DIY: Coron Tour

A Practical Travel Guide to Coron, Palawan

1. Cebu Pacific always seems to have a seat sale. travel Date start June to December (low season) only until sold out. for more info pls visit their website or like their fanpage for promo updates. http://www.cebupacificair.com

2. Skyjet Airlines currently has a seat sale From Manila to Coron for flights travel date January 2016 - to February 29, 2016. (sale ends Dec. 31, 2015) http://skyjetair.com (my fare for this trip 560 pesos two way) with snacks and wine

3. PAL - regular rates http://www.philippineairlines.com/

Good to know about Coron

Coron is located in northern Palawan on Busuanga Island and is the largest town on the island. In 2010 Coron counted 42,941 inhabitants. The town is subdivided in 23 barangays.

Tourists stay in Coron town mostly to start there diving trips to Coron bay to see one of the WWII Japanese ship wrecks which have been sunk by American navy bombings on September 24, 1944.

All year round plenty of divers go there to dive these amazing huge ships.
Despite the great diving especially for wreck lovers, Coron town does not have much to offer. It seems pretty grey and boring and you’re probably not going to stay an extra day if you have finished your dives.

How to Get to Coron From Manila and Other Places

Airlines
Cebu Pacific – Several daily flights from Manila.
Philippine Airlines – Several daily flights from Manila.
SkyJet Airlines – Boutique airlines with one flight from Manila every day.
Air Juan Airline – Small 9 seat charter airline that flies between Coron and Boracay (Tuesday & Saturday) and Coron – Puerto Princesa (Thursday & Sunday). The 45 minute flight costs from P3,499 each way.

Schedules subject to change.
When you fly out of Coron you’ll have to pay an airport departure tax of 150 pesos.

Busuanga, Francisco B. Reyes airport

WHERE TO STAY

Coron Palawan Hotels

There are many places to stay in town from cheap backpacker’s hostels (Coron Backpackers Guesthouse( 500 solo backpacker) 

Patrik & Tezz Guesthouse (500 solo backpacker)- http://www.coron.ph/

http://www.coron.ph/accommodation.html

 4 star hotels (Corto del Mar Hotel) with pools. It’s on the outlying islands where you’ll find the 5 star resorts with beaches and amenities you’d expect from a high price tag. I like using a multi-search website like HotelsCombined to book and compare prices. It saves you a lot of time and a little money. I usually also check with Tripadvisor for their reviews.

If you go during high season or the holidays (Christmas, Chinese New Year or Easter) make sure you book a place way ahead of time especially if you’re set on a specific accommodation that’s popular. For example, in town, Coron Ecolodge is probably the best value for the budget traveller and with only 22 rooms gets fully booked often. A few times I tried to book a hotel directly through their website but there were no rooms available. I then tried a third party website and I was able to book a room. I don’t know why that happens but it does. You can book Coron Ecolodge through HotelsCombined.com

·         Coron Tour Island Hopping A Tour (650/pax) 6-10 pax

- Seat-in Coach 

·         Tour Highlights include Kayangan Lake, Atwayan Beach, Blue Lagoon, Quin Reef, Coral      Garden and CYC Beach 

·         Lunch during the island tour 

·         Inclusive of entrance fees

·         Travel over the waters of Coron on a licensed boat

Ciudad de Zamboanga (Zamboanga City)

Zamboanga City cheap accommodation - Atilano compound

How to get there? If you're arriving from the Zamboanga City airport, just walk up to the airport's gate and look for a jeepney with the signboard "CANELAR". Tell the driver that you are going to Atilano compound or Gerry's Grill in Mayor Jaldon street. The fare is 7 pesos each person and travel time is about 15 minutes. You can also take a tricycle from the airport but prepare to pay a "special-ride" fare which of course is more expensive than taking the jeepney. You can ask the jeepney driver to drop you off at the Atilano compound. You can also stay at the right side of the jeepney (facing the driver) and look for Gerry's Grill Restaurant at the right side of the road and don't forget to knock on the jeepney's ceiling when you alight - all this time I thought you have to yell PARA for the driver to stop because their main dialect is Chavacano which is practically a Spanish-based language. When you're already at the restaurant, just go straight the road. At the end of the road you have to turn right and you will see the cluster of inns and pension houses around the area. For visual learners check this out:

ride a Canelar-bound jeepney from the airport

pay 7 pesos each person

alight on this street right beside the restaurant

go straight ahead

turn right at the end of the road

and there you will see the cluster of pension houses
There are about 5 pension houses in that area and almost all of them offer cheap rates for either 12-hour or 24-hour stay. There's the N. Atilano New Pension House, Chang-V Atilano Pension House, Atilano New Pension House, KNC Atilano Pension House and Casa Don Atilano. I noticed that all of those are bearing "Atilano" on their names only to find out that it was a surname of a former mayor in the city.

N. Atilano New Pension house

Chang-V Atilano Pension House

Atilano New Pension House

KNC Atilano Pension House

We checked out all the pension houses and we ended up with Casa Don Atilano to be our temporary refuge for 3 days. We booked an Aircon room for 2 nights for 600 pesos per night. The room that was assigned to us was huge. I think it's really meant for a family. There's a double bed on one side and a single bed on the other side. There were also two bathrooms in the room - funny, I know! It made us scram to choose our "own" bathroom (which is great because we sometimes fight about it when we travel). We also had a TV in that same room but the room was really huge for the two of us. I still can't get over with the size of the room. 

the Aircon rooms

our room is on the rightmost side of the photo

double bed/ TV/ Aircon/ bathroom

some kind of a kitchen with a sink/ two more doors/ mirror/ tables and a space

single bed and J's bathroom

my bathroom

What I love about Casa Don Atilano is that their pension house is a bungalow-type and the location is just perfect. It is far from the downtown and there's this feeling that you are just at home in your own neighborhood. Also, you can ask for a free hot drinking water anytime for free (even at wee hours of night, the thermos pot is just on the front desk). 

What I don't like about the place is the water supply. They turn it off sometimes and when we needed to take a shower one night, we can't seem to figure out where to go to ask for a help because there's no one in the front desk. Good thing we stocked up some water in both bathrooms. The next day we even have to ask them for the water supply in our room - they might have forgotten that they have guests because we were the only ones who were occupying the pension house. 

Going back to the airport from Casa Don Atilano pension house you just need to go to the main highway and wait for a jeepney with the signboard "AIRPORT". Hop on the jeepney and pay 7 pesos each person and within 15 minutes, you'll find yourself in the most visually and aesthetically appealing terminal in the Philippines. 

Philippines Perlas ng Silangan