El Nido: Island Hopping Tour A Lagoons and Beaches

What the $25 covers, and what it does not

Corazon Travel & Tours lists four things inside the price of product 217227: a licensed tour guide, the boat tour of the islands, life vests and lunch. Everything else the listing prints sits in the excluded column. That column is longer than the included one, and it is where the day's real cost hides.

Two of its lines are municipal charges the operator only collects, one is a rental you cannot in practice refuse, and one is the transport to the meeting point that many first-time visitors assume comes with a $25 ticket. The table reads the listing as it stands in Q3 2026; the operator sets the terms, and checkout confirms them. The right-hand column says what each line means once you are standing on the sand with a wallet in a dry bag.

The cash you need in your pocket

Add the two fees to one two-seat kayak split between two people and the day's cash comes to about ₱400 + ₱200 + ₱175, roughly ₱775 (about $12) per person on top of the $25 ticket. A June 2026 reviewer on this listing describes 'the extra payment of 300 pesos on the boat' as the one thing he did not understand, which matches the kayak price other operators print. The eco-tourism fee is paid once and covers every tour and site in El Nido for 10 days, so if you did Tour B or D yesterday, bring the receipt: the listing says a copy shown to the guide avoids paying twice.

The full fee category table, including the reduced rates for students, seniors and children, sits on the cost page. Bring more than the minimum. Soft drinks and beer come from floating vendors for cash, aqua shoes rent for about ₱100 (about $1.60), and the listing itself puts 'Cash' on its what-to-bring list alongside passport or ID, swimwear, a change of clothes and sunscreen.

Plastic bottles are on the not-allowed list, so a refillable bottle is the practical answer to the water question. The eco fee's rate and ten-day validity are set out on the municipality's fee explainer.

What 1,981 reviews say about the money

The rating is 4.4 overall, and the platform's own breakdown gives the guides 4.6, transportation 4.4 and value for money 4.5. The review summary names the recurring reservation: some travellers say clearer information on extra costs like kayaks and gear would help. That is a fair reading of the listing, which mentions the fees only in the excluded column and in a single line of the description, 'pay the premium destination fee and rent a kayak to enter'.

Nobody on this listing disputes the kayak once they are in the lagoon; a New Zealand reviewer in June 2026 tells you to rent it and paddle all the way to the far right, where there is a small bay at the back. If you would rather pay for the kayak once and have it inside the price, the only listing here that includes one is the private A and C day, at a very different price. For a shared Tour A, the cash extras are the same on every boat; the choice between them comes down to timings, inclusions and the fifth stop, which is what the side-by-side table on the homepage is for.

The line in 'Know before you go'

Under 'Know before you go' the listing prints: 'Entry to the Big Lagoon is limited. If entry is no longer available, you will visit a different spot.' Two things follow from that sentence. The first is that the Big Lagoon runs on a daily entry cap set by the municipality, and boats are rerouted when the day's slots are gone.

The second is that this operator does not promise the lagoon; it promises four stops, of which the Big Lagoon is one when entry is open. Reviewers who got in describe it as the highlight of the day. Reviewers who did not are the reason the sentence exists.

The description hedges the same way, saying the day includes 'up to four stops in total'. How the cap came about, and why the Small Lagoon left this route for Tour D in 2018, is explained on the which-tour page. On the day, the practical consequence is timing: boats cleared by the Coast Guard between 9:00 and 9:30 am reach the lagoon in a bunch, and the crews know it, which is why some run the route in a different order from the one printed.

Kayak-only entry, and who it rules out

Motorised boats may not enter the Big Lagoon. The bangka anchors outside the mouth, you pay the ₱200 fee, rent a kayak and paddle in through the gap in the karst. That is why this listing lists people with mobility impairments and wheelchair users as not suitable: there is no dock at the town beach either, and you wade out to board.

Life vests come with the boat and are worn in the kayak. A New Zealand reviewer who went in June 2026 says the far right corner hides a small extra bay, which is as good a reason as any to paddle the whole way round. Fins and aqua shoes rent from the operator, and the shoes earn their ₱100 at the Secret Lagoon, where a July 2025 reviewer on a sister listing warns that slippers float away on the rocky floor.

Children have no stated minimum age on this listing; the fee they pay and the routes that suit them are covered on the kids page.

Weather, the other reason to visit a different spot

Departure needs Coast Guard clearance every morning, and Tour A's lagoons sit on the sheltered side of Miniloc, which is why this route is one of the last cancelled in a swell. A United States reviewer in August 2026 wrote that the weather was not good and the crew made it comfortable anyway. Between June and October the southwest monsoon raises the odds of a cancelled or shortened day; free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start covers a forecast you do not like, and a day the Coast Guard closes is refunded.

The route that goes first in bad weather is Tour C across the Tapiutan Strait, and the crowd-versus-weather trade between the two is settled on the A versus C page. If you have only one boat day and the forecast is unsettled, this route and Tour D are the two that most often still sail. Booking the morning after you arrive rather than your last morning leaves room to move the day.

The Corazon shared Tour A is the default choice for a first boat day in El Nido because so many people have taken it and reported the same thing: good guides, a decent lunch, and a lagoon worth the kayak. Its weakness is on paper. The listing prints no stop times and no boat size, and it leaves the fees to a column most people skim.

Budget the ₱775 (about $12) in cash, carry the eco-fee receipt if you already have one, and treat the Big Lagoon as likely rather than promised. Book the morning after you arrive rather than your last morning, so a Coast Guard cancellation still leaves you a second chance at the lagoon. The other Tour A boats and the three other routes are compared on the El Nido island hopping homepage, with the cash extras printed beside each price.