13 Fun Things to do with kids in El Nido, Philippines
This year we spent 10 days in El Nido with our 2 kids. My son is 5 years old and my daughter is 2. After doing 10 months of research we found that there was really limited information about going to El Nido with kids. The other thing we noticed is that overall there were not a lot of people that brought their kids to El Nido. We are a family of adventurers and drag our kids along with us for the ride, I wanted to share this information with you, because I think a part of the reason there were not a lot of kids travelling to El Nido is because there is not enough information on the area. 13 Fun Things to do with kids in El Nido, Philippines
In this article I will also include some tips on travelling to El Nido with your kids and recommendations about where to stay with kids in El Nido.
13 Fun Things to Do With Kids In EL Nido, Philippines
The Best things to do with Kids in El Nido
Beach days
The best beaches to take your kids to in EL Nido are Nacpan beach, Las Cabanas beach and Lio Beach.
Nacpan beach is a 30 minute tricycle ride from most areas and a driver will cost you around $500 pesos per day to get here. It is beautiful, the water is smooth and shallow and the sand is soft. There are restaurants here for you and your kids to eat at and there are washrooms close by for convenience. You can even get a massage on the beach, while your kids make sandcastles!
Lio Beach is Very beautiful, the grounds are amazing, the sand is soft and in the water it is shallow and sandy. There are also restaurants, public washrooms, hotels, security, and lifeguards. They sell ice cream at a small shop right on the beach and you do not have to pay for your lounge chairs here. The restaurants are beautiful and overlook the ocean.
Las Cabanas/Vanilla beach there are 2 names for some reason lol. This beach is very beautiful and the area is up and coming. There are 3 restaurants here and a shopping centre coming in. The restaurants spread out different types of loungers and pillows for tourists to use and the food is excellent. Just be careful with your kids here. In the shallow water it is rocky and there are sea urchins in the water. Also the water is not clear, so you cannot see what is down there.
Our choice as the best beach for kids in El Nido would be Lio beach. It is the safest and there are the most amenities here for your convenience. This list excludes the awesome beaches that are on the boat tours.
Rayden At Las Cabanas Beach, El Nido Philippines
2. Build a sand castle
Enjoy your quality time with your kids while you are in El Nido. Build a sand castle! This activity is a highly bonding activity you can do with your kids, it helps them challenge their creativity while doing hard work. While I was on this 2 month trip with my kids I challenged them on many beach days to build a sand castle larger than the last. They emmediately told me I was coming along for the ride and we spent literally hours creating these huge castles.
We also liked to dig deep into the sand to create a place for water to go when the waves would push in. My son loved this because every once in a while a small fish or crab would wash into our little area and he would go nuts!
3. Water fights
You can buy cheap plastic water guns at the small shops in El Nido for dirt cheap. I think the price worked out to $300 Pesos that you can negotiate down to $100 pesos if you are good ($2 USD). I made some ground rules about the water gun so that everyone was happy with them, no shooting in the face and only shoot it at one of us or an inanimate object. Last thing I need on a vacation is to get into it with someone because my kid shot them with a water gun lol.
4. Buy matching tank tops
Most of the small shops sell El Nido t- shirts and tank top and you can get matching ones as they come in all sizes. Tank tops in El Nido are $200 Pesos each and they will ask you for $350 pesos at first to see if you will pay the price. Tell them $200 or you will walk away and they will do it. They have some decent quality tank tops here, that are cute! Every location we moved to in the Philippines we tried to find matching tank tops, it’s cheezie but funny.
5. Swimming pools
Some of the hotels have awesome swimming pools in El Nido. Take advantage of this to cool your kids off in the hot El Nido afternoons. If you are staying in town in El Nido you will not want to go to that beach as there are so many boats polluting the water. I definitely did not want y kids in there, so we would sometimes opt for the pool in the afternoon. This place is really hot and humid so having a beach or pool to me is essential if you are travelling with kids.
The hotel we stayed at in town is called Cuna, they had an awesome pool, but the hotel was in bad shape so I would keep looking if you are shopping for hotels in town with a pool. Another awesome area to stay would be Lio beach. They have swimming pools and an awesome beach, it gives you the best of both worlds. I stayed there for 5 night of the 10 I stayed in El Nido and we were at Hotel Covo, which we loved.
El Nido Swimming Pools. Fun things to do with kids in el nido, Philippines
6. Boat tours to private islands
The boat tours in El Nido are really inexpensive and you can take your kids on them. This is one of the main reasons to go to El Nido in the first place. Because we were travelling with kids we rented a private boat that included a huge feast for lunch. They took us anywhere we wanted to go. If you choose to go with a group you will be in a boat with 15-20 other people. Some of which will get sea sick and others that you will not enjoy. I have a full review of this experience here. But for your quick info the private boat costed $8000 pesos and will take out up to 10 people. If you join a group it will cost $1300 pesos per person so it is cheaper to have your own boat if you are in a group of 5 or more.
The best part about the private boat is that if we found an island our kids didn’t like or was hard to reach from the boat, you can tell them to turn around and go somewhere else. Don’t get scammed by the tour companies when you are renting, read my full review.
El Nido Boat Tour A Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Hidden Beach, 7 Commandos, Helicopter Island
7. Learn how to snorkel
The shops also sell snorkel sets in El Nido town. Teach your kids the joy of learning about the underwater world in El Nido. I bought my son his snorkel before I left home so that we could practice in the pool before the ocean. This is an amazing activity to share with your kids and El Nido is a good place to do it as there are shallow reefs here with a lot of sea life. My sons first time snorkelling at 3 years old he saw a sea turtle and was hooked after that. We hold hands and point out all of the cool things we see. Make them wear a life jacket and read our guide on how to teach your kids how to snorkel.
Snorkelling on El Nido Boat Tours
8.Kayaking
I love taking my kids out on kayaks, it gives them a reel feeling of purpose to help navigate the boat. It also helps build amazing memories! Some of the boats you can rent in El Nido will have a free kayak on them so if you are renting a private boat ask them if they have this included. Also when you get to the small lagoon and big lagoon they will rent them there for $150 Pesos.
Kayaking with Kids in El Nido. Fun things to do with kids in El Nido
9. Swing in a restaurant
This is a trend in El Nido, many of the restaurants have actual swings in them. Your kids will love this and it will give them something to do while you are sipping on a cocktail!
10. Lizard hunting
There are a lot of small geckos in El Nido and they are harmless. I don’t let my kids touch them, but we go hunting for them often. My daughter loves it and she yells out “where are you”? They hide during the day, but at night you will find them around lights as they will be hunting themselves for bugs! We had one in one of our rooms in El Nido and I kept reminding my family it was good to have in the room because there are loads of mosquitos in El Nido and have a really itchy bite!
11. Teach them a new language
During our travels, whenever we are in a new country we like to teach our kids the basics of the language. In the Philippines we taught them Salamat (thank you), Comostas (hello) and a few other essential words. The cool thing about the Philippines is that most speak english well and can explain to you what things mean. There are tons of dialects in the Philippines and hello may be something totally different in every place you go. Try to learn this by talking to locals, they really like that. It helps you to open a dialogue with another culture and teach your kids to respect difference.
Learning El Nido Philippines Language from friends!
12. Show them how other cultures live
I really like my kids seeing how other cultures live. It help to give them perspective on their own situation back home and shows them that alternative living can be awesome!
13. Collect seashells
El Nido is for the most part a beach type destination, when you are there you will spend most of your days chilling out and relaxing on the beach. As soon as you make it more than that, El Nido will get harder for you to travel around with your kids. I made this mistake a few times where I forced myself to go into town and the result was the kids getting too hot. The stroller getting stuck on the poorly paved streets, and kids inhaling the smell of diesel from and overabundance of traffic for the area.
The Rampersauds
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