Things to Do in Coron Town, Palawan

Atmosphere

A salt-stained gateway town of tricycle horns and idling outboards—sun-bleached, rough around the edges, with limestone ramparts rising offshore like a dare.

Price Level

$$

Safety

good

Kayangan Lake

Coron’s headliner delivers exactly what the brochures promise. The climb over the karst ridge drops you onto a wooden platform and then down into a jade lake ring-fenced by sheer limestone. The water is so clear it feels like glass until you hit the thermocline where fresh meets salt and the world ripples. Crowds arrive by late morning; show up at dawn and the hush feels almost ceremonial.

Tip: Hire a private boat and shove off at 6am—group tours leave at 8:30, so you’ll swim alone for the first half-hour. The ₱300 environmental fee is collected dockside, cash only.

Mt. Tapyas

Seven hundred concrete steps climb from the edge of town to a giant cross and a 360-degree payoff that, on a clear evening, makes the ascent feel like petty change. Below, the bay unrolls—islands, pump boats, the tin roofs of Coron Town suddenly tidy from above. Hawks bank at eye level; the summit wind dries sweat before you can complain.

Tip: Leave town at 4:45pm—you’ll summit in time for the light show and dodge the midday furnace. Pack water and a headlamp; the steps are pitch black on the way down.

Barracuda Lake

Divers rave, snorkelers shrug, and the reason is simple: the lake sits inside a collapsed karst bowl where the water flips from cool freshwater to a hot layer at 14 m. Your skin registers the switch before your brain does. Underwater, the limestone is knife-edged and fissured, a moonscape without the moon. The legendary barracuda has vanished, but the geology steals the show anyway.

Tip: Certified? Demand a dive rather than a snorkel—the thermocline is the entire point. Shops in Coron town charge ₱1,800–2,500 for a single dive, gear included.

Maquinit Hot Springs

Thirty minutes by tricycle from downtown, these saltwater pools sit flush against the mangroves with open ocean beyond. The water runs a solid 40 °C in the main basins; dusk paints everything amber and empties the place of day-trippers. Expect stone walls, no spa frills, just heat and the nearby crash of waves.

Tip: Arrive after 5pm for cooler air and elbow room. Agree on ₱150–200 for the tricycle before you leave; entry is ₱200. Bring a towel—rentals are thin and overpriced.

WWII Japanese Shipwrecks

On 24 September 1944, American aircraft sent a Japanese supply fleet to the bottom of Coron Bay. Today those hulls form one of Southeast Asia’s finest wreck circuits. The Okikawa Maru and Irako headline the list—colossal ships cloaked in coral, with swim-throughs from beginner corridors to tight, silty mazes. Even dyed-in-the-coral reef addicts feel the gravity of diving a war grave.

Tip: Stick to PADI shops along the main drag—Rocksteady and D'Divers keep their boats and crews sharp. A two-dive wreck day runs ₱3,500–4,500, distance dependent. Advanced Open Water unlocks the deeper, show-stopper wrecks.

Coron Public Market

Locals send visitors straight to the seafood section on the ground floor. Point at a fish, squid or clump of shellfish, haggle the kilo price, then haul it upstairs where a tiny kitchen fries or grills it for a small fee. The floor is wet, the lights are harsh, but a slab of grilled tuna belly eaten at a plastic table above the street might be the smartest ₱250 you spend in Palawan.

Tip: Show up between 6–7am for first pick. Jab a finger at whatever glistens, agree on the per-kilo price, then head upstairs—cooking fee runs ₱50–100 per dish. The calamansi-soy dip is free and mandatory.

Lolo Nonoy's Food Station

Filipino home-style

Specialty: Order the crispy pata—deep-fried pork knuckle at ₱350—with skin that shatters and meat that surrenders, all rescued by a sharp spiced vinegar. If the night turns breezy, add the sinigang na hipon.

La Sirenetta

Italian-Filipino

Specialty: The wood-fired pizzas (₱320–450) punch well above their weight for a sleepy island town. Order the seafood pizza — it arrives covered in the morning's catch and enough garlic to keep the vampires away. The wine list won't win awards, but by Philippine standards it's respectable.

Santino's Grill

Grilled seafood

Specialty: Grilled blue marlin steak (₱280) lands on your plate with garlic rice — simple, honest, and exactly what you want after a day on the water. The squid stuffed with tomato and onion earns its keep too. Plastic chairs, paper napkins, cold beer — no one's trying to impress you, and that's the charm.

Buda's Best Halo-Halo

Filipino dessert

Specialty: Halo-halo (₱80–120) arrives stacked with ube ice cream, leche flan, macapuno, and sweet beans. At 2pm, this isn't dessert — it's survival against the heat. When Palawan mangoes are in season (March–May), the mango version becomes exceptional.

Kawayanan Grill

Filipino barbecue

Specialty: Chicken inasal (₱180) gets its color from calamansi and annatto, then picks up smoke from coconut husks. The taste drifts from the Bacolod style — less sweet, more char. Their kinilaw (₱220) uses whatever the boats hauled in that morning, brightened with coconut vinegar.

Bobby's Bar

This is where backpackers wash up on the main strip. Cheap drinks, a pool table, and the loose conversations that start when everyone's just stepped off an island-hopping tour. Tomorrow's dive plans take shape over rum-and-cokes.

Backpackers, pool table, loud after 10pm

The Hop Hostel Rooftop Bar

Coron's closest thing to a scene sits on a rooftop with views over town and the bay. The cocktails rise above standard island pours, and the crowd skews older than the backpacker crowd. Weekends bring a DJ — though calling it that might be stretching the definition.

Rooftop views, cocktails, mellow crowd

Sea Dive Resort Bar

Dive instructors and divemasters claim this waterfront bar after a day of wreck diving. Talk drifts to nitrogen narcosis stories and gear debates. San Miguel Light flows from the draft tap, and no one rushes you out.

Diver hangout, waterfront, unhurried