October 03, 2011

Backpacking in Coron: itinerary planning

(After more than half a year of being in hiatus, PinayOnFoot is back!)

Armed with sun block and snorkeling gears, my family and I flew to Coron for a 4 days and 3 nights trip (but we ended up spending 6 days and 5 nights, not intentionally). 

A glimpse of Calamian Islands from above - Calamian Islands consist of Busuanga, Coron, Culion, Calauit and other minor islands in the province of Palawan. (Oopps, I misspelled my blog URL!)

Being the “master planner” that I am, I did my research months before our scheduled trip. I found out from a few travel bloggers and online guides that do-it-yourself Coron is not that difficult, accommodations are cheap, public transportation is easy to figure out, and most importantly, tours are not that complicated to arrange. 

Here’s a summary of our 4 days and 3 nights original and actual Coron itinerary:


Original itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrival in Busuanga, tour Coron Town and arrange Day 2 and 3 tours 
  • Coron Town walking tour (Coron Harbour Center, Tourism Office, Lualhati Park, Municipal Hall and public market)
  • Mt. Tapyas
  • Coron Harvest Cashew Factory
  • Maquinit Hotsprings
Day 2 - Coron Island Loop
  • Siete Pecados
  • Skeleton Wreck
  • Kayangan Lake
  • Twin Lagoon
  • Barracuda Lake
  • Banol, Smith's Point or Atuayan Beach
  • CYC Island
Day 3 - Sangat/Lusong and Calumbuyan Island Reserve
  • Calumbuyan Island
  • Lusong gun boat wreck
  • Coral Garden
  • Sangat Islang Reserve
  • East Tangat Wreck
Day 4 - Souvenir hunting and departure from Busuanga


Actual itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrival in Busuanga, tour Coron Town and arrange Day 2 and 3 tours
  • Coron Town walking tour (Coron Harbour Center, Tourism Office, Lualhati Park, and public market)
  • Maquinit Hotsprings
Day 2 - Coron Island Loop
  • Siete Pecados
  • Skeleton Wreck
  • Kayangan Lake
  • Atuayan Coral Garden
  • Cap’s Point
  • Twin Lagoon
Day 3 - Culion Town, Lusong and coral gardens
  • Culion
  • Marili Garden
  • Coral Garden
  • Lusong Gunboat
Day 4 - Souvenir hunting, bumming around in Coron - our flight was cancelled due to bad weather

Day 5 - Bumming around in Coron - our flight was cancelled due to bad weather (again!)

Day 6 - Departure from Busuanga - the sky cleared up, finally! Home sweet home.

Tips:

  • Reserve your accommodation prior to your arrival in Coron specially if you're going during summer months, long weekends and holidays.
  • For beach bums, visit the Banana, Malcapuya, Malaroroy loop. I heard the beaches are great there. In our next visit, our boatman recommended that we stay overnight in one of the islands. (We're a bunch of snorkeling junkies so we opted to see more of the fascinating coral gardens.)
  • If you want a safari adventure, include in your itinerary a visit to the Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary where you will see animals such as giraffes, zebras and deer from Africa. 
  • Don't over research! It is best to experience everything as it unfolds. (This is actually an advice for myself, which I find very difficult to follow since I am the "master planner" of most of the trips.)


3 comments:

  1. hi. my husband and i are planning to go to corn. and im thinking of not getting a package tour. i was thinking of doing it ala backpacking style. spontaneous kung baga. :) would you recommend it? is it much cheaper than getting a package? hope you can help me. :) thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Which guesthouses/backpackers did you stay in, when on the Islands of Coron/Busuanga? (ie. not in the town). I am trying to find an affordable yet pleasant one on one of the islands. I see you have a nice itinerary - and you did your own thing not joined a tour - if I can find out the best accommodations for my needs I can start trying to arrange my own thing. Thanks so much. I'm going in September this year...Appreciate it!
    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Ms. Master planner (I would call myself that too often as well)....may I know, roughly how much would a 4D3N in Coron cost? We're set in November, which I'm pretty excited about. :)

    Would really appreciate a reply.

    ReplyDelete

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