There are several ferry options, but there are just a few boat companies that do the trip in 4 hours or less: Montenegro and Phimal leave from the Coron port, take 4 hours, and cost about $34 USD. Jamalia is a newer company that takes 3.5 hours, leaves from the pier, and costs $36 USD. We went with Montenegro, and it was a comfortable experience. But this mostly depends on how busy the boat is and how the weather is that day. Jamalia is said to have newer boats with more spacious seating, but we haven’t personally experienced that.
To get to either the ferry port or pier, take any tricycle from within town for about 50 PHP ($1 USD) or less, and the driver will know where to take you. At the ferry terminal, you’ll have to pay a terminal fee of 20 PHP ($0.40 USD) per person. In the terminal, they’ll do a security check and then you’ll board the boat and be off. There aren’t any options to buy snacks on the boat, so buy some ahead of time if you think you’ll get hungry! (Since it’s a four hour ferry ride, so we definitely suggest you bring some water and snacks.) You can check the schedules and book your ferry here.
Once you arrive in El Nido, take a tricycle from the port to your hotel. We noticed that we got a better deal if we walked away from the crowd to find a ride. We paid 50 PHP ($1 USD) for the two of us and our luggage to get to our hotel, which was about a 10 minute ride.
*If you’re looking for a tricycle driver that is really nice, speaks great english, and you don’t want to worry about haggling over prices, feel free to reach out to our friend Franco. You can message him on Whatsapp and set up a time for him to pick you up (+63 997 897 6163). Be sure to tell him we sent you!