Best Time to Visit Palawan: El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa by Month

The best time to visit Palawan, in short

• Best overall: December to April. February is the driest month in both El Nido and Puerto Princesa.
• Most reliable for boats: February and March, after the New Year swell and before the Holy Week crowds.
• Hottest: April and May, when daily averages reach 29 to 30 °C (84 to 86 °F) and the country's daytime highs sit in the mid 30s.
• Best value: May and November, the shoulder months, with lower prices and seas that are still mostly workable.
• Wettest: July in the north (El Nido and Coron), October around Puerto Princesa.

Palawan climate: dry and wet season

Palawan has two seasons, driven by two winds. The north-east wind, amihan, blows from roughly November to April and brings the dry, calm weather the whole island is priced for. The south-west monsoon, habagat, takes over from about June to October and brings the rain. The rest of the country runs on the same two winds, though not always in step, and our guide to the best time to visit the Philippines covers every island group.

The difference in the north is extreme. Coron's weather station records 14 mm of rain in February and 480 mm in July, a 34-fold jump, and the rains arrive in one step in May. Wet season doesn't mean grey all day, though. It means heavy downpours, rough water and tours cancelled at short notice, while the towns themselves go genuinely quiet.

Typhoons are the other thing to know. The risk runs from June to December and peaks from August to October. Palawan sits west of the main typhoon track, so it usually gets the edges rather than the storm, but not always: Typhoon Haiyan crossed Busuanga, Coron's island, in November 2013. The visible effect in most years is a cancelled boat day rather than a cancelled trip.

Palawan weather by month

The table covers the north of the island, El Nido and Coron, using the rainfall normals from the Coron weather station. Puerto Princesa and Port Barton are milder in the wet season; more on that below.

Palawan weather by month: rain, temperature and sea conditions in El Nido and Coron

So which month is hottest? April, with May close behind. The seas are usually still calm in April, which is why it stays a top month despite the heat.

Weather in Palawan in October

October is the wet season on its way out. The north still gets around 251 mm of rain, but the typhoon risk falls after mid month and the boats run more often as the weeks go on. Around Puerto Princesa it is the opposite story: October is the wettest month there, at 216 mm. Come late in the month, keep spare days and you'll find quiet beaches and lower prices.

Palawan in November

Is November a good time to visit Palawan? Yes, it's one of the two shoulder months travel writers keep recommending. Rain in the north drops to 119 mm, the sea settles, prices are lower than in the peak and the island is still green from the rains. You may lose an occasional boat day, so give yourself one buffer day at each base.

Palawan in December

December starts the peak season. It's dry and clear with only 74 mm of rain, and the Christmas and New Year fortnight is the most expensive and most crowded stretch of the whole year. Book flights, beds and the El Nido to Coron crossing well ahead, and aim for the first half of the month if you can.

Best time by area

Palawan is a long, narrow island, and each base behaves a little differently. The north is the most seasonal, the east coast around Puerto Princesa the mildest.

El Nido

El Nido is the gateway to Bacuit Bay, around 45 limestone islands explored on the four standard boat tours, A to D. Every operator runs the same routes, and the weather decides which ones sail. The best months are December to April, with February and March the calmest. January can still carry swell, and Holy Week fills every boat.

From June the Coast Guard regularly suspends sailings when a storm signal goes up, and tours are cancelled for the day. Whatever the month, budget for the compulsory Eco-Tourism Development Fee of €5.60 (₱400), valid ten days across all tours. The tours themselves cost €17 to €31 (₱1,200 to ₱2,200) per person, and it's worth booking two days ahead because of the daily visitor cap on the bay.

Coron

Coron town sits on Busuanga, and the famous lakes are on Coron Island, half an hour south by boat. The season matches El Nido's: December to April, February and March best, July the wettest month. Wreck diving is the big draw, a Japanese fleet sunk in a single air raid in September 1944, and it only works when the boats can get out.

Coron is also the most exposed part of Palawan to a passing typhoon, as Haiyan showed in 2013. Its fees work differently from El Nido's too: €2.80 (₱200) on arrival, then a fee at every lake, beach and wreck, so a five-stop boat day adds €12 to €16 (₱850 to ₱1,150) per person on top of the tour.

Puerto Princesa and the Underground River

Puerto Princesa, Palawan's capital and main airport, has a much gentler wet season. Its station records 1,527 mm of rain a year against Coron's 2,482, and July is actually drier there than October or November. The best months are still December to April, with February the driest at 24 mm.

The dry season is the only window when the Underground River, Honda Bay and the long road north are all reliably good at the same time. The river is capped at 900 visitors a day, so book two days ahead between December and March. An organised day tour costs around €35 (₱2,500) per person.

Port Barton

Port Barton is the quiet fishing village halfway between Puerto Princesa and El Nido, and it's even more of a dry season place than the rest. It sits on the west coast, where the south-west monsoon hits head on, and boat tours are simply cancelled in bad weather, with little else to do instead. Come between December and April, ideally January to March. Island hopping here costs €17 to €25 (₱1,200 to ₱1,800) per person, with turtles, reefs and far fewer boats than El Nido. Bring cash: there is no dependable ATM.

Best time for island hopping, diving and beaches

• Island hopping: December to April everywhere, February and March for the calmest water. Shoulder months work with spare days.
• Snorkelling around El Nido: the water is clearest from November to May.
• Wreck diving in Coron: December to April, when the boats run reliably. Most of the famous wrecks lie below 18 metres and need an Advanced or Deep certification.
• Tubbataha Reef: a liveaboard-only reef in the Sulu Sea, with a season that opens in March and runs to June.
• Beaches: the dry season, when Nacpan near El Nido and the beaches of Port Barton are at their calmest. Our guide to the best beaches in the Philippines has Nacpan on its list.
• Hiking and viewpoints: start the 721 steps up Mount Tapyas in Coron after 4 pm, especially in the April and May heat.

How to get to Palawan

Palawan has three airports, and which one you fly into shapes the whole trip.

• Puerto Princesa: the cheapest gateway, with flights from Manila from about €34 (₱2,400) and direct daily flights from Cebu. From here a shared van takes 5 to 6 hours to El Nido for €7 to €10 (₱500 to ₱700), or 3 to 4 hours to Port Barton.
• El Nido (Lio): AirSwift flies direct from Manila in about 1 hour 20 minutes. It's the only direct carrier and seats sell out first in peak season.
• Busuanga, for Coron: about 90 minutes from Manila, at €30 to €90 (₱2,200 to ₱6,500) depending on how early you book, or about 1 hour 30 from Cebu. The transfer into Coron town takes 30 to 45 minutes.

How to get to Palawan from Cebu? Fly to Coron or Puerto Princesa direct, which skips Manila entirely. That's how our two week Philippines itinerary reaches Palawan after a week in the Visayas. Between Coron and El Nido, a fast ferry runs daily in about 3.5 hours (€17 to €30, ₱1,200 to ₱2,200), and a 40-minute flight operates on certain days. The scenic option is a multi-day expedition boat, 2 to 4 nights sleeping on remote islands, for €295 to €590 (₱21,200 to ₱42,400) depending on length and operator. To see how these fares add up over a whole trip, read what a Philippines trip costs.

The season matters for all of this. Ferries and day boats stop when the Coast Guard raises a gale warning, flights are the weather-proof alternative, and the vans keep running in the rain, just slower.

Manila to El Nido flights

The fastest way from Manila to El Nido is the AirSwift flight into Lio, about 1 hour 20 minutes, and it's worth booking months ahead because the route is one of the first to sell out. The cheaper alternative is to fly into Puerto Princesa and take the van north, trading money for five or six hours on the road.

El Nido or Coron? And how Palawan compares to Boracay

El Nido is lagoons, beaches and classic island hopping: the Big Lagoon by kayak, Secret Beach, Tours A to D. Coron is wrecks and lakes: Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake and the 1944 fleet under the surface. Most people don't choose. Across the more than 64,000 Philippines trips planned with Stippl, more than nine in ten that include Coron also include El Nido, and both are typically three-night stops, with El Nido often stretching to four. The fast ferry between them makes a week for the pair very doable.

Boracay is a different kind of trip. It's one island with four kilometres of White Beach, the most commercialised resort scene in the country, and a rule that you need a confirmed booking at an accredited hotel before you're allowed on. Its best season is November to April too, with the clearest water in November, before the seasonal algae on White Beach from roughly February to May. For one base and a beach, Boracay works. For scenery, boats and several stops, Palawan is the stronger pick.

Plan your Palawan route in Stippl

A Palawan trip is a chain of boat and road legs, so it pays to see it whole before you book. In the Stippl itinerary planner you add the stops in order, for example Coron, El Nido, Port Barton and Puerto Princesa, and set the nights for each: three for Coron, three or four for El Nido, two or three for Port Barton and one or two for Puerto Princesa. To skip the setup, open our two week Palawan trip with exactly these four stops and adjust the nights to your dates.

Add the Coron to El Nido ferry and the van south as transport, and drop in an extra night wherever a boat leg could slip, especially from May to November. Then invite your travel partners to the trip so everyone plans in the same place, and check the Philippines guide for everything else on the islands.