Located on the eastern side of Busuanga Island in the Calamian Islands, Coron has become a popular tourist destination due to its beautiful sights and the numerous World War 2 era Japanese ship wrecks scattered in its surrounding waters. This place is heaven for any divers out there!

Disclaimer: All the information about the Philippines available on this blog is based on our stay in January 2016. Since then, the political situation in the country changed drastically. While we do believe that visiting the country will still be safe for tourists, we recommend to follow the recent news about the country closely and be in touch with your local embassy!

Coron is reachable by ferry from both El Nido (1000 pesos/ 6 hours) and Manila (1800 pesos/ overnight).

Our friend shaun made a video about our stay in Coron. Check it our here!

Sights in Coron

Scooter tour

During our stay we rented scooters as it was the best way to explore the big island of Busuanga, we recommend you doing the same, but you should avoid ‘Boyet Motor Rental’. We got a scooter with nonfunctional brakes and had an accident with it – despite paying the medical bills ourselves, we were also asked to pay for the damage on the scooter. If you have a scooter with bad brakes don’t take the risk, instead return it and swap it immediately even if you are already far from the rental shop.

While exploring the island we found a waterfall close to the village of Conception.

Tapyas Mountain

The Boat tours

There are plenty of tours with pre-set destinations available, like in El Nido. However, we booked our boat tour at the restaurant “Brujitas”, which offer private tours at a reasonable price of 2500 per boat allowing you to customise your destinations (entry fees and food not included).

As for most boat tours, you will be picked up at your hotel, from there you go to the pier or can go to the local market to buy food. There are also other shops nearby so if you don’t have snorkeling equipment you can rent it here.

Close to the market you will board your private boat and after paying for the tour and telling your skipper the destination you’re ready to set off!

Siete Pecados

Kayangan Lake

Kayangan Lake has the clearest lake in the Philippines and is located close to the coast of Coron. To get there, you will have to climb up about 150 steps, followed by another 100 step descent.

The best sight of the lake is the amazingly clear water, as you can see incredibly far underwater. There is also a cave here however you can only explore the first chamber unless you brought a waterproof flashlight.

Banul Beach

Skeleton Wreck

The skeleton wreck is the only wreck around Coron that can be accessed by snorkeling. Still, the wreck is quite deep so you can only see the front part and so exploring the wreck by snorkeling is not possible.

Hostels

Unless you are traveling in peak season it is easy to find a hostel in Coron for about 500 pesos per night. We recommend you to take a look around city and make a decision after seeing some hostels.

Many locals recommend to go to the ‘Coron Vista Lodge’, this offers by far the best standard I have seen from a hostel in the Philippines. However, obviously this standard doesn’t come for free and it also is the most expensive hostel.

Restaurant

Coron does not only offer the typical Filipino cuisine, you can also find international cuisine in many places.

Brujitas

This was probably our favorite restaurant around, we stopped by here several times. It focuses on Asian vegetarian dishes, but there are also plenty of dishes with meat available. If you are in the mood for fried cheese look no further!

Sinugba sa Balay

Sinugba sa Balay is a central restaurant in Coron, decorated with nice decoration and serving tasty Asian food.

Bluemoon Restobar

The Bluemoon Restobar is located on the main street in Coron. Here, we recommend trying out the different international dishes, I had a very tasty Chili whilst Ellis tried out one of their Burgers.

Conclusion

Even though visiting Coron was not originally part of our plans in Philippines, the small town had many surprises for us. Despite the fact that Ellis had two motorbike accidents in one day, we enjoyed exploring the wonderful islands. Although this place is clearly diving heaven there are also plenty of things to see on the land as well!

More information for your stay in the Philippines:
1. Information about the country!
2. El Nido, a hidden paradise?
3. See the Underground River in Puerto Princesa!
4. Hiking around rice terraces