Our Philippines Itinerary covered Coron, Palawan, Bohol and Cebu Islands over a period of three weeks. In this article we will provide a brief review on each of the places we stayed in Coron.

Paolyn House Boats

The Paolyn House Boats’ website may be a little off putting and so might the price, but please do not be put off. We started our holiday in the Philippines here and it was by far and away our favourite place. It was magical.

The Houseboats are tethered platforms which float in a beautiful lagoon in the lee of Coron Island. The staff are all locals from the tribes on Coron island who have been employed as part of the project, without which the House Boats would not have been possible. Coron island is privately owned by the tribes who live on it, and tourists can only access specific tourist spots such as Kayangan Lake and Barracuda Lake.

To get there, they provide a water taxi across the bay from Coron town proper to the main reception building where you will be greeted by an enthusiastic member of staff. This is the main Houseboat where the kitchen and dining room is, as well as the reception. From here private little boats will take you to your House boat in the lagoon, driven carefully over the coral reefs by a member of staff.

Your own Houseboat will be fairly basic, the toilet is a pump action flush, the internet is pretty limited and the rooms are fairly small. But none of that matters. You will have your own decking area to sunbathe and take in the view, your own water sports equipment including kayak, paddle boards and snorkels and you can get your meals paddled out to you by boat. You can simply dive straight off your deck and snorkel with coral and fish, or paddle board around the bay taking in the mind-blowing scenery above water. The best bit though, is that the main sights are just around the corner. You can kayak to twin lagoon in 10 minutes, and if you do one of the tours offered (which are private), you can be at all the popular sights like Kayangan lake and Barracuda lake well before anyone else arrives from Coron Town Proper. Setting off early on a tour then allows you to spend the rest of the day chilling on your Houseboat decking and exploring the coastline nearby.

The prices are not insignificant if you are on a budget and all the tours are extra on top of that. It is much cheaper to stay in a hostel in Coron Town Proper and join a shared tour across the bay. However, if you splash your money somewhere on your Philippines holiday, this is the place to do it. It’s such a memorable and unique place to stay. Please don’t save your money here to splurge on a generic luxury chain hotel.

The Funny Lion

We stayed in the Funny Lion for two nights while we were in Coron Town Proper, technically on Busuanga island, across the bay form Coron Island. We originally only planned to be there for a night, but our expedition with Big Dream Boat Man across to El Nido was delayed (and eventually cancelled due to high winds). It is a great base for Coron Proper and is without doubt one of the nicer accommodation options in the town, which mostly consists of hostels for back packers. It has a great menu and a fantastic roof terrace with plunge pools, making it a great place to watch the sun dip over Coron island in the evening. The rooms are nice and clean as well, so it ticks pretty much all the boxes.

I really liked the name of the Funny Lion, it exudes character. However if I am being critical I found the Funny Lion in Coron (there is another one in El Nido) to be a little short in character. Perhaps this was because we had just come from Paolyn Houseboats which oozed charater and authenticity. It felt like it was trying to be too upmarket for what it was here. I would say it was quite expensive as well, although we booked one of the nicer rooms.