THE JOURNEY
Getting From Puerto Princesa to the Underground River
The winding van, the Sabang queue, the open-sea banca and the beach of monkeys — the full chain to the cave, and where it can go wrong.
See Underground River tours on GetYourGuide ↗The two-hour road to Sabang
The day starts with a 75-to-80-kilometre drive north-west from Puerto Princesa city to the coastal village of Sabang, usually leaving your hotel around seven or eight in the morning. It takes roughly two hours, and the second half is genuinely winding as it climbs through the hills. If you're prone to car sickness, take medication before you set off and ask for a seat near the front — this road is the most common reason people arrive at Sabang feeling green. On a booked tour the pickup and the driving are handled; doing it yourself means arranging a van or shuttle, which run for around ₱450.
Registration and the boat queue
At Sabang you check in at the terminal, show your ID and permit, and are issued a life vest, a hard hat and an audio device, then given a boat dispatch number. This is where the daily cap becomes visible: in peak season the queue for a boat can run two or three hours, because everyone's arrival funnels through the same limited fleet of banca boats. A tour with a pre-arranged permit and slot shortens this considerably; a walk-in visitor can lose a big chunk of the day here.
The banca across the bay
From Sabang, a small outrigger boat — a 'banca' — carries you fifteen or twenty minutes along the coast to the cave's landing beach. It's a short, scenic hop across open water, and in calm weather it's a highlight in itself. But it is also the weather-sensitive weak link in the whole chain: when the sea is rough, this crossing is delayed or cancelled outright, and with it the whole visit. Anyone travelling in shoulder or wet season should keep a spare day in reserve so a single bad-sea day doesn't cost them the sight.
The beach of monkeys and monitors
The banca drops you at a beach backed by jungle, and a short walk leads to the cave mouth. This stretch has its own cast: long-tailed macaques and metre-long monitor lizards patrol the sand, thoroughly habituated to visitors. They're great to watch and photograph, but the macaques are practised thieves — they'll snatch food, water bottles and unzipped bags in a blink. The rangers' advice is simple and worth heeding: don't eat on the beach, and keep everything closed and close to you.
Into the cave, and back
At the cave mouth you transfer to a paddle boat — about six passengers plus a boatman — for the roughly 45-minute trip into the mountain and back. After that it's the same chain in reverse: the beach, the banca to Sabang, lunch, and the two-hour drive back to the city, usually arriving mid-to-late afternoon. All told it's a 7-to-10-hour day. Knowing the shape of it in advance — a lot of moving and waiting around a short, extraordinary cave ride — is the key to enjoying it rather than being surprised by it.
More things to do nearby
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Leave your email and roughly when you're in Palawan — we'll send a short rundown of how the Underground River day works, how far ahead to lock in a permit, and which tour options include what.