El Nido, Philippines vs Phuket, Thailand which is better?
I love to follow the travels of the popular vlogger’s on Youtube, and 2 destinations come up often Phuket Thailand and El Nido Philippines. I have been to both locations multiple times and have spent a ton of time here especially in Phuket.
On my most recent trip we spent 10 days in El Nido and stayed in multiple locations during our stay. You can get more information and details about El Nido in our other articles.
If you are on the fence about which location is better for you I will answer all of the questions you might have in this El Nido vs Phuket show down.
So let’s get this started I will start by breaking it down by category.
El Nido Philippines Vs Phuket Thailand. Which is better
Cleanliness
El Nido
When I stayed in the main area in El Nido town it was very dirty, there are cockroaches in a lot of the restaurants and the bathrooms were filthy. There is no one actively cleaning the streets and the hotels and boats are draining sewage into the ocean. In my opinion the governments needs to step it up here.
Phuket
Phuket was very clean, although there are way more tourists here making a mess the roads and beaches are cleaned daily.
Some Places in El Nido Are really dirty. Specifically El Nido Town
2. Entertainment
El Nido
There are 2 nightclubs in El Nido and around 7 restobars. The clubs are small but fun. There are 2 places that have live bands every night.
Phuket
Phuket has huge entertainment complexes with hundreds of bars, restaurants and huge nightclubs. Phuket is by far a much better place for entertainment. There are strip clubs and lady bars as well!
3. Hotels
El Nido
There are around 20 hotels/hostels in El Nido. We stayed in 3 of them and I found that they were poorly managed. One of them was brand new and very beautiful called Cuna hotel but unfortunately it smelled like faces all of the time. I found that the hotels in El Nido were poorly managed in comparison to the hotels in Phuket. The prices of the hotels were similar to what we pay in Canada and the US.
Phuket
There are literally hundreds of hotels in all price ranges in Phuket. We have stayed in many of them and found them very clean and inexpensive. There are more beautiful and luxurious hotels in Phuket
4. Beaches
El Nido
There are 4 beaches in the El Nido mainland. El Nido town beach which is full of boats and dirty. Vanilla beach a short taxi ride is beautiful. Nacpan beach and Lio beach which are both very beautiful and both have great amenities. All of the beaches in El Nido are a ways away from the hotel area 30-40 minute drive so it will cost you some money to get there. You cannot snorkel at these beaches as the visibility is bad.
Phuket
There are 3 massive beaches all in the vicinity of the main Phuket hotel area. Patong beach, Kata beach and Karon beach. You can snorkel at all of these beaches and there are massage places all over the place.
Both locations have amazing beaches however the beaches in Phuket are closer to the hotels and have more amenities around them. If you want more seclusion then El Nido can give you more of that feeling.
Nacpan Beach El Nido, Palawan
5. The Locals
El Nido
The locals are helpful here but you can sense a bit of frustration with the tourist and some attitude. They also group in large packs that can make you uncomfortable.
Phuket
The locals are really nice and helpful. They go out of their ways to help
The people are awesome at both locations
6. Transportation
El Nido
They use tricycles for the most part and can fit 2 adults or 2 adults and 2 kids. There are a lot of them available and they are inexpensive and negotiable.
Phuket
There are taxis, scooters, or tuk tuks. The tuk tuks can fit 6 people in them and are inexpensive. There are a lot of them around.
Transportation is very easy in both locations.
7. Gyms
El Nido
There is only 1 gym in El Nido and no yoga studios. The gym has old shitty equipment and costs 100 pesos for a session.
Phuket
Phuket has many gyms with new equipment, they are inexpensive and close to the hotels. Many of the hotels also have gyms. There are huge martial arts studios and some specialize in kickboxing. There are yoga studios all over the place. Many people go for yoga retreats here.
8. The food
El Nido
Filippino food is excellent tasting however it is very fatty. The food in El Nido is inexpensive. They have coffee shops that have panini’s and american breakfast and they have juice bars. If you are looking for fast food there is currently none in El Nido. They are building a Mcdonalds in the near future. Philippino BBQ is amazing!
Phuket
Thai food is very healthy. They have every type of food in Phuket and fast food places all over the place. The street food is amazing where they serve Shawarmas, noodles, bbq and Pho.
Phuket wins in the food category.
9. Stores
El Nido
There are only small shops here and you will have to shop around a lot to find what you are looking for. We had to buy diapers here and we had to look in 20 places before we found them.
Phuket
There are large shops and small shops all over the place. It is easy to find anything here.
10.Massages
El Nido
They do oil massages here, most of the massage places are small and dirty. They learn their massage techniques from their parents. A massage is around $10 USD. There is no sexual massage places as far as I saw.
Phuket
There are tons of massage places all over the place, they are clean. A massage costs $7 USD. They learn their massage techniques from Monks in temples. There are sexual massage places here if that is what you are looking for, however they are usually not right out in the open.
11. Diving and snorkelling
El Nido
The reefs are rich with life however there is very poor visibility in El Nido. You cannot snorkel from the beaches due to poor visibility. There are around 10 dive companies here.
Phuket
There are super dive shops here and there is great visibility in the water. There are amazing wreck and reef dives close by. You can snorkel from every beach in Phuket.
12. Shopping
El Nido
They have small shops mostly carrying the same things. Not very good shopping, no big stores and very limited inventory.
Phuket
Has great shopping with awesome outdoor markets and a cool indoor outdoor shopping centre. They get a lot of their product from Bangkok and there is a great selection of product
Overall Phuket is much better in every category. If it is your first time going to Asia then you should go to Phuket first, you will have a better time as it is easier to acclimate in Thailand.
The Rampersauds at Lio Beach
