The Underground River. Puerto Princesa, Philippines
The Underground River of Puerto Princesa. A hassle to get a ticket and annoying boat guides. But as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, it’s worth seeing. Even if you are just passing through on your way to go Island Hopping in El Nido, I’d suggest trying to fit it in. Here are some photos and some things you should know about this amazing natural phenomenon. For a place to stay in PP, check out the Acacia Tree Hotel. (This post has now had 3,000+ views. Thanks for reading and sharing, everybody!)
Getting tickets and a tour
If you are thinking of visiting Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines, it is probably with the intent of doing the now famous Underground River cave tour. Declared a world natural wonder in 2011, the river now sees up to 900 visitors a day in what is a very strictly controlled natural park area. You must apply in advance for admission, and there are no exceptions. No tickee, no entree.
OK, there are some exceptions. In most cases, you have to book a month ahead in high season in order to get one of the coveted park permission passes. In my case, I landed in Puerto Princesa and just went straight to the main government booking agency at the City Coliseum and begged. It worked. Just ask at your hotel where it is and look for the sign in the photo below.
If you are less of a flake than I am and you actually plan the stuff you do, you can find out all the relevant info about booking directly at the official booking office here ==> UPDATE: The official site has been suspended, probably due to not paying website fees or something. So at the moment, the only way to book would be to reach out to a tour agency, preferably one in PP that actually specializes in UR tours.
Armed with my permission slip, I went to the travel agency across the street and booked a tour. Basically, they do everything. They pick you up at your hotel, feed you, get you right to the tour start point and bring you home. The cost for a full tour was 1,500 pesos…minus the 250 peso park entry fee I’d obtained on my own.
The long and winding road…
The trip to the Underwater River park is about 2 hours of winding and often bumpy roads. When you get there, you have to hand over your passport or some ID so they can check you into the park. Don’t worry. It’s safe.
Then you’ll have to buy a Palawan baseball cap to be a douchy tourist like me. And, of course, to avoid sunstroke. They give you a free buffet lunch, but you never know how long you’ll have to wait as it’s first-come first-serve…and there was a parking lot full of vans ahead of us. Still, we were on our way within an hour. It’s a 15 minute ride to the drop-off beach where the tour begins.

The port at Sabang on the mainland. These are the ferry boats.

The “Sleeping Giant.” The river flows under him, with the highest point in the cave under his nose.

This is where the boat drops you off. It’s a 3 or 4 minute walk to the entrance of the caves.

You’re never alone at the River. It’s a constant nautical traffic jam.
The Tour

The group from the van from Puerto Princesa to Sabang. All super nice Pinoys
Ok. Everybody got their fluorescent orange hard hat and life vest on? All the fat foreigners been told repeatedly that they have to sit on their own because they’re fatties and the boats are built to Filipino size? OK, climb on board and prepare to be amazed.

Fun times!

All fat foreigners sit on your own! Ok, I’m guilty as charged there.

Don’t sit in the back! The guide is annoying and there are too many heads in the way. Sit in the front so you can control the light.

And they were never seen or heard from again…
Oh, and one thing. If you’re at the front of the boat, you will be in charge of the spot light. The boat paddler guy will tell you where to point from time to time. But in the interim, please don’t be like the guy in our boat who was moving the light around so much even the 40,000 bats hanging above us in the caves were getting dizzy. My eyes were darting around so much I thought I was going to spaz into an epileptic seizure. Next time I do the tour, I’m definitely holding the light.
Here’s a bit of video of the trip and caves.
The caves themselves are amazing. At one point, the roof is 65 meters above your noggin. Unfortunately, I have no pics beyond what is in the video. It’s really dark in there. Check out Benson Kua’s blog for some interior shots of the cave. Here’s one from Benson Kua’s Blog.

Courtesy of Benson Kua’s Blog
The only downside of the tour…and it’s a big one, were the boat guides. They never shut up. They all have this script that includes one “pigure” (many Filipinos have a problem with the “f” sound) that can been seen in the limestone after another. Somewhat pucking annoying!
“Oh, look, sir, Po, there’s a pigure of Bart Simpson. Oh, ma’am, Po, look, there’s Jesus. Wow, it must be holy water. Or, if there are bats, it’s holy shit…don’t open your mouth” etc etc ad nauseam.
What everybody wanted was for the guide to keep quiet for a minute and just let us soak in this amazing natural wonder in silence. And no, it wasn’t just the foreigners complaining. We were the only ones to tell our van guides, but the Filipinos in our group were talking about it as well. They just didn’t want to make it official. I guess the Pinoys are a bit like the Japanese like that. Suffering in silence.
So…if anybody from the tourism section of Puerto Princesa reads this, PLEASE tell the guides to cut back on the useless chat and give people a few moments of silence to concentrate on the experience. A bit more silence will make the experience sooooo much better. Too much talk is never a good thing. And I talk way too much, so I know what I’m talking about.
But at the end of the day…
The tour is AWESOME!
The Underground River is something worth seeing. They take you in about a half-kilometer into the caves. It’s mysterious. It’s awe-inspiring. It’s dripping water on your head, and, yes, true to their jokes, it’s dripping bat shit on your head from time to time as well. The water is clear and pristine and cool to the touch. The boat seems to move forward more easily than you’d expect from the guide paddling slowly behind you. And it’s over much sooner than you’d like it to be.
But it doesn’t have to be. If you want to dig deep, you can do a combination tour of a boat trip plus walking through the caves for a total of about 8km. I aspire to do this some day. But I plan to insist on a guide who is a deaf-mute.
Cool animals
Two things to watch out for on the walk between the drop off and the tour lagoon: monkeys and monitor lizards. What’s a monitor lizard? Think Jurassic Park, but smaller.

A monitor lizard who just wants to be left in peace. I can dig that.
Looks like fun! ^__^
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It is, indeed. You gotta check out Palawan some time, Tom!
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I haven’t been there, but I wonder if a secret organization 🙂 of tourist guides have been told to talk too much the world over.
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lol Yeah — there’s definitely something going on with all the talking. BUt it was soooo absolutely worth going there. And I’ll go again…although as I said, next time I’ll be with friends and hire the boat…then do the 8K walk into the caves. That would be something to remember. Anyway, be sure to hit there and El Nido as well. Lots to see and do 🙂
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And thanks for taking the time to comment, BTW!
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Feeling the quiet around you is one of the great parts of being in nature. I’ll let the guides know your feedback. I’ll be traveling with a tour organized by the Philippines’ Department of Tourism starting Sunday as one of their invited media partners – hope you’ll follow my blog!
Also, you know ‘po’ is a sign of respect, right? Though I have no idea why Filipinos pronounce P’s like F’s and vice versa, but I’m sure my broken Tagalog sounds hilarious to them, too!
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That sounds like a great trip! And I shouldn’t be so hard on the guides as it’s not their fault. They are told what to do during the trip, so the people who need to get feedback from customers about this are exactly the PDoT people. And yes, I’ll absolutely be keeping track of your trip. But just to be sure, feel free to give me a nudge in the ribs here when you get there. I’ve got a ton of travel stuff coming up and I get a bit distanced from the Internet during those times. Bon voyage.
Oh, and yes, I’m familiar with Po. I actually know a fair bit of Tagalog now, having spent so much time living in the Phils. But I can’t get any kind of fluency. It’s definitely one of the hardest grammar systems I’ve encountered. So if you think your Tagalog makes them laugh, you should hear mine. lol
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Oh, never mind — I just picked up that you’ll be there on Sunday!!!! WOW. I’ll be following you for sure.
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Stunning cave photo – I hope you get back for the 8K walk into the caves – that must be amazing.
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Thanks for the comment, Maria 🙂 I think the cave photo was the one I borrowed from another blogger. But it’s a great photo. And yes, the 8Km trip is on my list of cool stuff to do. Have you been to Palawan?
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Thanks for making me laugh and at the same time more inspired to visit Palawan…
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I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for the comment. And I hope you do visit Palawan some day. It’s amazing!
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You’ve been to the Underground River already? And I thought I was the Filipino one. LOL. Will be going there hopefully by 2015. Still need to save up. Haha.
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Yes, I think I was a Pinoy in a past life. lol You’ll enjoy Palawan for sure. As for the Underground River, if you’re with a few friends, consider finding somebody who will give you a longer tour into the back. The regular tours go by too fast. Thanks for the comment!
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My girlfriend already went there with her friends last September so I will have a tour guide when I go to Puerto Princesa. Haha. She also wished she sat at the front sp she would control the light. Next time, we’ll know where to sit. 🙂
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EXACTLY!!!! That’s exactly what I thought. I’ll definitely be the lighting guy next time. Plus, it gives you a bit of distance from the annoying monotone guide dude in the back.
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Thank you so much for your entry. It is very informative for me where I’m going there in Jan!
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Thank you so much for posting. I’m really glad you found this helpful. Have a great trip. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
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Hahaha! I was looking for a post of how long the underground river tour is then stumbled to your blog. Interesting! Your post is so funny. Yes, I agree I would like a few minutes of silence in order to enjoy the tour, we’ll be going in March provided that i would be able to sort out everything. And I’m definitely going to seat at the front and let my husband hold the light! 🙂 Thanks for the helpful info.
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Hi Lesley,
Glad you enjoyed the post! And glad it will serve to help make your boat tour waaaaaay less annoying. lol Have a great trip!
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I enjoy reading all your blogs….I thought I see in one of your post that you are from Canada….and if I remember correctly you are working in Japan….I hope I got this right! I am mentioning this as I am from Canada with my husband and lots of relatives. We are planning to go to Puerto Princesa late April to see the UGR and find your posts to be very informative.
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I am indeed from Canada…and I do in fact work in Japan. Good memory! 🙂 Sounds like you have a major family trip planned. Sounds like fun! I think you’ll like the UGR…but if you can make it to El Nido, too, I soooooo recommend it 🙂 Thanks for posting and thanks very much for the nice comments about my blog, eh! (Added for Canadian emphasis lol)
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What time did you get back to Puerto Princesa after the tour?
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I think it’s about a 2-ish hour drive each way to and from PP. I was on the not-so-early tour, so I think I was done around 2, back in PP with a beer in my hand around 5. But if you do the super early one (tour operators all leave PP at different times), you could get back much earlier.
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I ran into your post while trying to find out if the 2 hour drive to get to the UR is really winding enough to cause motion sickness. I never had a problem before until three years ago when I got so sick on a ferry ride from Macau back to HK island. We will be in PP in December. How was the road? Btw I enjoyed your post. Very informative and helpful. Thanks.
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Thanks for the kind words. Glad it could help. As for the road, it was pretty windy and really bumpy in one section where they were fixing the road. Sea sickness is more of a problem when you’re inside the boat — so in a car, if you can keep looking out the window, it will help reduce the problem. Or hire a private driver so you can tell him to take it easy on the curves 🙂 Have a great trip!
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I’ll be in my first trip to Palawan and I came across your blog. I can’t stop laughing while reading it. Can’t wait to experience it soon. Thanks for the entertaining and informative write-up.
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Thanks Laya 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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Hi just a question. How long is the overall tour on the Underground River?
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Hi Ryan. Thanks for stopping by the blog. If you’re leaving from PP, you basically need to slot off the entire morning for it. If they pick you up at 9, you’ll probably get back at 2ish, if my memory serves. But it all depends on how busy the tours are when you arrive. We had to wait almost an hour before we could get on the boat that takes you to where the actual UR boat trip starts. Enjoy!
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Great info on the blog! and great couple of articles on getting around Palawan as well. Just one question, or piece of advice; your writing has a very negative feeling to it. Seems like you were constantly complaining about the congested boats, talkative guides, touristy hats and fat people, etc. Is that just your humor? May throw some readers off, as I wasn’t sure if you were joking or complaining. Thx for the info though!
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Nope. I was definitely complaining. Mostly just about the tour guides in the boats, which really ruined it for a lot of the people on the tour. Everything else was great. As for the fat people — if you read the article, that was also from the tour guides, who seemed to think it was pretty funny with the joke about fat foreigner needing double seats etc. Still, the Phils is one of my fave destinations. I’ve been going there for over a decade and I’ll keep going — super nice people; super gorgeous beaches. Have you been there yet?
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hi mike,i been reading your article since yesterday it helps me a lot thanks to you,i have a question about the trip in palawan is it possible to visit the underground river in a day?we plan to got there in october and it worry us because i just learned that it took 6 hours to go to el nido from pp we plan to stay for 4 days in el nido can i ask is it possible to visit all of the tourist spot there in that short time? i hve no idea about the time table pls help thanks
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Hi Gracie. Thanks for writing. Glad you’re finding this post helpful 🙂 Yes, you can do the UR in one day. If you are an early riser, like, very early, you could be there first thing in the morning and be back home by noon…then just jump on the bus to El Nido. I’m a lazy ass, so I just gave an entire day to the UR and just chilling at PP that night, but I wasn’t on a tight schedule. Anyway, yes, you can do the UR AND get to El Nido within one day, assuming you have everything booked and organized. You’ll LOVE El Nido, by the way.
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Thanks Mike. Your information is very helpful and it gave me an idea on how to go about planning our trip to PP and EN for next year. Since I grew up in the Philippines, I can relate to what you are complaining about and actually finds it very funny. Also, there is no “F” in Pilipino alphabet which is why most Filipinos have difficulties pronouncing it, including my wife. Keep writing so we can keep laughing. Good luck on your future travels.
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Glad it helped. I haven’t been posting much at all lately. I’m based in Bangkok now, but I don’t get out of the city much — but I’ll start up again once I get back on the road!
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hi mike,i read your article today and it helps me a lot thanks to your info,im planning to go there next year month of May alone… then go to el nido too… excited for that…
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I’m happy the post was helpful. You’ll love it!!
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Haha amazing blog post especially the image captions! I hope I can visit this national park sometime soon! I can see my self in awe and excitement if we start entering the cave and see those stalagmites and stalactite ahhh amazing!!!
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Yeah, you should definitely check out the UR. Very cool place!!
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This place looks really amazing and beautiful…
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