Port Barton Travel Guide – Visit Port Barton – Budget Travel In The Philippines

Visit Port Barton, a small but beautiful fishing village on the north-west coast of Palawan. It is the ideal location to simply lose yourself in idyllic surroundings.

As we had decided to take things slow in The Philippines, we booked to stay for four nights in a very small coastal town with, according to various online blogs, no hot water, no electricity and no WiFi!

Not that we were strangers to such conditions. Our accommodation had mostly been decent, with some excellent places too. However, we also stayed in bamboo huts with snakes in the bathroom and where we were scared that we might fall through the floor. We had also stayed in a smelly, damp room covered in lizard droppings. A few days without hot water, electricity and WiFi would be nothing for us, having been on the road for 9 months. Right?

Puerto Princesa To Port Barton

Our accommodation in Puerto Princesa arranged a van transfer to Port Barton. The van picked us up at the hotel at 8.30 am but it was a good 45 minutes before we left the city itself. It then took a further 3 hours to reach Port Barton.

The van dropped us at the terminal (map). You can pay to use their WiFi here and apparently it’s the fastest in the town. We had to register before entering the town and pay a small conservation fee. Tricycle’s were ready to take us to our hotel but as it was only a 7 minute walk, we politely declined their offer. If you are staying anywhere in the main town and you only have small baggage, you might as well walk. Port Barton is very small.

We had some time to kill before we could check in to our hotel so we headed towards the beach. We passed some interesting looking accommodation along the way.

Klook.com

Jambalaya Cajun Cafe

We had not had a decent coffee in three days due to getting up early for trips so we were more than ready for a cup of strong, black. ‘Jambalaya Cajun Cafe’ (map) made freshly brewed coffee that was tasty and strong. It is a small cafe so it is advisable to book if you plan to eat there. They will also look after your personal belongings should you want to go in the sea, whether you are a customer or not. Which is nice.

Where To Stay In Port Barton

These are some of the best budget hostels in Port Barton, according to user reviews. These are affiliate links to the Agoda web site. I found Agoda to be much better than booking.com in Southeast Asia. I receive a small amount for any bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you.

• Mil’s Hillside Tourist Inn
• Ferranco Tourist Inn
• Tentstar Eco Resort
• My Green Hostel
• Backpacker’s Hill Resort
• Jeno Tourist Inn
• NoBi’s Place

Hashtag Tourist Inn

Despite reading reports of Port Barton having no electricity, no hot water and no WiFi, this proved not to be the case. We stayed at ‘Hashtag Tourist Inn’ (map) which offered all these amenities. Most places in Port Barton now have 24 hour electricity and some even have generators as backups for when the town experiences ‘brownouts’. The WiFi occasionally dropped but only for short periods.

The hosts were very friendly and helpful; they organised our day trips and our transfer to El Nido. The accommodation was basic but clean and we had our own terrace which was a nice place to sit and have a beer and update the blog. The location is perfect; right in the centre of the town and just minutes from the beach. We enjoyed our stay so much, we extended it for another night.

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We paid £51 for an initial 4 night stay in a double room with en-suite bathroom.

Click here to book a stay at ‘Hashtag Tourist Inn’.

Things To Do In Port Barton

Reef Cafe

Once we settled in to our accommodation, we headed out for food. Just around the corner, we discovered ‘Reef Cafe’ (map). It looked like a nice place to eat and have a beer.

It is mainly western food served here and they have a good burger menu, which is what we opted for. My burger was delicious, as were the fries.

Any burger can be made vegetarian by replacing the meat patty with one made from banana blossom. I had read about this meat-alternative in an article in The Guardian that claimed it was really popular in Southeast Asia. This was actually the first time I had seen it. Joanna ordered it and it was delicious; probably the best veggie burger I have tasted. You must try this if you visit Reef Cafe.

We came back to Reef during our stay and I had the Hungarian sausage which was also delicious. Highly recommended.

Beer And Sunsets

We headed to the beach which was impressively clean. We had a few beers outside a beach bar and watched the sunset before heading back to our accommodation. Port Barton had impressed us so far!

Mabuti Eat & Chill

The day always begins with coffee and, as our accommodation did not provide breakfast, we decided to also have breakfast at ‘Mabuti Eat & Chill’ (map). This chilled-out cafe is owned by a Polish man which explains why polish pancakes are on the menu. We chose from the breakfast menu as it included brewed coffee. We ate breakfast here a few times because it was cheap but the food was always good.

Exploring Port Barton

We had nothing planned on our first full day, other than exploring the town. As Port Barton is small, we knew this wouldn’t take too long. We found Port Barton to be quiet and very beautiful.

Miam Miam Glou Glou French Restaurant

In the evening, we headed out for food at ‘Miam Miam Glou Glou’ (map). We were pleased to discover a happy hour on beer right up to 9 pm. Big bottles of Red Horse ( a strong beer) were around 50p in English money! I decided to take advantage of this generous offer.

The food, unfortunately, was not great. My first choice was unavailable so I had a curry dish, as did Joanna. It was a poor version of a Thai yellow curry.

Island Hopping In Port Barton

On our second full day, we had booked to go island-hopping. All tours are the same price, no matter where you get them from (1400 peso) and this included all snorkeling gear, lunch and fees. We were told we would be picked up at our accommodation but what actually happened was a guy turned up on his bike and said, “walk to the beach.”

Port Barton Tour A

We had booked on the most popular tour, known simply as ‘Tour A’. This included all the best snorkel spots where we would be swimming in amazing coral reefs among tropical fish and turtles.

Coral Reef and Turtles

Our first stop was in the middle of the sea to snorkel in a stunning coral reef; the best we had seem so far. It was such an incredible experience to put your head under the water and be immediately absorbed into another world.

We then headed to ‘Turtle Spot’. As soon as we arrived, we spotted a group of snorkelers in one spot. They had obviously found a turtle. I swam over to see the turtle but I was more interested in finding one myself so I left them to it and swam away. Within two minutes, I had found another huge turtle, carrying fishes on its back and a school of fish swimming underneath for protection. I stayed with the turtle for 5 minutes. It was an amazing moment.

Our third stop was a beautiful island where we relaxed and waited for our lunch.

After an hour of relaxing on the beach, lunch was served. It was a great buffet of chicken, pork, fish and fruit and vegetables. It gave everyone a chance to get to know each other. One lively Filipino brought a bottle of run which helped everyone relax!

Starfish Island

After a couple more incredible coral reef stops where we did some wonderful snorkeling and drank rum shots in the sea with our new Filipino friend, we ended the day at ‘Starfish Island’. This is a tiny island that is not always visible and is surrounded by starfish. It was a great way to end what had been a fantastic day. If you visit Port Barton, you must do ‘Tour A’.

Sunset Over Port Barton

After a wonderful shower, we headed back to the beach bar to take in the sunset. It was much more impressive on this evening. Looking out over the ocean and watching this incredible natural light show, I started to think about how I never really wanted to end this way of life.

We ate some delicious food at the beach bar then Joanna headed back to our accommodation. I had other plans. It was time for some reggae.

Best Bar In Port Barton

Despite its size, Port Barton, like all other tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, has a reggae bar. It is called ‘Native’bo Bar’ (map) and is right on the seafront. I arrived not knowing what to expect but was pleased to discover that it was busy and there was live music.

Within minutes I was asked to join a Filipino guy, who recognised me from Puerto Princesa, and two young Filipino women. The music was good, the beer was cold and cheap and the conversations were ‘interesting’.

After a while, the friendly Filipino girls asked if I wanted to go party with them. I wasn’t sure what that meant and the conversation had started to become a little uncomfortable so I made my excuses and left.

Talisay Restaurant

As I left the reggae bar, I passed ‘Talisay Restaurant’ (map) from where I could hear terrible karaoke. I give it a miss and headed to ‘CocoRico’, a hostel bar which was supposed to be the main party bar in the town. However, as it was Saturday, everyone had gone on a booze boat and the place was empty. After walking the dark streets for about 10 minutes, I ended up back at ‘Talisay’.

It was a strange, but fun, experience. I was welcomed in but then nobody offered me a drink. I finally found someone who could get me a beer and I placed myself with a bunch of Germans who were partly responsible for the terrible karaoke I had heard earlier. I went to the toilet which was filled with underpants hanging overhead and was only accessible by walking past two children sleeping in their beds.

I ordered another beer but then a woman came in to complain about the noise and it seemed the bar had stayed open longer than they were meant to. I left the Germans and headed home. What a great night!

Rain In Port Barton

The next day, we planned to visit ‘Papawyan Falls waterfalls’ (map) but the rain spoiled our plans. We booked another night in Port Barton but the rain never went away so we never got to the waterfalls. In fact, we didn’t do anything other than brave the weather to go out and eat.

Pizza In Port Barton

On our very last night, we went for pizza at ‘D’Port Kitchen and Inn’ (map). The restaurant was filled with dozens of daddy-long-legs type insects that made for an anxious meal. The town was also suddenly filled with frogs that made quite a chorus, unlike anything I have ever heard before! The pizza was nice but oddly under-cooked.

Leaving Port Barton

The next day, we had a mini bus booked in the early afternoon so we could relax, have some lunch and take a steady walk back to the bus terminal. On our way, I managed to take this picture which I think just sums up Port Barton and probably travel in Southeast Asia in general. It’s not an incredible sunset, or a mountain, or an incredible view over a town. It’s just a picture of a young boy carrying out a mundane chore. Maybe he does this everyday. It’s one of my favourite pictures from our adventure.

Is Port Barton Worth Visiting?

Often overlooked by tourists travelling between El Nido and Puerto Princesa, Port Barton is a beautiful resort. The beaches are clean, the sunsets are stunning and the island-hopping tours take you to some of the best coral reefs in the area. It is a small, chilled-out town and the perfect place to slow down your travels. It was easily my favourite place on our Philippine adventure so far. A must-visit.