Note: This is part of our 5-day El Nido itinerary. In case you wanted to know what we did on the first and second day in the itinerary, you may read the blog here.
THIRD DAY. While we enjoyed island hopping on our second day, we thought it would be best not to follow it up with another island hopping tour yet, so we decided to go to the twin beaches of El Nido on our third day.
Tourists normally go to the twin beaches by either hiring/renting a van (Php 2,500 for a max of 12 persons), a tricycle (P1,000 for 1-3 persons), or a motorbike (Php 700.00). The twin beaches is being offerred as part of inland Tour E for Php950 which also includes other inland destinations such as waterfalls. (TIP. While these prices are pretty much the standard rates, there are still cheaper prices in town if you have time to shop around. )
The twin beaches of Nacpan and Calitang are located in a secluded part of El Nido, and the trip could last for 45 minutes to an hour from town center. The road is still undeveloped so be prepared for a bumpy ride.
Since there were 7 of us in the group, we hired a van that took us directly to Nacpan beach. Getting there wasn’t comfortable at all. Our driver had a hard time maneuvering through the muddy, badly rutted road several times. But it was a delight to see how everyone’s face lit up with awe as soon as we saw the beach. Our discomforts forgotten in an instant. The beach is gorgeous! Still in its rugged unspoiled state, it’s shore is long and wide with pure creamy white sand.
The water is crystal clear and there are no corals underwater which makes it ideal for swimming without having to worry about being cut by sharp edges.
There is a row of nipa hut shades near the beach. Food? No worries! Fish, crabs, shrimps, meat and vegetables can be bought raw and fresh at Kyla’s Cocina, a mini restaurant nearby, which they would cook and later serve to you at lunch time. Meal per head normally costs P250.00.
After lunch we braved the scorching heat of the sun and took a short hike to the left side of the beach up to the hill to get quite an aerial view of Calitang beach and its twin, Nacpan beach.
Calitang beach looked like a residential fishing village. At this time of the year, the beach is littered with dried seaweeds which made the beach looked dirty, which is quite a contrast to the clean and delightful beach of Nacpan. This may not be the case all year round though as I’ve seen pictures of Calitang looking as clean as its twin beach.
We took a few more pictures and then went back to where the nipa huts are and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and just lazing on the beach.
We left at 4PM. On our way back, we could have gone to Nagkalit-kalit falls, but we opted not to. We’ve enjoyed the beach so much, that we were all feeling physically drained from too much swimming and walking along the shores of Nacpan. Our third day was certainly another wonderful day with lots of fun, laughter and sunshine 🙂
