TO be honest, I was a bit hesitant to write about this place, because I would rather not contribute to its ruin. The tourism life cycle moves pretty fast here in the Philippines, and places that were unspoiled and enjoyable just a few years ago are quickly turning into noisy, overcrowded, and unpleasant tourist traps. This is certainly the case with places such as Boracay and Siargao, and it has started happening to the good destinations in Palawan, my favorite island. El Nido, at the north end of Palawan, is one of the world's most stunning seaside landscapes, but it is completely a lost cause at this point; Port Barton, about midway between Puerto Princesa City and El Nido, is rapidly going downhill as well.
Not far from Port Barton is San Vicente, which is still an unspoiled paradise, a sleepy rural town of fishermen and farmers that just happens to have the longest beach in the Philippines, the imaginatively named Long Beach, about 15 kilometers from end to end. The town is spread out over a sizable area, and is really a collection of villages each a few kilometers apart; the area we stayed in between Jan. 23 and Jan. 28 is called Alimanguan, and is about 20 kilometers from the San Vicente town center and the small airstrip.
Getting There
The San Vicente Airport, as far as know, has no scheduled service, although there are a few charter flights, so the ordinary way to reach San Vicente is fly into Puerto Princesa City and travel by road about three hours north. The easiest option is to make an arrangement with your resort, which gets you a door-to-door private car or van from the airport for around $75 one-way. There is bus service of various levels of comfort if you're feeling adventurous and trying to economize, but for that you need to take a short trip away from the airport to a terminal in town; the tourist information desk at the airport can help with directions.
Local snacks at a roadside general store. Highly recommended.The road trip is quite pleasant; one thing that Palawan has no shortage of is incredible scenery, and the North Highway is a smooth ride, save for a few spots where there is some construction. There are a number of places along the way to make a pit stop, although not much in the way of developed town areas, so if you need the trappings of civilization -- such as an ATM -- best to take care of that before hitting the road. In fact, getting cash, which you will need in San Vicente as most places are not equipped to handle credit or debit cards, should be a priority. There are a couple of ATMs in San Vicente, but you may have to travel some distance, and they seem to work only occasionally.
Just a note on air travel from Manila, because the experience may be off-putting to first-time visitors. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the airport serving Manila, is, to put it in the politest terms I can muster, a shithole. Overcrowded, poorly organized, and offering rather unimpressive services, it is something to be simply endured, taking comfort in the fact that you're on your way to someplace nicer. I used to refer to the Manila airport as "Asia's LaGuardia," but I understand LaGuardia has had some upgrades in recent years, so maybe the comparison is no longer fair.
Terminal 3 at NAIA. Not cool.
The operation of NAIA has recently been taken over by a new consortium, who have promised improvements, but those haven't materialized yet. The higher fees that are ostensibly needed to pay for them, however, have materialized. If you can route your travel through Cebu, or through Clark north of Manila, you will have a far better experience.
On a positive note, the Puerto Princesa Airport is quite nice, although not very large. It was renovated as part of a national drive to improve the provincial airports about seven years ago, and while it is not very large, it is clean, orderly, and comfortable. The flight to Puerto Princesa from Manila takes just over an hour; it's a bit less if you're traveling from Cebu, and a bit longer from Clark.
Inside the terminal at Puerto Princesa Airport. There are birds flying around the ceiling.
Where to Stay
There are a number of resorts and hotels in San Vicente, most of which are close to the town proper. There are only three in the more outlying area we stayed in, of which the Victoria Beach House was our choice. I would give the place an overall rating of "fantastic," as it was exactly the sort of place I was looking for; my SO had stayed there in December and recommended it, and I've long ago learned to accept her suggestions without question.
The resort is owned by a lovely couple named Ferdinand and Mylene Victoria; Mylene was the one who picked us up in Puerto Princesa. It has about 20 rooms, which I would describe as "spartan," but they are quite comfortable; anyway, if you're at a beautiful beach and staying in a resort with an inviting bar/lounge/dining room area with a sand floor to hang out in, you're not spending a lot of time in your room.
One of my favorite features was the large stock of fresh fruits and vegetables the resort keeps on hand, supplied by local vendors; breakfast (which is complimentary) for us was not complete without having the staff grab us a whole pineapple, or papaya, or pomelo (a kind of grapefruit) and chop it up for us. The menu is mostly Filipino food, and Filipino versions of a few standards (like pizza), and very good. Prices are very reasonable as well; our food and drink tab for for two of us for five nights' stay -- which included a considerable number of beers to supplement the wine and whisky I'd brought along -- was around P4,700, or about $80 at the current exchange rate.
Some scenes from the Victoria Beach House. I have to be honest, of all the places I've been in the Philippines (so far), this was my favorite.
The staff at the Victoria Beach House is wonderful, very friendly and accommodating, and as an interesting aside, the resort participates in a "work immersion" program for local high school students. So, every morning, a gaggle of enthusiastic youngsters (they even made up matching shirts with their names on them for their program) would show up to do tasks such as clearing tables and cleaning up the grounds. Every one of them I talked to was an absolute treasure, extremely polite and cheerful, and I wish them well in whatever the future holds for them.
One little quirky thing that marks a place worth returning to for me is the willingness and ability to turn whatever fish I find in the neighborhood into some meals. On three successive days, I bought some fish nearby and had the kitchen turn them into various dishes for our lunch or dinner -- a spicy sour soup called sinigang, or grilled fillets, or my personal favorite -- a spicy pickled fish dish called kinilaw here, and ceviche in other places.
During our stay, the resort was fully booked, or nearly so, so reservations well in advance are highly recommended. The place is popular with foreign visitors; save for a couple of guests who were there with their Filipina or Filipino partner, everyone who was staying while we were there was from someplace in Europe. I met people from France, Poland, Germany, and the Nordic countries, and the two young ladies in the room next to ours, whom I gathered were sisters, were from Russia. There were also a couple of families with young (ages 4-10) children, and the kids seemed to be having the time of their lives.
What to Do
I do understand that I have a very different concept of vacation than most people, in that my objective is to do AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. I am perfectly content to watch the waves, or read a book, or wander the local neighborhood and talk to the locals. People all over the Philippines are generally very friendly, but the people of Palawan are on a whole other level as far as that goes, which is part of why it is my favorite destination.
This is why I came.
However, if you do want some other activities, there are options available. The Victoria Beach House (and I assume the other local resorts as well) can arrange for various tours for you, such as island hopping, firefly watching, and diving outings.
Some of the extracurricular activities you can book through the hotel.
We had one outing, hiring a local tricycle piloted by an affable gentleman named Kuya Jun (Kuya means "big brother" in Tagalog, and is often used as a polite informal address to older men, regardless of their status) to take us to a spot about 10 kilometers from the resort called "Bato ni Ningning," a scenic overlook about 300 meters (1,000 feet) up the mountain. Bato means "rock" in Tagalog; I don't know who Ningning is (it's a common nickname for some women here). There is indeed a rock there, but there are rocks everywhere once you start heading up into the jungle-covered hills away from the beach area, so kudos to the marketing efforts of some locals to make this particular rock stand out.
Me, acting like a dork atop the 'Bato ni Ningning.' In the interest of accuracy, I must point out that the real rock with that name is across the road, but this one is bigger and slightly higher up the mountain, so I'm calling it.
Puerto Princesa
To make it easier to catch our flight back to Manila, we planned to stay one night in Puerto Princesa City, and chose the economical (but still more than adequate) Filigan Hotel -- which is a Red Doorz hotel -- along Rizal Ave. about five minutes from the airport. It was actually within walking distance, if we did not have a couple of suitcases with us; a ride to the terminal aboard a local tricycle cost P150 (about $2.60).
I strongly recommend doing this, especially if you are visiting outlying areas such as San Vicente, Port Barton, or El Nido. Trying to make a flight from three or four hours away is risky. In our case, Philippine Airlines arbitrarily changed our 10:45 am flight to 7:20 am, and then 8:35 am, which would have made trying to catch the flight difficult, if we were coming all the way from San Vicente.
Puerto Princesa is an interesting city with many sights to see, but that was not on the agenda for this quick one-night stay. However, I did discover a couple of treasures across the street from the hotel, a coffee house called the Vinyl Cafe, with excellent coffee and an impressive collection of records; and right next door, a shop selling surplus china and dinnerware from Japan called Wabi Sabi.
The Vinyl Cafe.
A fraction of what you can find at Wabi Sabi.
As I said at the outset, it is discouraging to realize that San Vicente will eventually go the way of El Nido and Port Barton, so I would say that if a slow-paced vacation is what you're looking for, visit San Vicente while you still have a chance. I intend to go back there, hopefully soon.
