2 Tourist Scams in El Nido

You walk into your fourth travel agency on Calle Real in El Nido looking for a ferry ticket to Coron, and every agent tells you the same thing: Montenegro Lines and Bunso Ki Ferry are sold out for the next four days.

You are about to give up and book a flight via Manila when an agent leans across the counter and says he can get you on 'another boat' tomorrow morning, ₱2,500 cash. He waves a chit toward a printed ferry-style logo, mentions an unfamiliar port name in northern Palawan, and tells you a van will pick you up at five a.m. The pitch is fast, the price is good, and the alternative is two extra nights in El Nido — most travelers say yes.

What the agent does not tell you is that the boat is not a Montenegro-class roll-on roll-off ferry. It is a fishing barge or an older bangka cargo vessel, departing not from El Nido proper but from a small dock in Liminangcong or near Taytay, two to three hours overland by van. The crossing to Coron then runs ten to fourteen hours on open sea — the same channel the licensed ferries cross in eight, but on a vessel with thinner hull, fewer life jackets, and no covered passenger area.

This is the route where things have gone genuinely wrong. The Linapacan and Calamian channels run a confused cross-swell when the southwest monsoon kicks in, and the alternative boats are not built for it. Tourists have been stranded for hours when engines failed mid-crossing, badly seasick on open decks for an entire day, and in several reported cases genuinely in danger when weather turned. The Philippine Coast Guard has flagged unregistered passenger vessels on the El Nido–Coron route across multiple advisories in 2024 and 2025.

The agent margin on these tickets is enormous, which is why the pitch is everywhere when the official ferries sell out. The boat operators run on the assumption that a sold-out tourist will accept a marginal vessel rather than lose a day, and the El Nido travel-agent network earns commission on every seat regardless of what happens after the van leaves. The alternative — a one-hour Manila flight via PAL or Cebu Pacific — usually costs less than the alternative-ferry ticket once you factor in the lost day and the seasickness recovery.

Book Montenegro Lines or Bunso Ki Ferry weeks in advance through 12go.asia or directly with the operator — these are the only two licensed passenger ferries on the El Nido–Coron route. If they are sold out, fly via Manila on PAL or Cebu Pacific, or wait for the next sailing; never accept a same-day 'alternative ferry' from a Calle Real agent without verifying the vessel name on the Philippine Coast Guard registry. Your life is worth more than saving one day. If a boat looks unsafe, refuse to board, and report unlicensed operators to the Philippine Coast Guard at 143 or the Tourist Police at +63 2 524-1660.

A friendly booth on Calle Real quotes you ₱1,200 for Tour A — the famous Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, and Shimizu Island day-trip — and you book on the spot, since the same tour at Art Café or your hotel was quoted at ₱1,800–2,000.

The next morning you walk down to the El Nido pier with your dry bag and snorkel. You hand over your booking chit and the boat captain ticks your name off a list. Then a young woman from the operator steps in with a clipboard and starts naming numbers. There is the El Nido Eco-Tourism Development Fee, ₱200, mandatory for all visitors. There is an environmental fee per lagoon, ₱200 each. There is a kayak rental fee for Big Lagoon and Small Lagoon, where motorized boats are not allowed inside, ₱300 per kayak.

Lunch, she explains, is not included — that is ₱250 if you want the buffet at the picnic island. By the time the boat pulls away from the pier, the ₱1,200 tour has become ₱2,450 and there is no way to back out without losing the original payment. The fees are all real and legitimate, posted on signs at the pier and at the Eco-Tourism office near the church. The 'scam' is that honest operators include them in the quoted price upfront, while the cheap booth on Calle Real strips them out to make the headline number look like a deal.

The all-inclusive fair price for a real Tour A from a reputable operator (El Nido Boutique & Art Café, El Nido Paradise, or your hotel's tour desk) runs ₱1,500–2,200 with every fee, kayak, and lunch baked in. The base-price strip and surprise-fee stack pattern is documented across Reddit, the El Nido TripAdvisor forum, and the long-running Lonely Planet thread, and it is consistent across most of the cheaper Calle Real booths. The fees themselves fund actual marine-park enforcement — they are not negotiable, and operators who say otherwise are lying.

A second, smaller variation pushes a 'Tour A Express' or 'Tour A Lite' at ₱900–1,000, which turns out to skip Big Lagoon entirely or substitute Cadlao Lagoon for the headline stops, with the fee stack still added at the pier. The price reveal happens after you have left the pier on the wrong tour, when refusing means the day is already lost.

When booking any El Nido island tour, ask: 'Does the price include the Eco-Tourism Development Fee, all environmental fees, kayak rental for Big Lagoon and Small Lagoon, and lunch?' and book only once every line is ticked. Use El Nido Boutique & Art Café, El Nido Paradise, or your hotel — they quote all-in. Pay by credit card, never full upfront in cash to a beachfront booth, and confirm the boat number on a printed voucher. The fees are real and non-negotiable; only the bundling is the scam. If a booth misrepresents the price, call the Tourist Police at +63 2 524-1660.