Melo Villareal
After 76,000 readers cast their votes in October 2014, Conde Nast Traveler’s Reader Choice Awards announced Palawan to be “The Top Island in the World”. In fact, the island got a rating of 88.750 after Puerto Princesa’s underground river was declared as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Coron Palawan
Conde Nast Traveler magazine said, “Palawan’s natural wonder is one of the longest underground rivers in the world, traveling five miles through a subterranean cave system. Guided boat tours take visitors down a portion of the waterway, where karsts, natural rock formations created by dissolving limestone, loom in every direction.”
Out of the 7,107 islands in the Philippines, Huffington Post zeroed in on Palawan and considered it “The Most Beautiful Island in the World with its sheer perfection.
El Nido Palawan
Yet, it’s hard to believe that this tropical country is under-appreciated despite it teeming with travel destinations, including exceptional places for hiking, mountain-climbing, snorkeling, diving and most of all, islands that are as beautiful as Palawan. One of the famous personalities to have graced the island recently is tennis superstar Maria Sharapova.
Considered as the “Last Frontier”, this island boasts a beautiful mixture of blue and emerald green water, jungle-filled mountains that seem to emerge from the ocean and quaint fishing villages that dot the land.
Sunset in El Nido Palawan
Palawan keeps a slew of artifacts that can be as old as 50,000 years old. The island can be accessed either by plane or by boat and is about an hour and a half away from the country’s capital, Manila. You can also fly directly to Palawan from Cebu and Iloilo. Many travelers who have been to the island suggest the best time to travel there is between October and May. On one of the pictures she shared on Instagram, she mentioned that she saw “some of the most beautiful sunsets” in Palawan.
Some of the things you should do in Palawan include island hopping around the Bacuit archipelago for its lagoons, sinkholes and cliffs, staying in one of Coron’s out-of-this-world luxury hotels and resorts and checking out Puerto Princesa for its gastronomic offerings.
Here, you will find one-of-a-kind species of wildlife, including the Philippine mouse-deer, pangolin, purple crabs and many others. aside from that, Palawan also has the perfect spots for scuba diving with its barracuda-filled shipwrecks that line the bottom of Coron Bay.
But if diving isn’t your thing, try the subterranean river cruise or a Bangka boat ride around the islands. With all the activities you can do both on land and at sea, surely, you’ll never want to leave.
