Coron is in the province of Palawan, Philippines on Busuanga Island. It is the largest town on the island and has a lot of accomodation. There are also resorts on nearby islands: Dive link, Coral Bay, Paradise. Wreck diving is the main attraction and many Japanese ships wait patiently for you under the sea. Nearby Coron Island has the beautiful Kayangan and Barracuda lakes the latter is known for its thermoclines and fabled gigantic barracudas.
Get in
Air:#Fly into Busuanga from Manila with
SEAIR or
Asian Spirit.
#Get a jeepney (~45 minutes) into Coron (P150 Dec/06). A/C cars apparently available for around P1500.
Sea:#
SuperFerry stops in Coron on its way to Puerto Princessa. Leaves Manila on Friday afternoon and arrives in Coron early Saturday morning. Heads back to Manila on Sunday night. Wait until a couple of days before it departs to get cheaper tickets. Don't wait too long, though.
#
Negros NavigationGet around
Tricycles are everywhere downtown. P5-7 for rides around town.Motorcycles are available for rent P500 plus gas to fill the tank.See
There is a cross on the mountain above town. You can look at it from below or climb up the path.Market Pier: home to shops, stalls, slaughter houses, diners, and karaoke. Great for hearing early morning karaoke and picking up supplies. The smell can get pretty bad close to the slaughter houses.The Coron sign. Noticable from the water is a Hollywood style sign up on a hill overlooking the town.Do
Island Hopping. Head down to the Market Pier and get a boat captain (P1000-1500) Boats generally handle around 6 passengers. Grab a lunch before you head out. Vivian at the Discovery Bar can arrange it all for you as well.#Barracuda Lake on Coron Island is amazing
# ? Lagoon (was beautiful but I missed it due to diving)
# CYC Island is nice but gets very busy. It's the only free beach in the area. Entrance fees for the other beaches aren't too steep (P100).
Diving. Lots of wreck diving and some decent coral as well. Discovery Divers (on the beautiful 'Discovery Island') and Sea Dive are the big ones. #
Discovery: Tucked away on 'Discovery Island' a 10 minute boat ride from the pier. Talk to Vivian in Coron town located at the Discovery Bar or get to the pier around 8am to catch the boat out. Gunter is a great guy with a lot of experience in the area (18 years? I read that he discovered the Cathedral). Bryan Kim was a fantastic instructor/dive master. Larson and Melody(?) are really friendly as well. Larson seems to be the wreck dive specialty course go to guy.
#
Sea Dive Located downtown on the water near the pier.
Sights - this stuff can be arranged by Vivian at the Discovery Bar#Horseback riding
#Mountain bike tours
#Jungle Treks
Go to the hot spring. Beautiful place to hang out in the evening/during storms. Suffers from tourist induced price hikes (P100) with P300 to rent the tricycle (prices quoted by Kokosnuss staff)Go camping on a (somewhat) deserted island. There are a couple of islands to check out. You can find everything you need in town/at resorts. Ask around. Gunter at Discovery seems to know of a couple good spots.All info as of December 2006Buy
Water - aquapure can hook you up with large containers of water and you can buy bottles basically anywhere in 500mL, 1L and 4L sizes.Drugstores - plentiful. Contrary to what you may hear you can buy sunscreen, Off (bug repellant), shampoo and all that other good drugstore stuff.Market - money can be exchanged for goods.Eat
Bistro Coron is the only place you need to go for food. It's amazing. Owned by Bruno it is home to fabulous food at reasonable prices. Entrees go from P155-270 for the most part but crab and lobster meals are available for more. Get the mousse, the apple pie, the coq au vin, the basquaise, the salade nicoise, the cordon bleu...San Miguel will set you back about P30. The good pizza would be excellent if the cheese was better. Kokosnuss Resort has a good kitchen. The food is good but not worth a trip away from Bistro unless you are going for the BBQ. They have a Palawan style all you can eat BBQ deal. 6 or more people required at P475 each. They also have a Christmas feast on Dec 24 which is the BBQ and definitely worth going to if you are around (tell them in advance if you are going) San Miguel is P32. Breakfasts are good as well.The Old House has friendly staff and cheap food. No knowledge of it's quality.There is a Vietnamese place as well as a Chinese restaurant somewhere around town both of which are reported to be good.You can get food at all the resorts. The breakfast at Discovery always looked good.The Chicken Grill looked promising.Drink
Bistro - you can also drink and play billiards at this amazing eatery.Discovery Bar - chill on the beautiful balcony over the water and overlooking the bay. Relaxing atmosphere complete with hammock. Great place to get your dive theory out of the way at. One billiard table. In CoronOttos - Rock out to some AC/DC and enjoy spying on the hustle and bustle of Coron's main street.The Old House - happy hour 5-7pm all you can drink rum and Coke for P50. Beer came with a coozie. Nice view of Coron's main street from the balcony.Norman's - kind of out of the way but worth the trip if only to look at the sign. Appears to be open even when Norman isn't around but only really wakes up when he is. The sign is awesome, though.There are a few 'Nite Clubs' around downtown the one across from the Bistro seems to be the most popular.Sea DiveSleep
Kokosnuss is outside of town a 10 minute walk up the main road. The rooms all surround a beautiful garden great for lounging around on less adventurous days. It suffers a bit from noise with roosters and dogs mouthing off at all hours and the surprisingly busy road. The staff can help you arrange things to do around the island (they use Discovery for diving).#Nipa hut rooms good for 2 or 3 at 12USD (shared bathroom) and 26USD (private bathroom) with fans. Be prepared to hear
everything your neighbours say/do as well as what goes on outside. Large rooms built in the local style which means quite open to the air. Private bathrooms are clean but the shared showers could be nicer. You may even aquire some gecko friends.
#Airconditioned rooms are 32-36USD. Not as traditional or large as the nipa huts but with thicker walls.
Sea Dive - Downtown near to the Market Pier. Could see it being a bit noisy at night but nothing that earplugs wouldn't cure. Discovery Resort - Perhaps the only place where you will be free from the calls of roosters and karaoke. On Decanituan Island (Discovery Island) about a 10 minute boat ride from town. A little isolated and very beautiful.Paradiso Pension (?) I think that's the name. Cheap place (4USD/night) not luxurious but cheap.
Coron can refer to the following things:
Coron, a municipality in Palawan in the PhilippinesCoron Island, under the jurisdiction of the municipalityCoron, Maine-et-Loire, a commune in the Maine-et-Loire département in FranceCoron is the Venetian name of the coastal town of Koroni on the Ionian Sea, in present-day Greece.
