North Busuanga: The Part Most Coron Visitors Never See
Most people fly into Busuanga, drive straight to Coron Town and spend the rest of their holiday heading south by boat.
But drive in the opposite direction and Busuanga becomes a completely different destination.
Welcome to North Busuanga.
Here you'll find long empty roads, small communities, beaches, wildlife, remote islands and considerably fewer tourists.
Start With Salvacion
Salvacion is the administrative center of Busuanga Municipality.
It isn't a resort town—and that's part of its appeal.
Stop at the market, have lunch, refuel and look around. You're seeing a working Palawan town rather than somewhere developed primarily for tourism.
From here, you can continue toward Old Busuanga or turn farther north.
Stay at Ocam-Ocam
If you're not in a hurry, head toward Ocam-Ocam Beach in New Busuanga.
This long west-facing beach is around 80 km by road from Coron Town and has a handful of places to stay and eat.
More importantly, it makes an excellent base for exploring the north.
Instead of spending hours travelling from Coron Town every morning, wake up already close to the adventure.
Ocam-Ocam also faces west, making sunset one of the simplest attractions of all.
Take a Boat to Black Island
From northern Busuanga, Black Island — Malajon Island — becomes much easier to explore.
Its enormous dark limestone cliffs rise behind white sand, while caves and natural pools provide something completely different from a normal beach stop.
Nearby islands such as North Cay add even more possibilities for island hopping.
Continue to Calauit
Go farther north and you reach one of Busuanga's most unusual areas.
Calauit Island is home to Calauit Safari Park, famous for its giraffes, zebras and endemic Philippine wildlife.
The surrounding waters are also associated with another remarkable animal:
the dugong.
Dugong-watching trips operate around northern Busuanga and Calauit, although these are wild animals and sightings should never be treated as guaranteed.
Enjoy the Journey
North Busuanga isn't about racing between attractions.
The road passes through rice-growing countryside, hills, fishing communities and small barangays.
Stop occasionally.
Buy a drink at a sari-sari store. Eat somewhere local. Talk to people. Look at the landscape.
That's part of the experience.
Consider Staying Overnight
You can explore northern Busuanga on a very long day from Coron Town.
But you'll understand it much better if you stay overnight.
Base yourself around Ocam-Ocam, New Busuanga or another northern community and suddenly the destination feels much larger.
Coron Town becomes somewhere far away rather than somewhere you need to rush back to.
And that's the point.
Most tourists come to see Coron. Adventurous travelers should also make time to discover Busuanga.
Explore beyond the usual routes with ilovecoron.com.
Because I Love Coron.
