One Week in El Nido, Palawan: A Chaotic, Beautiful Travel Diary from Mr. Paparazzi’s World
A raw, cinematic travel diary from Mr. Paparazzi’s one-week journey through Boracay, Cebu and El Nido, Palawan — from tropical chaos to rockstar sunsets, hidden lagoons and Panorama El Nido.
One Week in the Philippines: From Cebu Chaos to El Nido Paradise
The first drops of rain hit my arms halfway through a jungle road in El Nido while I was riding a scooter, trying to outrun a tropical storm.
Not ideal.
Especially considering the last time I went searching for adventure on a scooter in Southeast Asia, I nearly killed myself looking for Coleman’s English mustard in Koh Samui.
Only me.
One minute, the sky was postcard perfect.
Blue ocean.
Palm trees.
Island breeze.
Trikes buzzing around El Nido like drunken mosquitoes.
Then suddenly, everything changed.
Black skies rolled in over the limestone mountains. Lightning cracked behind the jungle. The roads turned greasy. Thunder moved through the island like a warning. And there I was, gripping the handlebars, dressed like a psychedelic cowboy, thinking:
Right. This could get interesting.
And honestly?
That pretty much summed up the entire week.
Magnificent chaos.
This was not just another luxury travel escape. This was a week of business calls from paradise, boats cutting through turquoise water, wild transfers, rockstar sunsets, hidden lagoons, scooter rides, tropical storms, island cats, Filipino hospitality and the strange emotional clarity that only arrives when the world becomes too beautiful to ignore.
This was El Nido, Palawan.
And it may have changed something in me.
Leaving Cebu: When a City Just Does Nothing for You
The week began with exhaustion.
Cebu, honestly, did absolutely nothing for me.
Too much traffic.
Too much concrete.
Too much shopping mall energy.
Too much noise.
Too much pretending it was more glamorous than it actually was.
Cebu felt like somebody had dropped a shopping centre into a traffic jam and told everybody it was paradise.
I know people love it.
Good luck to them.
Personally, I couldn’t wait to leave.
Even the luxury felt tired there.
And weirdly enough, that is what made Boracay and Palawan hit me so hard afterwards.
Because suddenly, after all that concrete and chaos, everything began to slow down.
The ocean returned.
The sky opened.
The island rhythm came back.
And for the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe again.
Boracay: Tourist Madness, Hidden Corners and Unexpected Magic
Boracay surprised me.
Massively.
Yes, White Beach, Station 1 and Station 2 have all the usual island madness.
Fire dancers.
Tourists frying themselves alive.
Beach bars.
Influencers filming themselves pretending to discover coconuts for the first time.
Enough fake spirituality to open a yoga franchise.
But underneath all that?
Magic.
Especially once you stop following the tourist map.
That became one of the biggest lessons of the week:
Don’t just do the tours.
Hire the trike.
Hire the scooter.
Get lost.
That is where travel still lives.
One afternoon, I hired a trike driver for a few hours and disappeared around Boracay. We found hidden coves, tiny beaches, quiet local basketball courts and little corners most tourists never see because they are too busy photographing smoothie bowls.
And then there was the basketball.
My God, the Philippines loves basketball.
You can drive through the most random village imaginable — half-finished houses, jungle roads, roosters running around, electrical wires hanging like spaghetti from the sky — and somehow, there will always be a basketball hoop.
Always.
Sometimes the backboards are collapsing.
Sometimes they are nailed to trees.
Sometimes they stand beside rusted tin roofs and flooded roads.
But they are everywhere.
Basketball here is not just a sport.
It is hope.
Some of the volleyball and basketball images I shot this week became my favourite photographs of the entire trip because they felt real.
That is the Philippines.
Beautiful chaos with a basketball obsession.
At one point, I even found myself emotionally excited over a man selling entire watermelons for a dollar.
Somewhere along the way, Mr. Paparazzi may have finally lost the plot.
Or maybe I finally found it.
The Great Transfer North: Welcome to Philippine Transport Theatre
Then came the great transfer north.
And honestly?
The Philippines turns transport into performance art.
Trikes.
Boats.
Vans.
Ports.
Runway buses.
Twin-prop aircraft.
Luggage chaos.
Sweat.
Confusion.
Beautiful madness.
At one point, we were literally driven by bus down the middle of an active runway while planes sat around us preparing for departure, as if somebody had accidentally handed airport management over to a karaoke bar.
Only in the islands.
Then came one of the great flights of the trip.
A tiny twin-prop aircraft skimmed low over electric-blue ocean before suddenly revealing giant Jurassic Park limestone cliffs exploding from the sea.
Seat 1D.
Front row.
Jaw on floor.
That was the moment Palawan announced itself.
This was different.
This was not just another pretty island.
This felt ancient.
Arriving in El Nido: A Pink Tuk-Tuk, Dusty Streets and a Hidden Oasis
When I arrived in El Nido, a pink tuk-tuk was waiting for me with “DAZ” emblazoned across the windscreen.
Naturally.
We bounced through the dusty, chaotic streets towards Panorama El Nido.
From the road, it looked almost like nothing.
Concrete wall.
Tiny sign.
Dust.
Noise.
Traffic.
Island madness outside.
Then Geralyn smiled and opened the black gates.
And suddenly, the chaos disappeared.
The noise vanished.
The traffic vanished.
The madness of El Nido faded behind me.
And there it was.
A hidden oasis.
Soft music drifted through the palms. Warm lights glowed against jungle greens. A tiny courtyard pool sat wrapped between eight cocoon-like tropical cabanas. There were massage beds, cocktails, stillness and that rare feeling that the outside world had been politely asked to leave.
Within minutes, Geralyn had somehow organised the next four days of my life.
Massages.
Private island tours.
Sunset reservations.
Scooters.
Drivers.
Transfers.
Drinks.
Breakfasts.
Then she simply smiled and said:
“Relax, Sir Darryn.”
Honestly?
I nearly melted into the floor.
Panorama El Nido: Not Traditional Luxury, Something Better
Every morning at Panorama El Nido, you walk out of your cocoon-like cabana and genuinely feel like a butterfly.
You do not just stay at Panorama.
You disappear into it.
This is not luxury in the traditional sense.
Not marble.
Not billionaire nonsense.
Not intimidating.
Not soulless hotel theatre.
It has something much harder to manufacture.
Soul.
Every morning, Georgina the cat scratched at my door demanding tuna tribute like a tiny tropical debt collector.
One eye on the tuna.
One eye judging me.
By day three, she had basically become head of security at Panorama.
And somehow, within minutes, the whole place felt like home.
That is the genius of Panorama.
It is intimate.
It is warm.
It is stylish without trying too hard.
It is barefoot luxury with a heartbeat.
And then there is the sunset deck.
My God.
El Nido Sunsets: Rockstar Sunsets Over Palawan
The front sunset deck at Panorama El Nido is where the whole island seems to gather its energy at the end of the day.
Young travellers arrive every afternoon, wearing not very much, sipping cocktails around the infinity pool while DJs soundtrack the sunset over El Nido Bay.
And these sunsets?
Honestly?
Rockstar sunsets.
Not “nice sunsets.”
These are what-the-hell-is-happening-to-the-sky sunsets.
Orange.
Pink.
Blood red.
Electric gold.
Black silhouettes drifting through infinity pools and cocktails.
The kind of sunsets that stop conversations.
I have seen extraordinary sunsets around the world.
Thailand.
Indonesia.
Raja Ampat.
Cruise ships crossing the equator.
The Mediterranean.
The Caribbean.
But the sunsets in El Nido are genuinely pushing number one.
And the beautiful thing is that even if you cannot get a room at Panorama — and good luck, because there are only eight — you can still enter through the side entrance and experience the sunset deck, cocktails, DJs, pool and atmosphere.
That is why Panorama has become one of the coolest little sunset spots in El Nido.
Luxury backpacker rockstar energy.
Barefoot cool.
Five Black Diamonds energy.
El Nido Island Hopping: Helicopter Island, Secret Beach and the Lagoons of Palawan
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Then came the odyssey.
Captain Jerome.
Ryan on drone duty.
Kim keeping the whole circus together.
And suddenly, we were hammering across turquoise water into what honestly felt like another dimension.
This was El Nido island hopping at its most cinematic.
Helicopter Island.
Secret Beach.
Hidden Beach.
Small Lagoon.
Big Lagoon.
Seven Commandos Beach.
Entalula Island.
Apoquantan Island.
The islands of Palawan do not feel real.
They feel discovered.
Like somebody accidentally left the gates open to a forgotten corner of the planet.
Giant limestone cathedrals explode vertically from turquoise oceans. Jungle hangs impossibly from black rock walls. Hidden lagoons sit concealed behind cave entrances. Secret beaches remain invisible until you swim through the cliffs themselves.
This is not just island hopping.
It is geological theatre.
One minute, we were snorkelling through water so clear it looked computer-generated.
The next, we were swimming through dark cave entrances, holding cameras above our heads, trying not to smash expensive equipment against razor-sharp limestone while waves pushed us through narrow openings into beaches completely hidden from the outside world.
And then suddenly, silence.
Small Lagoon.
Just me.
Nobody else.
Ryan told me they had basically never seen it empty before.
I drifted silently in a kayak beneath giant limestone walls rising like prehistoric monuments from electric-blue water while the entire world seemed to disappear into stillness.
It honestly felt like the earth before human beings arrived.
Captain Jerome, Island Lunch and the Kind of Luxury That Actually Matters
One of my favourite moments of the entire week was not a five-star hotel, not a beach club and not a polished luxury experience.
It was Captain Jerome quietly weaving me a hat from a palm frond while lunch was being prepared on a tiny island beach.
Fresh crab.
Garlic prawns.
Filipino noodles.
Cold drinks.
Salt in the air.
Sunburnt smiles everywhere.
No performance.
No luxury theatre.
No ego.
Just human beings enjoying life in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
And that is the thing.
Luxury impresses you.
Humanity stays with you.
Standing there, surrounded by turquoise ocean, ancient cliffs and people who knew how to live with the rhythm of the island, I realised something very simple.
Some of the richest people in the world do not measure wealth in money.
Captain Jerome looked around at the islands and smiled.
“This is my office every day, Sir Darryn.”
And honestly?
He may be one of the richest men I have ever met.
Not because of money.
Because of perspective.
Why Palawan Feels Bigger Than Travel
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The colours in Palawan do not look real.
Turquoise water so bright it looks computer-generated.
Black cliffs.
White beaches.
Pink sunsets.
Towering jungle islands rising from the sea like dragon teeth from another age.
And when you stare at them long enough, you realise none of this was created gently.
These islands were not painted peacefully into existence.
They were born through violence.
Volcanic upheaval.
Crushing tectonic chaos.
Millions of years of atmospheric warfare between ocean, earth and sky.
And somehow, through all that destruction, something this breathtaking emerged.
Something so beautiful it almost stops your brain from processing it.
Standing beneath those ancient limestone giants, watching turquoise oceans move under impossible skies, I understood why ancient civilisations worshipped the natural world.
Because this feels bigger than us.
Older than us.
Almost biblical.
Not filtered through politics.
Not filtered through screens.
Not filtered through noise.
Just existence itself in all its terrifying and beautiful perfection.
Maybe that is what I have really been feeling here in the Philippines.
Perspective.
Because sitting in Palawan, watching the light shift across the islands, I suddenly realised something:
The world itself is the miracle.
The Difference Between Being Somewhere and Truly Seeing It
This morning, I sat quietly at Panorama watching the mountains change colour with the rising light while the backpacker bars of El Nido slowly came back to life next door.
Bleary eyes.
Hangovers.
Heads down.
Phones out.
Last night’s poison still doing laps around young nervous systems trying to make sense of an increasingly chaotic world.
And I sat there thinking:
God, I have been there.
We all have.
But life teaches you things.
Or at least it is supposed to.
The strange thing was that while they sat there staring downwards through hangovers, phones and uncertainty, right in front of all of us was one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth.
Changing every minute.
Every cloud movement.
Every shift of light.
Every tide.
Every shadow on the mountains.
An ever-changing masterpiece.
And I realised something.
There is a difference between being somewhere and truly seeing it.
When you are young, you consume paradise.
When you get older, if you are lucky, you finally start seeing it.
Somewhere along the line this week, sitting above El Nido watching another impossible sunset prepare itself over the islands, I realised I no longer cared about the Rolexes, the Lamborghinis, the noise, the status games or the endless social media outrage machine screaming through modern life.
Because none of it compares to this.
Not the moon.
Not the storms.
Not the stillness.
Not the feeling.
When you see places like this, all of a sudden, you do not want to leave.
And strangely, you do not want to leave the planet either.
Panorama El Nido Enters The Mr. Paparazzi Black Book
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Panorama El Nido has officially earned its place in the first tier of the Mr. Paparazzi Black Book.
Five Black Diamonds.
The rarest rating I will ever give.
Because luxury impresses you.
But soul?
Soul is almost impossible to find.
And Panorama has it.
The bags are packed now.
The scooter is gone.
The storm has passed.
The boats are moving again across El Nido Bay.
Down below, trikes buzz through the streets.
Georgina scratches at my door one last time looking for tuna tribute.
Somewhere downstairs, the Panorama playlist drifts softly through the morning air while another perfect sunset prepares itself for another perfect night.
A sunset I will not see.
That is the strange thing about travel.
You spend your life chasing moments.
Then one day, you realise the greatest moments were never really yours to keep.
Only to feel.
Long after the tan fades, the drone footage gets archived, the shirts wear out and the world tour moves on, I will still remember the sunsets of El Nido.
I spend my life chasing sunsets around the world.
And somehow, somewhere along this strange tropical odyssey through the Philippines, I may have accidentally found the ultimate sunset.
And just when I found it, it was time to leave paradise behind and head into another kind of chaos entirely.
Manila.
The home of the “Thrilla in Manila.”
Muhammad Ali once said:
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
Funny really.
Because after a week in Palawan, I finally understood the butterfly part.
Some sunsets do not end.
They just follow you home.
FAQ: Planning a Trip to El Nido, Palawan
Is El Nido worth visiting?
Yes. El Nido is one of the most visually spectacular destinations in the Philippines, especially for travellers who love island hopping, limestone cliffs, hidden lagoons, turquoise water and dramatic sunsets.
What is El Nido best known for?
El Nido is best known for its island hopping tours, limestone rock formations, Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Secret Beach, Hidden Beach, Seven Commandos Beach and some of the most dramatic sunsets in Palawan.
Where is a good sunset spot in El Nido?
Panorama El Nido is one of the best sunset spots in El Nido, with a sunset deck, infinity pool, cocktails, DJ atmosphere and views across El Nido Bay.
What should you do in El Nido?
The best things to do in El Nido include island hopping, kayaking through Small Lagoon, visiting Big Lagoon, exploring Secret Beach and Hidden Beach, watching sunset at Panorama, hiring a scooter, taking a trike around town and getting lost beyond the tourist map.
Is Panorama El Nido a good place to stay?
Panorama El Nido is ideal for travellers looking for intimate, soulful, stylish accommodation rather than traditional large-scale luxury. With only a small number of rooms, it feels private, warm and deeply connected to the island atmosphere.
Final note from Mr. Paparazzi’s World
El Nido is not perfect. That is why it is unforgettable. It is chaotic, dusty, humid, wild, beautiful, emotional and occasionally completely ridiculous. But somewhere between the storms, the scooters, the lagoons, the sunsets and the tiny cat demanding tuna at my door, Palawan gave me something far more valuable than another travel story. It gave me perspective. And that is the real luxury.
