There isn’t enough being said about Coron, Palawan. In an archipelago of over 7000 islands, our country is blessed with many gorgeous beaches but the islands of Coron are probably some of the best beaches you can go to locally. With travel restrictions loosening up, the island of Coron is seeing the return of tourists. All we needed was to show our vaccine cards and we were allowed to go straight into our Coron adventure from the airport.
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Travel Itinerary: Coron, Palawan
The thing about Coron is its close proximity to over 50 islets and you will have to take a boat to visit the different tourist spots and beaches around the area. From a previous trip (pre-pandemic) I had in Coron, we had to book a boat separately at the port to go and visit Kayangan Lake or the Twin Lagoon or Siete Pecados. Because of the protocols from the coast guard, you would usually leave by 9 am and you’d get to all the beaches and diving sites at the same time as everyone else.
But on this most recent trip, we booked at Casa Fidelis, a gorgeous forest resort away from the hustle and bustle. What separates Casa Fidelis from other resorts is that you can customize your Coron trip with them, as they provide meals and boat rides for your entire stay. You don’t have to book the boats separately, everything is handled by Casa Fidelis for you – including meals.
For our trip, we had a jam-packed 5-day, 4-night adventure. On our first day, we visited one of the calm and quiet beaches around the area as we had just arrived at the airport. On our second day, we had a jam-packed day as we visited Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, Barracuda Lake, Banol Beach, Siete Pecados, and Maquinit Hot Springs. Our third day had us take a trip to Pass Island, where we slept overnight under a blanket of stars before heading out to Black Island and Dibutanay Island. And for our last day, we decided to stay in the resort, swim at their pool and relax until it was time for our flight.
I was with my friends who are active and energetic and so they wanted such an itinerary. All of this was arranged through Casa Fidelis. They picked us up from the airport and, as they have their own boat and their own separate port, they can leave earlier than 9 am so, on our second day, we were able to get to Kayangan Lake by 7am before any other tourists were there. We had the whole place to ourselves!
We also had lots of fun eating delicious meals on the boat on our way from one island to the next.
That’s what’s great about this trip, it was completely customized to the experience that we wanted. This group wanted to make the most of our trip. If I had been with my other set of friends, we might have requested for less destinations per day and maybe added more cultural side trips – like a visit to the St. Augustine Parish Church or a visit to Culion island – or we could have stayed in Casa Fidelis on our third day just to relax and enjoy a trek in their forest. There’s no signal at the resort so you have no choice but to go on full vacation mode, which can be such a blessing, surprisingly.
Having their own boat and port is such a blessing because it meant we can go wherever we wanted and at whatever time was convenient for us. Since we didn’t mind sleeping early and waking up early, we were able to make the long boat trip to Pass Island so we could see the gorgeous sky filled with stars at night. I thought the sand of Banol beach was some of the finest I have encountered, but there’s nothing like the sheer beauty of Black Island and the fine white sand there.
Because the trip is completely customized, the price range adjusts depending on the itinerary and the size of the group. We were a group of ten, staying for 5 days and 4 nights, and we had a jam-packed itinerary so we were charged a little over 7k per person per day (exclusive of airfare and entrance fees to the various destinations).
When you consider how much we were able to do and that all the food and transportation were covered, it was quite a steal. The resort itself is large, comfy, and filled with the comforts of a great resort – hot water, A/C, comfortable beds – and they even have life vests and snorkeling gear.
Coron is really a place that everyone has got to go to and as tourism is beginning to pick up now, it’s really the time to book a flight and experience it before the large influx of tourists comes. Coron can be overwhelming and complicated but you can simplify your life and customize your trip before you even go by booking at Casa Fidelis. They’ll take care of everything the moment you land on Busuanga Airport.
