RESORT
Glamping on one of the best beaches in Asia
Nacpan, a short road trip to the north of El Nido town in Palawan, is laid back, unspoiled and the perfect place to get back to nature under canvas P H O T O S BY L A L A M A G B U H AT
W
e realise when we arrive at Nacpan Beach that our timing could have been better. We left Manila on the earliest flight — an effort to beat the worst of the capital’s notorious traffic — and arrived at Lio Airport near El Nido at the kind of time I’d turn over and go back to sleep for an hour if I was at home. Our transport is waiting and less than an hour later we have arrived at the resort, where people are still milling around the breakfast buffet or pouring their first coffee of the day. The problem is, it’s so early our room — okay, our tent — isn’t ready. Check out is not until midday and it’s still got to be cleaned. What to do? My wife finds the solution. In a small garden, behind the restaurant, is a shady nipa hut where they are offering massage and spa services. The prices are temptingly provincial, a few hundred pesos, so we pile in and sign up for a two-hour massage each. As they massage, we snooze. When it’s over, I feel fit enough to 18
All tents are just a few steps from the beach
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run a marathon. But I don’t. Our tent is ready, so we move in. We are staying at Nacpan Beach Glamping, about 20km north of Lio Airport (starting point for our trip to el Nido and the beautiful islands of the Bacuit Archipelago) on a paved road. For most of the way at least. When we turn off the highway, there’s a few kilometers of unsealed, pockmarked dirt road. The silver lining is that Nacpan Beach itself remains relatively unspoiled. Backpackers on hired motorbikes venture out for the day from El Nido. There are a few small resorts and a few laidback restaurants. Apart from that there’s just the beach itself: a 4km crescent that from Nacpan Beach Glamping stretches north, almost disappearing into a fine, nebulous mist thrown by the waves. The beach is the main attraction, almost the only attraction. There don’t seem to be any water sports and there are no shops or bars. Boracay must have been like this in a previous life. Visitors eat
breakfast and swim, they eat lunch and take a siesta, they wake up and swim again. Before sunset the activity on the beach seems to ramp up a little, but it’s still nowhere near busy. Local children play, joined by a few curious but harmless dogs, and a handful of hawkers wander up and down offering pearls for sale. Tourists grab a drink and settle down for the sunset. Nacpan Beach faces due west, so the views as the sky changes from veiny blue to deep apricot and coral pink are enough to make you delirious. Nacpan Beach Glamping offers complimentary sunset sailing at 5pm every day for guests. Private sailing trips and romantic dinners on the beach can also be arranged. It’s hardly surprising that Nacpan Beach is gaining something of a cult following. It was chosen by the UK’s The Telegraph as one of the dreamiest beaches on earth. “This is the most spectacular beach in Palawan, a remote and pristine archipelago
