Look at a map of the Sulu Sea and Iloilo is the obvious next stop after Palawan: Panay is the nearest large Visayan island, Coron to Iloilo is about 300 kilometres, El Nido to Iloilo about 340, and the Cuyo islands sit roughly halfway across like stepping stones. Then look at an airline map, and the two are not connected at all. This page sets out the Manila routing, the one slow ship that does cross, and what a private aircraft does instead. The overview of all four Visayan crossings from Palawan is in Palawan to the Visayas by private charter.
Iloilo's airport is at Cabatuan, about 30 to 45 minutes by road north-west of the city. It is a full international airport with plenty of airline capacity to Manila, Cebu and beyond, which makes Iloilo a very good place to end a trip: the awkward leg is the one in from Palawan, and once you are on Panay the way home is easy.
The airline route, via Manila
No scheduled flight connects El Nido or Coron with Iloilo. A Puerto Princesa–Iloilo service has appeared in airline schedules in the past, but Puerto Princesa is five to six hours by road south of El Nido, so it does not help northern Palawan much even when it runs. The dependable routing is the Manila loop: El Nido to Manila in about 1 hour 15 minutes on CebGo, or Busuanga to Manila in about an hour on Cebu Pacific or PAL Express, a connection at NAIA of two to three hours, then about 1 hour 10 minutes south-east to Iloilo. Six to eight hours door to door when everything runs to time, most of it spent nearly 400 kilometres north of both ends of the trip.
The ship via Cuyo
Iloilo is the only Visayan destination with any sea link to Palawan at all. A cargo-passenger ship sails between Puerto Princesa and Iloilo roughly once a week, calling at Cuyo on the way, and takes the best part of a day and a night. It is a genuine slice of provincial Philippine life and some travellers seek it out for exactly that. As a way of getting from El Nido or Coron to Iloilo it has three problems: it leaves from Puerto Princesa, a half-day van ride from either town; it sails on its own schedule, not yours; and it does not sail at all when the coastguard holds departures for weather. Plan it as an experience with a spare day either side, not as a transfer.
Private aircraft
A chartered light aircraft flies the direct line — about 1 hour 20 minutes from Busuanga and about 1 hour 30 minutes from El Nido's airport at Lio, passing the Cuyo islands and crossing the north-west coast of Panay before landing at Iloilo International. You choose the date and the departure time, and the aircraft is yours rather than a seat on it. It is the middle crossing of the four by distance: longer than Boracay, well short of Cebu and Bohol, and within easy range of every aircraft type that flies in Palawan.
No fixed price is published for these legs right now — enter the trip in the search box and accredited operators will bid on it, usually within hours.
Cross-sea legs are usually quoted rather than listed, because the aircraft has to position for the job and the operator prices that in. A request is not a purchase: choose the date and passenger count, an operator confirms availability and price, and only then does a secure payment link follow. Nothing is charged before confirmation, and a few days' notice gives operators more room to say yes.
Cuyo is worth knowing about here for a second reason. It has its own airport, and the legs from Coron and El Nido to it are priced on this site. A trip that wants to see the Cuyo islands — the old fort, the kitesurfing at Capusan, the empty beaches — can fly Palawan to Cuyo on a priced leg, stay a night or two, and then charter the shorter Cuyo–Iloilo hop onward, about 160 kilometres, rather than crossing the whole sea in one go.
Side by side
| Mode | Time | Cost basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airline via Manila | 6–8 hours door to door | Two scheduled fares, per seat | El Nido or Coron to NAIA, connection of 2–3 hours, then Manila to Iloilo. Reliable year-round. |
| Ship via Cuyo | Road to Puerto Princesa, then about a day and a night at sea | Lowest fare, per berth | Roughly weekly from Puerto Princesa; cargo-passenger vessel; weather dependent. |
| Private flight (Avian) | About 1 h 20 min from Coron, 1 h 30 min from El Nido | Per aircraft, quoted or live above | Any date, your departure time. Lands at Iloilo International; Sicogon possible on request. |
Airline and ship times are typical and vary with connections and weather; private-aircraft times are typical block times for light aircraft, confirmed at booking.
What Iloilo is for
Iloilo rewards the crossing precisely because so few people make it. The city has the best-preserved run of Spanish-era churches in the Visayas — Miagao, an hour south, is a UNESCO World Heritage site whose façade carves a coconut palm and a papaya tree into baroque stone — alongside the Jaro cathedral, the Molo church and the old commercial street of Calle Real. It eats well, from La Paz batchoy to the seafood along the riverside Esplanade, and in the fourth week of January the Dinagyang festival fills the streets. Guimaras, the mango island, is a fifteen-minute boat from the city wharf.
Further afield, the Gigantes islands off Carles in the far north of the province are the sandbars and lagoons people cross the country for, three hours by road from the city and then a boat. Sicogon, the resort island next to them, has its own airstrip; whether an operator can land there depends on the aircraft and on the resort's permission, so mention it when you request the flight if Gigantes is the point of the trip.
And as with every crossing from Palawan, look at the empty-legs board before you price it. Aircraft that deliver groups into Coron or El Nido often reposition east empty, and a repositioning flight on the right date is sold at a fraction of the charter price.