famous ‘Tour A’ in El Nido.

Famed for being the tour that includes a stop in the stunning Big Lagoon, the El Nido Tour A excursion certainly lived up to my expectations, with a few exceptions.

There are actually multiple tours you can embark on in El Nido, including Tours B, C and D, but as we only did Tour A, I can’t really vouch for the others.

Here’s what we got up to on our El Nido Tour A island hopping day trip; one of the most popular tours in Palawan!

What you need to know about El Nido Tour A

We booked our day trip in El Nido at Big Mike’s Hostel where we were staying a few days before we wanted to go.

As I said in my Coron island hopping tour blog post, you can definitely book the tour just a couple days before you want to go, but I’d recommend giving yourself a good few days, especially during peak season as spots fill up fast.

I think we paid approximately 1,200₱ each (around £18), which is pretty pricey, especially considering we paid less than £10 each for the Coron day tour.

We also had to pay an additional 150₱ each for snorkelling masks and swimming shoes (as there’s lots of coral that you can cut your feet on), and an additional 300₱ for both of us to hire a kayak in the Big Lagoon.

It’s certainly not a cheap day out in the Philippines, but it was something that we’d both wanted to do for numerous years and I would say that it’s worth the money.

The one disappointment I had about the tour however (that we weren’t told about when booking it!), is that Tour A used to visit Secret Lagoon, Small Lagoon and Big Lagoon, whereas now you can only visit one of those places on your tour.

This is because these places get far too overcrowded with tourists so they charge extra to take you there. I didn’t mind too much as we still got to see the Big Lagoon (which is the one place I was desperate to see!), but I was a little annoyed that we weren’t informed about this before we booked the tour!

The boat tour departs at around 9.30am and we were collected from our hostel by a tour guide who took us to the beachfront where we hired our snorkelling gear for the day.

El Nido Tour A includes:

Ticket on the tour boat
Buffet lunch
Drinking water
Lifevest
Entrance fees to the attractions
Licensed tour guide/captain
Tropical fruit

*Snorkelling mask, goggles and fins/swimming shoes can be rented separately for around 150₱ (£2.20).

What to bring with you

Most tours in El Nido include a picnic-style lunch as standard but make sure to check with your tour operator beforehand in case you need to bring food with you.

We were also told that we couldn’t bring our own bottled water as El Nido is trying to cut down on single use plastic (which is great!), but when we got on the boat, everyone else had brought water with them! We were provided with drinking water but it was still in plastic cups and didn’t taste too good…

You’ll definitely need to bring sunscreen with you on the boat tour as you’ll be in and out of the water all day, and even if it seems cloudy, you can definitely still get burnt in the hot Filipino sun!

I’d also recommend bringing a dry bag to keep all your stuff protected and dry throughout the day (we use this one), as well as a GoPro (we have the Hero Black 7) and a protective phone case in case you don’t have waterproof camera gear.

Seven Commandos Beach

The first stop of the day on our island hopping tour in El Nido was the beatific Seven Commandos Beach.

The water here is crystal clear and so blue; it’s absolutely magical!

We spent around 45 minutes at Seven Commandos and we had the chance to explore the white-sand beach, as well as snorkelling in the water right next to the sand. There’s not an awful lot to see while snorkelling here, but it’s still a beautiful place for a swim.

The white-sand beach is lined with towering palm trees that make for a truly beautiful photo opportunity, but unfortunately I left my phone on the boat while we were here so I didn’t get many pictures of the actual beach!

As it was our first stop of the day, the beach wasn’t too crowded yet but there is a constant stream of tourist boats coming in and out; this is something you’ll get used to when going on island hopping tours in the Philippines!

Payong-Payong Beach – El Nido Tour A

Next up we headed to Payong-Payong Beach which is one of the places that the tour guide substituted in instead of the Small Lagoon or Secret Lagoon.

As I mentioned before, we head no major issues with this, it would have just been nice to have been told that we weren’t going everywhere that’s usually listed on Tour A excursions.

We spent another 45 minutes or so snorkelling and swimming near Payong-Payong Beach, however the waves were a little choppy here so make sure you take extra care if this is where you stop on your tour!

Shimizu Island (lunch)

El Nido Tour A Island Hopping Day Trip Shimizu Island

After Payong-Payong Beach, we made our way to Shimizu Island which is another great spot for snorkelling.

The island is covered in spectacular limestone cliffs, which are home to the infamous bird’s nests that are used to make bird’s nest soup (Nido Soup) in the Philippines; it’s quite the delicacy that’s thought to have magical healing powers!

We also stopped for lunch here, however, unlike on our Coron boat tour, we didn’t actually get off the boat to eat; the chef prepared everything on-board and we just ate on the boat!

There was a variety of different foods to enjoy, including a whole (!!) fresh fish, prawns, pork belly, vegetables, rice and an onion soy sauce concoction; it’s not the best meal you’ll ever have, but it’s pretty good considering it’s all cooked on the boat there and then!

There’s also fresh salad too, and a hearty helping of different fruits to choose from afterwards.

Even though I’m not a big fan of salad at all, I really loved how beautifully presented it was; the “El Nido” was carved out of a cucumber!

favourite experiences in the Philippines, El Nido boat trip

I mentioned this in my Coron blog post as well, but Matt is severely allergic to peanuts so we always have to be extra careful when eating out in Asia, especially in places where the language barriers can prove to be a little tricky.

Thankfully the tour guide and chef on the boat were very helpful and assured us that nothing was cooked with or contained nuts. If you do suffer from an allergy, make sure you tell the staff on the boat in advance so you know exactly what you can eat.

Big Lagoon

Our final (and best!) stop of the day was at the Big Lagoon that’s attached to Miniloc Island (Small Lagoon is located adjacent to the Big one, and Secret Lagoon is on the other side of Miniloc Island).

Big Lagoon is a place that I’d wanted to visit for a good few years after researching and writing all about it for a client of mine when I first started freelancing.

As I previously mentioned, the El Nido Tour A used to include stops in both Big and Small Lagoon but recent legislations mean that you can only visit one or the other over the course of one day, and your tour guide must have a permit to allow the boat to park up there.

It’s without a doubt one of the most naturally beautiful places I’ve ever been and it was my favourite experience in the Philippines!

It’s very crowded, no matter what time of year you go, so expect to be surrounded by many other tour boats when you arrive.

The tour boats all park up just outside the entrance to the Lagoon, and then you can rent a kayak to paddle your way right into the Lagoon itself (it cost 300₱ for a two-person kayak which we paid when we got back onto the beachfront in El Nido).

You have to hop out of the main tour boat, into your kayak and then make the short distance from the sea to the entrance of Big Lagoon. You can also choose to just swim and snorkel there but be prepared for quite a swim as it’s a decent enough distance between the boats and the entrance!

Once inside, you’ll be absolutely blown away by how spectacular it is; I sure was!

Big Lagoon is surrounded by towering limestone cliffs, covered with trees, plants and the Philippine-famous bird’s nests!

The water is also remarkably blue and clear and many people enjoy the opportunity to snorkel in the entrance. If you do decide to snorkel, watch out for sea urchins and bits of coral lurking underneath the surface!

It’s also a rule that you must wear your life jacket in the Big Lagoon, whether you’re swimming, snorkelling or just kayaking, however I’m not sure how strictly enforced that rule is as we saw plenty of people without life jackets!

We spent an hour or so kayaking around the Lagoon and I got neck ache from constantly straining to look up at the magnificent cliffs and incredible surroundings!

If there’s one place that you must visit in Palawan, I would definitely say it’s the Big Lagoon.

Some people aren’t as keen on it as it can get very busy, particularly in the entrance, but once you go through and come out into the massive Lagoon itself, you’ll have ample room to cruise around at your own leisurely pace!

Check out the other El Nido Island Hopping tours! (aff links)

As I said in the intro of this post, there are numerous other day tours you can enjoy from El Nido that will take you to various other islands and top snorkelling spots in the region!

Check them out below!

It’s safe to say that the boat trip we did in El Nido was an experience I’ll never forget and while I actually think I might prefer the Coron tour, the opportunity to kayak in the Big Lagoon was one of my top highlights of travelling so far!

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Pin for later – El Nido Tour A Island Hopping

Have you ever been to the Philippines? Is El Nido somewhere you’d like to visit one day? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @imjustagirl_16.