Booking Palawan for Early 2027: Resorts, Seasons & What’s Included

Palawan keeps appearing near the top of the world’s island rankings, and the limestone lagoons of El Nido are a big part of the reason. But the thing worth understanding before you fall for the photographs is the calendar — and, this year, the map. The dry season is narrower than the brochures suggest, the island resorts are small, and the flight most guidebooks tell you to take no longer leaves from where they say it does. Here is how booking Palawan actually works.

The lie of the land

Palawan is a long, thin province, and a holiday like this is usually built around three bases — with Coron, on Busuanga to the north, as a fourth that is really a different trip again. El Nido in the north is the marquee: karst cliffs, hidden lagoons and a cluster of private-island resorts. Puerto Princesa is the main gateway to the province and the jumping-off point for the underground river; it earns a night if that trip or a slower arrival is part of the plan, and it sits five to six hours by road from El Nido. Port Barton and San Vicente are the quieter, longer-beach alternative. Many first trips put most of their nights in El Nido and treat the rest as seasoning.

Island resort or town base?

The private-island resorts are self-contained. Boat transfers, meals and island-hopping are commonly bundled, although what is included varies from property to property and is worth checking line by line. What you are paying for is seclusion and easier access to the island-hopping areas, on islands with very few rooms.

El Nido town offers more choice of accommodation and restaurants, more to do in the evening, and the freedom to change your mind about tomorrow. The standard public circuits — Tours A, B, C and D, of which A and C are the most popular starting points — leave the beach each morning. The exact stops vary between operators and are subject to local rules on lagoon access, so it is worth confirming what a given tour actually includes.

Neither is better. They are different weeks — and with nine or ten nights on the ground you do not have to choose.

What a Palawan package should include

• Flights within the Philippines — this is the part that changed in 2026. There is no longer a direct Manila–El Nido service. Since 29 March 2026 the turboprops have operated from Clark, about 80 kilometres north of Manila, and since 1 July they have been flown by Cebgo, which took over the former AirSWIFT operation. Direct links to the El Nido strip run from Clark and Cebu among other gateways. The alternative is Puerto Princesa, still reached directly from Manila, followed by the road transfer north.
• A gateway night — on a thin schedule a missed sector is recovered the next day rather than the next hour, and if the international flight lands at Manila the transfer up to Clark has to sit somewhere. It is not padding; it protects the island nights.
• Baggage — the published allowance on the El Nido turboprops has been modest, in single figures for cabin bags, with extra purchasable. Worth reconfirming at the time of booking.
• Boat transfers to island properties, timed to your flights.
• Island-hopping — resort-run private trips or town-based group circuits, with lagoon entrance fees stated.
• A weather plan — even in the dry season a wind day can close a crossing, so good itineraries keep a flex day.

The 2027 booking calendar

Two fixed dates shape the first quarter of 2027 more than the weather does. Chinese New Year falls on 6 February. Philippine Holy Week runs late — 25 to 28 March — and is one of the country’s biggest domestic travel periods, moving seats, boats and rooms across the whole archipelago. It sits inside the Easter travel window for Australia and New Zealand as well, although school-holiday dates vary by state, so check your own rather than assuming they line up.

Neither date will move, which makes them a far better thing to plan around than anything anyone can tell you about what is available today. For a January to March 2027 trip, this is the point at which we would start confirming preferred island resorts and room categories — the earlier that is settled, the more choice there is to work with. Later bookings still work; the resort and the room category simply become more dependent on what is left. If the dates are flexible, we would rather look for the best combination of property, dates and flights than assume one particular place is the only answer.

Siargao surfing or Cebu diving bolt on naturally — our Cebu & Bohol dive guide covers the other half of a two-island Philippines trip.

Your questions answered

When is Palawan’s dry season?

December to May is the usual shorthand. The climate record is narrower than that: February to April is the settled core, May is already noticeably wetter, and December sits closer to the wet half of the year than to the dry. The wettest part of the year falls around October and November. Through the middle months, island-hopping becomes more weather-dependent — and a dry day is not always a calm one, which matters more for boat crossings than rain does.

Can you fly direct from Manila to El Nido?

Not since March 2026. The turboprop operations moved out of Manila’s international airport to Clark, roughly 80 kilometres north, and are now flown by Cebgo. If your international flight lands at Manila, allow for a road transfer between the two airports — commonly two to three hours, and longer in traffic. For a lot of itineraries out of Australia and New Zealand, Cebu is the cleaner way in.

How far ahead should we book?

There is no fixed rule, and we would be wary of anyone who offers you one. What we can say is that the more specific you are about a particular island resort, a room category or a set of dates, the earlier it is worth confirming. Flexible plans hold up a good deal later.

Is Palawan good for families?

Often yes, for water-happy children — lagoons, snorkelling and beaches. Check each property’s age policy and think about boat-time tolerance; some islands suit teenagers better than toddlers.

Browse our South East Asia collection or ask the Pack Ya Bags team to help shape a Palawan itinerary for the first quarter of 2027.

Image: Ray Aucott for Pack Ya Bags