Every agency in Coron sells Tours A, B and C, but the letters don’t mean the same thing twice. Here’s what each tour really includes and costs once the fees are added, which one to book, and my honest verdict on the day I took: the best snorkelling of my trip, a famous lake that left me cold, and a scrum at the port you’ll want to be ready for.
Island hopping is the whole point of Coron. The best sights, from the emerald Twin Lagoon to Kayangan Lake and the coral gardens, are on Coron Island and the islets around it, and the only way to reach them is by boat. Every agency in town sells the same handful of tours, but the names and stops vary just enough to be confusing, and choosing the wrong one can mean missing the place you came to see.
I spent four nights in Coron at the end of three weeks in the Philippines, and I did the tour sold as Barracuda Lake, Skeleton Wreck and Twin Lagoon, which my operator called Tour B. It had the best snorkelling of my whole trip and one of my least favourite stops, and it started with the most chaotic half hour of any tour I did in the Philippines. Here’s how the tours work, what each one includes and how to choose.
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Coron tours at a glance
| Tour | Main stops | Shared price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tour A | Kayangan Lake, a coral garden, beaches such as CYC or Atwayan | About ₱1,200 | Kayangan on a budget |
| Tour B | Barracuda Lake, Twin Lagoon, Skeleton Wreck, a coral garden or beach | About ₱1,400 | The Twin Lagoon and snorkelling |
| Ultimate | Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, Skeleton Wreck, coral gardens, Siete Pecados, beaches | About ₱1,700 | A first visit with one day of island hopping |
| Super Ultimate | The Ultimate plus Barracuda Lake | About ₱1,900 | Seeing both lakes in one long day |
| Tour C (Island Escapade) | Malcapuya, Bulog Dos sandbar, Banana Island | About ₱1,700 | White-sand beaches |
| Reefs and Wrecks | Lusong Gunboat, Lusong Coral Garden, East Tangat Wreck | About ₱1,700 | Snorkellers who want wrecks |
| Calauit safari | Calauit Safari Park, a beach or Black Island | About ₱2,700 | Giraffes and zebras |
Prices are for a place on a shared boat in 2026, including lunch and most entrance fees. Tour letters aren’t standardised, so one agency’s Tour A can be another’s Tour B: always check the stop list before you pay.
How Coron island hopping works
Tours run every day in good weather, roughly from 8am to 5pm. The agency picks you up from your hotel, usually by tricycle, and takes you to the port, where dozens of boats leave for the islands at the same time. You’ll share a bangka, the traditional outrigger boat, with up to 20 or so other travellers, a captain, a guide and a couple of crew.
Shared tour prices usually include the boat, the guide, a life jacket, drinking water, lunch and the entrance fees for each stop. Snorkel sets are often extra, at about ₱150 to rent, and so are kayaks at the Twin Lagoon. Some agencies leave out the environmental fees, so check what’s included when you book.
Fees on top of the tour price
Coron Island is the ancestral domain of the Tagbanua, its indigenous people, who manage its lakes and lagoons and collect the entrance fees. Coron also collects a ₱200 environmental fee from every visitor when you land at the airport. If your tour doesn’t include the site fees, these are the typical prices:
- Kayangan Lake: ₱300
- Twin Lagoon: ₱200
- Barracuda Lake: ₱200 to ₱250
- Coral gardens: about ₱150
- Skeleton Wreck: about ₱150
- Siete Pecados: ₱100
- Malcapuya, Bulog Dos and Banana Island: about ₱200 to ₱300 each
- CYC Beach: free
Tour A: Kayangan Lake and the coral gardens
Tour A is built around Kayangan Lake, Coron’s most famous sight. From the boat landing, a steep path of a couple of hundred steps climbs over a ridge, about 10 to 15 minutes, to the viewpoint that appears on every Coron postcard, looking back over the limestone islets in the boat lagoon. Over the top, the lake itself is calm, clear and surrounded by cliffs. Life jackets have been compulsory for swimming since 2017, drones aren’t allowed, and it’s open from about 7am to 4pm.
The rest of the day usually takes in a coral garden and one or two beaches, such as CYC Beach, Atwayan or a reef garden, though the stops vary by agency. At about ₱1,200 on a shared boat, it’s the cheapest tour.
I didn’t do Tour A. If it’s your first time in Coron and you only have one day on the water, the Ultimate adds the Twin Lagoon for a few hundred pesos more.
Top tip
Kayangan is busiest from late morning to early afternoon. Ask your agency which order they visit the stops in, and choose one that goes to Kayangan first.
Tour B: Barracuda Lake, the Twin Lagoon and the Skeleton Wreck
Tour B swaps Kayangan for Coron Island’s other open lake, Barracuda Lake, and adds the Twin Lagoon, the Skeleton Wreck and usually a coral garden and a beach for lunch. It’s the tour I did, booked on GetYourGuide as Barracuda Lake, Skeleton Wreck and Twin Lagoon with Corazon Travel and Tours, an operator I’d also used in Puerto Princesa. I’d originally planned to do the Super Ultimate, but I heard mixed reviews, and there’s so much crossover between the tours that I was happy with Tour B.
The start: expect a scrum
I’ll be honest: the start was the worst-organised thing I did on my whole trip. A tricycle picked me up from my hotel and dropped me at the port, among hundreds of people and dozens of boats. A man who said he was my guide asked me to pay for a kayak and a snorkel straight away, even though the snorkel was included, then vanished for ten minutes. It all worked out in the end, but it’s not a great feeling when you’ve handed over cash to someone you’ve just met.
Top tip
Before you leave, check exactly what’s included in your booking, and don’t pay for anything at the port until you’ve found your actual boat and crew.
Barracuda Lake
Barracuda Lake sits in a bowl of jagged limestone, reached by a short climb of about 40 steps over the rocks from the jetty. Fresh water lies on top of salt water seeping in from the sea, and around 14 metres down there’s a thermocline where the temperature suddenly jumps, which is why divers love it.
As a snorkeller, it was my least favourite snorkelling in the Philippines. The setting and the colour of the water are incredible, but the visibility was poor, I saw two fish in 20 minutes, and the single small platform for getting in and out gets crowded. You should go, but it’s not going to be the thing that blows you away. It might be better on a bright, sunny day, and it’s more rewarding as a dive.
The coral garden
The coral garden was the complete opposite. As soon as I jumped in, there were fish everywhere I looked, and coral in an electric blue I’d never seen before. I even found anemones with clownfish, which are my absolute favourites. It was incredible snorkelling: make sure a coral garden is at the top of your list.
Lunch on the beach
Lunch was served on a tiny white-sand cove ringed by dramatic rocks. We jumped off the boat and waded a few metres to the beach, where the crew laid out barbecued fish, crab, chop suey and rice, then mangoes. If you’re a mango person, the mangoes in the Philippines will change your life.
The Twin Lagoon
The Twin Lagoon is two lagoons separated by a thin wall of limestone, with water so green it barely looks real. The boats moor in the outer lagoon, and to reach the inner one you either duck through a low gap in the rock or, at high tide, climb a wooden ladder built by the Tagbanua. On my visit, the crew pushed us through the gap one by one.
I rented a kayak for ₱1,000, and it was definitely worth it. It took me away from where the boats drop everyone off and into the wider, quieter inner lagoon, with much better views of both, and at one point I had the whole lagoon to myself. The crystal-bottomed kayaks cost ₱1,500, but the crew said there’s not much to see in the water there, so I skipped it. I paddled back in a hurry when a thunderstorm built up behind me, and the rain caught us on the way back to town. I didn’t mind: at least when you’re in the water, you’re already wet.
The Skeleton Wreck
The Skeleton Wreck is the small, broken frame of a ship lying near Coron Island, starting about 5 metres down, so it’s one of the few wrecks in Coron you can see while snorkelling.
My verdict on Tour B
Despite the chaotic start and Barracuda Lake, it was a really enjoyable day, and the coral garden and the Twin Lagoon are where it shines. If you want the Twin Lagoon and the best snorkelling, and you’re happy to skip Kayangan, it’s a great choice.
The Ultimate and Super Ultimate tours
The Ultimate tour packs the highlights of Tours A and B into one long day: Kayangan Lake, the Twin Lagoon, the Skeleton Wreck, a coral garden or two, Siete Pecados and a beach. It costs about ₱1,700 on a shared boat. The Super Ultimate adds Barracuda Lake for about ₱200 more, starting around 8am and returning about eight hours later.
The catch is time. With six or seven stops, you’ll spend less time at each one, and you’ll arrive at the most popular stops with every other Ultimate boat. If you only have one day for island hopping, though, it’s the best way to see Kayangan and the Twin Lagoon together. If you have two days, do Tour A and Tour B separately, or the Ultimate and a beach day.
Tour C: the beaches
Coron is more about lakes and lagoons than beaches, and the best ones need a separate day. Tour C, often sold as the Island Escapade, heads about an hour and a half south-west to Malcapuya, a white-sand island off Culion, with stops at the Bulog Dos sandbar and Banana Island. It costs about ₱1,700 on a shared boat, with beach fees of about ₱200 to ₱250 each if they’re not included. Expect a longer boat ride and a choppier sea than on the Coron Island tours.
Reefs and Wrecks
Most of Coron’s Second World War wrecks lie too deep for snorkelling, but the Reefs and Wrecks tour, about ₱1,700, takes snorkellers to the ones you can see from the surface. The Lusong Gunboat breaks the surface at low tide, and the tour adds the Lusong Coral Garden and the East Tangat Wreck. If you’re a diver, book a wreck dive with a dive centre in town instead, as the best wrecks lie at 25 to 40 metres.
Calauit safari
The Calauit safari isn’t island hopping, but it’s sold alongside the boat tours. It’s a long day out to the far north of Busuanga to see giraffes and zebras at Calauit Safari Park, shipped in from East Africa in the 1970s, usually with a stop at a beach or Black Island on the way back. It costs about ₱2,700, running from about 7am to 4pm. I didn’t go, and my Coron travel guide has more on the park and its history.
Which Coron tour should you choose?
- One day, first visit: the Ultimate, for Kayangan Lake and the Twin Lagoon together.
- Two days: Tour A and Tour B, or the Ultimate and a beach day on Tour C.
- The best snorkelling: a tour with a coral garden on the stop list, plus the Reefs and Wrecks day.
- Beaches: Tour C.
- Avoiding the crowds: a private boat with an early start.
Top tip
Book your first tour for your first full day. If the weather cancels it, you’ll still have time to rebook before you leave.
Shared or private boat?
Shared tours are great value and a good way to meet people. A private boat costs more, but it lets you choose your route and leave as early as 7am, which makes the biggest difference at Kayangan and the Twin Lagoon. The boat association’s published rates for the Coron Island circuit start at about ₱2,700 for up to four people for the boat alone, with entrance fees, lunch and a ₱500 guide on top, and agencies quote anywhere from about ₱3,500 to ₱9,500 depending on the boat and the route.
What to bring
- Cash for kayaks, snorkel rental, drinks and any fees not included.
- Water shoes for the steps at Kayangan and Barracuda and the rocky landings.
- Your own mask, if you have one: rental masks don’t always fit.
- A dry bag for your phone and money.
- Reef-safe sun cream, a hat and a cover-up, as you’ll be on the water all day.
- A rain jacket from June, when the afternoon storms arrive.
My Philippines packing list has everything else.
When to go
The dry season, from December to April, has the calmest seas and the most reliable tours, though December is also the busiest month. The rainy season runs from June to October, with August usually the worst month, and the coastguard cancels all island hopping when there’s a storm warning. Most online bookings are refunded or rescheduled if that happens, but build in a spare day. The rainy season was just setting in when I was there in early June, and the storm that chased us home from the Twin Lagoon was a sign of things to come.
Booking a Coron tour
You can book in Coron town at any agency or through your hotel the day before, which tends to be the cheapest option. Booking online in advance costs a little more but secures your place in high season and makes it easier to compare stops and reviews.
- Barracuda Lake, Skeleton Wreck, Twin Lagoon boat tour: The tour I did, with a coral garden and lunch on the beach. Expect a busy, disorganised start at the port.
- Coron Ultimate tour: 7 destinations with lunch and transfers: Kayangan Lake, the Twin Lagoon and the coral gardens in one day.
- Coron Tour A: Kayangan Lake and Quin Reef with lunch: A cheaper day built around Kayangan Lake.
- Coron coastal cliffs, beach and Malcapuya island-hopping tour: The beach day.
- Calauit safari adventure: The giraffes and zebras, with Black Island and lunch.
- Private boat hire with guided tour and lunch: Your own boat and route.
Map
Read next
- Coron travel guide
- How to get from El Nido to Coron
- El Nido island hopping: Tours A, B, C and D compared
- The perfect 3-week Philippines itinerary
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