Terms & conditions

PalawanTrips arranges private ground transfers, vehicle hire with driver, and island days across Palawan, Philippines. Transport is carried out by licensed local drivers and licensed boat operators.

Requesting a quote costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It is an enquiry, not a booking.

A quote is prepared from the details you give us. If those details change materially — a different pickup point, more passengers than quoted, significant extra waiting time, additional stops — the price may need to change, and we will tell you before anything is confirmed.

A quote from us is a price for the trip and for the vehicle that runs it, not a fare per seat. We ask how many of you are travelling because the head count and the luggage are what decide which vehicle a leg needs, and on a party larger than one vehicle seats, how many vehicles — not because the figure is multiplied by the number of you at the end. So a private transfer quoted for your group does not change because one of you drops out, and for a family or a group it is worth comparing against a per-person fare properly: the cost per person on a quote priced this way falls as the party grows, which is the opposite of how a shared van or a joiner tour prices the same journey. Two honest qualifications, because not every part of a trip is ours to price this way. Where a leg is a boat we do not own it: a charter we arrange through the licensed local operator at that wharf is quoted as a charter in the same way, but the lettered island-hopping tours those operators sell in their own right are theirs and are commonly sold per person, and where that is what your day actually is we will say so on the quote rather than describing it as something it is not. And the charges another party collects — a national park permit, a municipal environmental or eco-tourism fee, a ferry or airline ticket — are very often per traveller, which is one more reason they are identified separately on your quote rather than folded into it. What is ours is quoted as one all-in price for the trip; what is not is named as what it is.

If you need the trip in both directions, say so on the quote form and give the return date — the two legs are then quoted together and confirmed as one booking rather than as two unrelated arrangements. A same-day there-and-back, where the vehicle waits for you and runs you home at the end, is quoted as one held day. A return on a later date is different: it is a separate leg on that date, so you are not paying for a vehicle to sit idle through the days in between — which is why the return date is its own field rather than assumed. Each leg is priced on its own date, because the date is what a price turns on here: the season, and whether a driver, a wharf or an operator can run that leg on that day. So a return in a different season, or weeks after the outbound, can come back at a different figure from the first leg, and we will say so rather than quietly matching them. Requesting the return is still an enquiry and not a booking, and nothing is held for either leg before you confirm.

Quotes are all-in for what they describe. Where a trip includes something collected by someone else — a national park permit, a municipal environmental or eco-tourism fee, a wharf or terminal charge, a ferry or airline ticket — that part is identified separately on your quote rather than folded into it, and it is paid locally to whoever collects it. We do not publish those amounts anywhere on this site: they are set by a municipality, a park authority or an operator, they are revised, and a figure published today would mislead someone travelling next month. What the quote fixes is our part — the vehicle, the driver and any charter we arrange — and that price is the price you pay.

A stop along the way is a normal part of a private transfer rather than a second booking, and it is why the quote form asks for your stops in order rather than only the two ends. Where the stop is on the road leg we arrange, the vehicle and the driver stay with you through it: they do not drop you and return later, so your luggage stays aboard and you rejoin the same vehicle to continue. We do not publish how long a vehicle can hold at any stop, because that depends on your route, your other stops and what the rest of the day is timed against — tell us what you want to see and we set it out on the quote instead of leaving it to be argued at the roadside. Adding a stop can change the price, and we will say so before anything is confirmed rather than afterwards. Two things are not ours to promise: where a leg is a chartered boat, whether it can hold at an extra island is the licensed local operator’s call at that wharf, and a stop at a permit-dated or capped attraction is planned around what that permit fixes rather than added on the day.

Some of the legs we quote are long runs on the mainland highway, and a break on the way is a normal part of one rather than a favour to ask for. Because the vehicle is yours for the leg rather than a shared van working to its own turnaround, the driver can pull over where it is safe and sensible to do so for a toilet, for food and drink, or simply to get out of the seat for a few minutes, and your luggage stays aboard while you do. We do not publish how many times a journey stops or how far apart those stops fall, for the same reason we do not publish a journey time: it depends on the route, the season, the road on the day and who is in the vehicle. Nor do we name the places — a roadside stop is somebody else’s business, standards and opening hours change, and we are not going to describe a facility we do not run. What we can do is plan for it instead of leaving it to chance. If someone travelling needs to stop more often than most people, or needs to eat at a particular time, or travels badly on winding roads, put it in the notes when you request the quote and we will build the leg around it and tell the driver before the day, rather than having it raised for the first time an hour into the drive.

A multi-day itinerary is quoted and confirmed as one arrangement rather than as separate bookings that happen to share a traveller. You tell us the stops in order and the nights at each, and the quote sets out the whole shape — which day moves you, where each leg starts and ends, and which days have no transport in them at all because you are staying put. On the mainland corridor that can be one vehicle carried across the itinerary, so your luggage, any child seats and the plan stay with you instead of being rebuilt at every change; taken separately, each leg is its own quote and each is priced and timed on its own. Say which you want and we will tell you what it means for your particular stops. Where the trip crosses to the Calamianes there is a flight or a sea crossing in the middle that no vehicle covers, so the road legs either side are arranged around the crossing rather than through it. What is fixed is what the written confirmation says: we will not put a driver’s name or a fixed hour on a day we have not agreed with you.

The travel date on the quote form is the date we price against, not a commitment you are making: requesting a quote is an enquiry rather than a booking, so an approximate date is a usable answer and a better one than no enquiry at all. We ask for it because the date is what the price turns on — the season, and whether a driver, a wharf or an operator can do your leg at all — so a quote built against your best estimate tells you what the trip costs and whether it works, which is usually what you need before the flights are booked rather than after. If the date then moves, tell us and we re-quote it: the same material-change rule applies as to any other detail, so where a different date changes the price we say so before anything is confirmed, and where it does not the quote stands. Because a quote is priced against a date it does not sit open indefinitely — the validity period is on the quote itself, and an expired one is re-issued rather than argued over. Two things we will not pretend to do: nothing is held or reserved for you before you confirm, so a date is not kept open by having been quoted, and where a leg is fixed by someone else — a permit-dated Underground River slot, an airline or a ferry operator’s own date-change rules — a moved date is planned around what they fix rather than overridden by us.

We publish no minimum notice period, and that is deliberate rather than an omission: how much warning a leg needs depends on the leg, the date and the season, so a floor printed here would turn away enquiries we could in fact have arranged. A short-notice request is a normal enquiry rather than an imposition — if you are already in Palawan, or you fly in the day after tomorrow, send it anyway and we will tell you plainly whether we can do it. What we commit to is the answer, not the outcome: the reply comes back on the same day as the enquiry, usually within a few hours, and where we cannot staff your leg in the time available we say so rather than leaving you waiting on a maybe, so you still have your afternoon to arrange something else. What we will not pretend is that notice makes no difference. Whether a driver, a wharf or a licensed boat operator is free tomorrow is exactly what the quote settles and nothing is held or reserved for you before you confirm, so earlier is genuinely easier — a particular vehicle class, a named pickup time or a multi-stop day across more than one island is more likely to be arrangeable with days in hand than with hours. One part of a Palawan trip has a lead time that is not ours to waive: entry to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park runs on the park’s own daily visitor cap and is arranged in advance rather than bought at the gate, so that day is governed by what the park has left rather than by how quickly we can send a vehicle. Where short notice rules out the plan you asked for, we will say what is still possible on your dates instead of quietly quoting something different.

Our answer to a quote request comes back by email, so it is worth knowing what to do if it does not appear. We reply to every genuine enquiry — usually within a few hours and always the same day — and if that has passed with nothing from us, the overwhelmingly likely cause is not that your request was ignored but that our reply did not reach you. Check the spam or junk folder first, and on Gmail the Promotions tab, because a quote from a travel company is exactly the shape of message a filter sets aside. The next most common cause is a mistyped address on the form: there is nothing to confirm it against at our end, so a single wrong character means we reply into nothing while your request looks perfectly normal to us. If either applies, send the enquiry again with the address checked — asking twice is genuinely welcome rather than a nuisance, it does not create two bookings, and since nothing is held or confirmed before you agree a quote, a duplicate request costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. Two things we will not pretend about: we cannot control whether your mail provider delivers or filters our reply, and a second request is answered on the same terms as the first rather than faster, so sending it again is about reaching you, not about jumping a queue.

Several pages here tell you that a town name is not a pickup point — that Long Beach is a coastline through four barangays, that Coron is a municipality rather than an address, that the resort name is what fixes the final access point. All of that is true, and none of it is a reason to wait before asking. If you have not booked your accommodation yet, send the enquiry anyway with the town or the area you are aiming for: that is enough for us to tell you whether the leg works, what shape it takes and what it costs, which is usually what you need before you choose where to stay rather than after. The exact property belongs to the confirmation rather than to the enquiry, and the same rule applies to it as to every other detail — tell us as soon as you have it, by reply to the quote email, and where the final address changes the trip materially we re-quote it and say so before anything is confirmed, rather than discovering it on the day. Two things we will not pretend. We do not book accommodation, recommend it or hold it for you — we quote the transport, and where you stay is yours to choose. And we will not promise that every address is drivable to the door: some Long Beach properties sit behind sand, the island resorts in Taytay Bay are reached by boat from the mainland, and where the road stops short we tell you where the vehicle can actually finish rather than finding out with your luggage in the car.

Unless stated otherwise on the quote, a quote is valid for 14 days.

A booking exists once you confirm a quote in writing and we confirm back. Payment terms are set out on the quote itself; there is nothing to pay to request one.

Every confirmed booking carries a free-cancellation window, stated on the confirmation. Cancel inside that window and there is nothing to pay.

Tell us as early as you can if plans change. We will always try to move a booking rather than cancel it.

Palawan travel involves weather, sea conditions, ferry and airline schedules and road conditions. Where a trip cannot safely or lawfully proceed — a suspended sailing, a closed road, a cancelled flight, a national park closure — we will rebook or refund the part that did not happen. We are not able to compensate for consequential costs such as missed onward flights or accommodation.

An airport pickup is met inside the terminal, not at a kerb you have to find: the driver waits in the arrivals area with a name board showing the lead passenger’s name, so there is nothing to negotiate and no taxi queue to join after a long flight. Because we arrange it in advance rather than on the day, the written confirmation you get before you travel carries the driver and vehicle details and the pickup as agreed — worth saving offline, because it is the part that still works when you land without a local SIM or a signal. Give us the flight number and the terminal or airport code on the quote form so the right person is at the right airport; Palawan has four passenger airports and they are on three different islands.

A pickup that is not at an airport works the same way and is fixed the same way: where you are staying, or wherever you are starting from, at the time confirmed in writing before you travel. The written confirmation is the thing that makes it work — it carries the driver and vehicle details and the pickup point and time as agreed, so there is nothing to arrange at a front desk on the morning and nothing to negotiate at a kerb. It is worth saving offline for the same reason an airport one is: it still works if you have no local SIM or no signal. The vehicle is yours rather than a shared shuttle, so the pickup is at your time rather than a published departure. Two things we deliberately do not publish. We do not describe where to stand at a property we do not operate — a lobby, a gate, a driveway or a car park differs from one resort to the next and is wrong after any refit, so the exact point is named on your confirmation, which is the only place it can be correct for your trip. And we put no number on how long a vehicle holds at a pickup, for the same reason we publish none at an airport. If something needs sorting out on the day, message us rather than trying to settle it at the roadside: we are the English-speaking end of the arrangement and we relay it to the driver. One honest limit, unchanged from everywhere else on this site: we will not promise the vehicle reaches every door — some properties sit behind sand or beyond where the road stops, and where that is true we tell you where the vehicle can actually finish rather than letting you find out with your luggage in the car.

For airport pickups, tell us your flight number. We track the flight and adjust the pickup to the actual arrival where we can, so a late inbound does not leave you without the transfer you booked. A flight that is cancelled outright is covered above: we rebook or refund the part that did not happen.

The departure leg is quoted exactly like the arrival one, at any of the four passenger airports — Puerto Princesa (PPS), Francisco B. Reyes on Busuanga for Coron (USU), Lio at El Nido (ENI) and San Vicente (SWL) — and asking for it together with your arrival transfer means the two are planned as one arrangement rather than two unrelated bookings. Give us the flight you are catching and the pickup is worked back from it rather than guessed, and confirmed in writing before you travel; we will not put a time on it before we know the flight, because that depends on which airport you are leaving from and the road to it. What we will not do is publish how early you should be at the airport: the check-in and bag-drop cut-off is each airline’s own rule, it differs by carrier and by airport, and the small aircraft serving the El Nido and Calamianes airstrips are not governed by the same one as a mainline flight out of Puerto Princesa. Send us the flight and whatever the airline has told you, and the pickup is timed around that. If you are flying out of a different airport from the one you flew into, say so — that is a normal shape in Palawan and it changes the drive. One honest limit: we will not pretend to control the weather or the road, so where the timing is tight we will say plainly whether it works rather than quietly quoting it.

Because an airport pickup is a booked arrangement rather than a hail, it is worth knowing what to do in the rare case that nobody is waiting for you. The written confirmation we send before you travel is the thing to use: it carries the driver and vehicle details and the pickup as agreed, which is why it is worth saving offline before you fly — it still works when you land without a local SIM or a signal. If the board is not there when you come through, stay in the arrivals area and message us rather than leaving the terminal or joining the taxi queue, because a driver who is parked or held up is looking for you in the place the confirmation names, and once you have walked out you are two people searching an airport for each other. We would far rather hear from you while you are standing there than read about it afterwards: on the day it is usually a short delay we can chase, and afterwards it is a complaint neither of us can fix. Nothing about the arrangement depends on you settling it at the kerb in the meantime — the trip is already agreed in writing, and the driver is paid for a trip that runs, so there is nobody with an incentive to leave you there. Where a trip genuinely did not happen, the rebook-or-refund position set out above is what applies.

Some of the legs we quote begin or end at a pier rather than an airport or a hotel, because a Palawan trip often does: the island resorts out in Taytay Bay are reached by boat from the mainland, Balabac is a sea crossing from the southern port, a Honda Bay day starts and finishes at the wharf, and Coron sits on another island altogether. A pickup at a wharf is fixed the same way as any other — the point and the time are named on the written confirmation we send before you travel, which also carries the driver and vehicle details, and it is worth saving offline for the same reason an airport one is. What we ask for is the crossing: tell us the boat you are actually booked on, in the notes on the quote form, and we build the road leg around it rather than around a clock. Two things we will not pretend to do. We do not publish a sailing time, a frequency or a crossing duration anywhere on this site, because they are seasonal and operator-specific and a number published today misleads someone travelling next month. And we do not track a boat the way we track a flight — there is no sailing-status feed to watch, so if your crossing is running late, or you are put on a different one, message us while it is happening rather than afterwards and we relay it to the driver; we are the English-speaking end of the arrangement. A vehicle whose boat ran late is re-timed rather than lost. Where the crossing does not run at all, the rebook-or-refund position set out above is what applies.

Give us accurate passenger numbers, luggage and any accessibility needs when you request the quote, so the right vehicle or boat is assigned. Passengers must follow the driver's and operator's safety instructions, including the wearing of seatbelts and life vests.

An island day runs on a bangka, the local outrigger boat, and it is worth being plain about what that is and who it suits, because both of our island-hopping guides ask you about swimming confidence and it is a fair question to want answered before you book. We do not own boats. Where a day is ours to arrange we charter it through the licensed local operator at that wharf, which means the vessel, its equipment and the call on where it goes that morning are theirs rather than ours. So the useful thing we can do is tell you honestly where the line falls. Tell us on the quote form who is actually travelling — the ages, anyone who does not swim or is uneasy in deep water, anyone who needs a hand getting in and out of a small boat — and we pass that to the operator before the day rather than letting it surface at the wharf, the same way we pass on dive kit or a pushchair. What we will not do is promise you what is aboard: whether a jacket in a particular size is on a particular boat is the operator’s to confirm, not ours to guarantee from a web page, and a reassurance we cannot stand behind is worse than none. We also will not tell you that you must be able to swim, or that you need not: the stops change with the tide and the weather, some are a wade onto sand and others a step off into deep water, and which ones your day actually includes is set by the operator on the morning. Where the group makes an exposed day a poor idea, we would rather say so while you are planning — the lettered tour closest to El Nido town spends the least time in transit of the four, and a Honda Bay day stays inside the bay — than put a nervous passenger on the most exposed crossing and call it a highlight.

When you tell us about a wheelchair, a walking frame or limited mobility, we plan the trip around it rather than discovering it at pickup: the vehicle is chosen for the easiest transfer we can manage, the driver helps at both ends, and a folded chair or frame travels as stowed equipment. Our vehicles are standard road vehicles and none is ramp- or lift-equipped, so a passenger does need to transfer to a seat — tell us before you travel and we will say honestly whether a leg works rather than leaving you to find out on the day.

Tell us about anything bulky when you ask for the quote — dive kit, a board bag, golf clubs, a pushchair, a folded wheelchair, camera cases — and we size the vehicle around the load rather than the head count, because that is what decides it. Our vehicles are standard road vehicles, so a large item travels inside the cabin with you and sometimes moves the answer up a vehicle class. Where a leg involves a chartered boat we pass the item on to the operator before the day, and where it involves a flight the airline sets its own rule for sporting equipment, so check that with them as well as with us.

Give us the real luggage count when you ask for the quote, because the vehicle is sized around the whole load rather than the head count alone, and the two do not always point at the same vehicle: a party of three with dive kit and a party of nine with a case each can both need more room than the seats suggest. The bag guides on our fleet page are class figures for a tidy load, not a measured ceiling, and the assigned vehicle can change with availability — so where the luggage is what one vehicle cannot comfortably take, the answer is either a larger class than the head count alone would have needed, or more than one vehicle kept together on the same booking, travelling to the same plan with the same pickup and the same drop-off. We would far rather tell you which it is when you ask than leave it to be discovered at the kerb with the cases already out, and we do not publish a bag limit in either direction because how much a particular vehicle takes on a particular day is exactly what the quote settles. Two parts of a Palawan trip are not ours to size: where a leg is a chartered boat, how much luggage the bangka will take on the day is the licensed local operator’s call at that wharf, and where a leg is a flight into one of the smaller airstrips the baggage allowance is the airline’s and is tighter than a mainline flight, which is the one kind of excess luggage we cannot solve for you.

If there are more of you than one vehicle seats, the trip is still one arrangement: we quote more than one vehicle on the same booking, travelling together to the same plan with the same pickup and the same drop-off, rather than asking you to split the party across separate bookings. The largest vehicle we publish seats up to 12, so a party above that travels in two or more of them, and we would rather tell you that when you ask than at the kerb. Give us the real head count and the luggage when you request the quote: where a leg is a chartered boat we arrange the capacity with the licensed local operator at that wharf before the day, and where it is a flight into one of the small airstrips the seats are the airline’s to confirm, not ours.

A pickup outside normal daylight hours is a normal request rather than an exception, and it is the reason the quote form asks for a pickup time at all. Palawan generates them on its own: a Balabac crossing or a first flight out of Puerto Princesa, Busuanga, El Nido or San Vicente is timed by someone else, and a permit-dated Underground River slot sets the day before the vehicle is planned around it. Tell us the flight, crossing or permit rather than a guessed clock time and we work the pickup back from the thing that is actually fixed, then confirm it in writing. We publish no earliest or latest hour, because what a driver, a wharf or an airline can do on your date is what the quote settles. Where the timing would mean a long road leg through the night we will say so and offer the overnight split instead of quietly quoting it.

Everything we arrange with you is handled in English: the quote, the written confirmation and the trip-day contact you message if something moves. English is an official language of the Philippines and is widely spoken in Palawan, and the drivers and boat operators we work with are used to overseas travellers — but they are vetted local operators rather than our employees, and the vehicle or bangka assigned to your trip can change with availability, so we do not promise a particular person’s fluency and you should not plan your day around it. What we do instead is make the plan independent of the conversation. The written confirmation sent before you travel sets out the pickup point, the time, the driver and vehicle details and the shape of the day, so the arrangement is already settled in writing rather than being negotiated at a kerb in a second language — that is also why an airport pickup is met inside the terminal with a name board showing the lead passenger’s name rather than at a kerbside. Save it offline before you fly, because it is the part that still works when you land without a local SIM or a signal. If anything needs sorting out on the day, message us rather than trying to settle it roadside: we are the English-speaking end of the arrangement and we will relay it to the driver or the operator. Where a leg is run by somebody else — a ferry, an airline, a national park, a licensed boat operator at a wharf — their own announcements, safety briefings and signage are theirs rather than ours, and we will not pretend to control what language those are given in.

Travel insurance is your responsibility and we strongly recommend it.

Transport is provided by licensed and insured operators, who carry the liability attaching to the carriage itself. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud, where that limitation would be unlawful.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines.

Questions about these terms? Use the contact form and put "terms" in the notes.