Most people come to Malcapuya Island in Coron on day trips. This lovely island is about 1.5 hours away by boat from the Coron town proper. It’s close to some other small islands like Banana Island (which has a short strip of white sand beach) and Bulog Island (which has a short sandbar during low tide). Thanks to tour operator Kawil Tours, we had the chance to stay on Malcapuya Island overnight. Except for a few friendly beach dogs, our guides, and the island’s caretakers, we had the beach pretty much to ourselves.
As the sun set the night before, we docked on a rocky coast on the north side of the island. From there, we took a short walk to the main beach on the south side, which has a long stretch of soft white sand and a few cottages along the shore. On the left side of the beach, there’s a small cliff where you can get a great view of two sides of the island.
I’m not really a morning person. My normal routine in Manila involves sleeping way past midnight and starting my day at around 9 or 10 in the morning. It’s only when I travel that I wake up really excited for a new day. Catching the sunrise on this island after our island-hopping trip around Coron and before we headed to Culion was a lovely way to start the day. Here are a few snapshots and some tips below on staying in Malcapuya island overnight.
Staying Overnight in Malcapuya Island:
- Our room for the night was a simple cottage by the beach, an enclosed thatched hut with an electric fan and a mattress on the floor. Cost for cottage rental was P750/person.
- There are two restrooms with open air showers a few meters away from the huts.
- The island does not have electricity, but they have a generator which provides light and electricity at night.
- There are outlets in the huts where you can charge phones and camera batteries.
- You can also opt to stay in a simple house-for-rent on an elevated portion a few meters from the shoreline, which has a single room, basic yet comfortable beds, and a decent restroom.
- Things to bring: insect-repellent lotion, a hammock, beach blanket, flashlight, basic toiletries, sunblock, snacks, drinking water
- There’s a small sari-sari store on the island where chips, drinks & beer are sold. However, it’s best to bring your own food for cooking for dinner. The best meal of our whole Coron-Culion trip (including all the overpriced restaurants in Coron) was the freshly grilled prawns on the beach prepared by Elee of Kawil Tours.
I will include this to my bucket list! Thanks!
Hey great blog! I love your unique adventures. I hope to visit the unique places that you’ve visited.
Neil Nicerio
nicerioadventures.blogspot.com
Enjoy, Marco! 🙂
Thanks for dropping by Neil! There are lots of unique places in the country just waiting to be discovered 🙂
been here last January 2013 and all I can say is there’s no place like Malcapuya Island –
peaceful and beautiful island, calm sea and the people are very nice as well.
Hi, Kara..I really enjoyed reading your blog..
I’m planning to get there this month, I just want to ask if there is already an available cooking set n their nipa hut at malcapuya island? And how much is the cost of your boat from coron town to malcapuya?
Thank you and have a nice day.:-)
Hi Mina. There are no facilities for cooking in the nipa huts and at the house for rent in Malcapuya island. We availed services from Kawil Tours, which has its own kitchen on their boat. We bought food from the market for cooking and the guides prepared the food. Kawil Tours offers packages (we did Coron-Culion-Malcapuya) which includes boat service and overnight stay. I was told that it’s not advised to just rent a boat and magpahatid lang because there are no boats in Malcapuya to take you back, so you have to rent it for the duration. You can contact them directly here. From Coron, I think rates vary if you’re just doing an island hopping day trip depending on the number of islands. Hope this helps and enjoy your trip. 🙂
Hi, thanks for sharing your stay at Malcapuya Island. I emailed Kawil Tour to get a quotation for an overnight stay for 4pax. This is what they quoted:
Jun 17
10:30am – ETA in Busuanga Airport
11:15 – ETA in Coron town; board Kawil boat
11:30 – ETD, boat trip to Malcapuya Island (travel time: approx. 2 hours)
– lunch onboard
– Kawil fishing along the way
3:00pm – ETA, Malcapuya Island
June 18 (Day 2)
12nn – ETD, boat trip back to Coron town
2:00pm – ETA in Coron town
The package rate for four (4) guests is Php19,600. This is inclusive already of everything that will be needed during the 2D1N trip – private boat service, tour guide fees, overnight fee, all meals and snacks, swimming/snorkeling gears, and a complimentary one-way airport shuttle service (Busuanga Airport to Coron) for 4 passengers.
I know you went there 2yrs ago but did it cost you that much? —around 5k per person?
Thanks!
Angel
Hi Angel, the cost per person is usually lower the bigger the group is. But the rate is reasonable since you will have a private boat for the duration of the trip. Here’s another package being offered by another tour operator in a lower price range, but they have a minimum of 6 pax. Here’s another site you can contact to inquire about tours. http://malcapuyaisland.blogspot.com/