Palawan is famous around the world for its long white sand beaches, life-altering scuba diving, and snorkeling through turquoise water full of colorful coral reefs, and beautiful, peaceful locals. But that is only about 5% of the treasures in Palawan.
There is a hidden gem in Palawan that nobody talks about. Everyone talks about El Nido and Coron. And for that reason, prices have gone up over the years in these two tourist havens. But you may not want to dodge so many tourists or empty your wallet so quickly.
In that case, you may want to consider retiring in a place where, for a day or two, you may be the only foreigner in sight. A place where you have money left over at the end of the month.
A place where you can pack a lunch and spend the day on a houseboat for only $17 USD. And the other nearby houseboats are not full of international tourists pushing the cost of living through the roof.
You see, almost everything south of El Nido in Palawan is pretty much an untouched heaven. And if you decide to retire in the hidden gem called Puerto Princesa, you are likely to see much less inflation as the years go by.
We were in Puerto Princesa a few years ago, but not long enough to gather cost-of-living data. But we made a mental note to return to Puerto Princesa, and here we are.
This time we had the time to explore. We decided that Puerto Princesa is a special place. It is one of Qiang’s favorite places in the Philippines. So, we will share what we learned today.
So, there is no AI-gathered data or video in this report. This is 100% our work.
My name is Dan. I left the United States in 2007, and I have lived in or visited 73 countries over the last 18 years. I have 291 written reports teaching people how to retire early or slow travel for cheap overseas.
After visiting friends in northern Palawan, we took the bus south from the El Nido Bus Station to the Puerto Princesa International Airport for $15 USD per person. The bus ticket price included a minivan to our accommodations. The bus leaves every few hours, and the trip takes about 5 hours, including bathroom breaks and stopping for one meal (not included).
In this report, I share our favorite markets, restaurants, and things to do in Puerto Princesa. I will give you a line-item estimate of the basic costs of living here on both low and middle-range budgets. And then I will talk about retirement visas, health care, walkability, and other things retirees should consider.
Markets, Restaurants, Services
Puerto Princesa Markets
Old Public Market: This is where we would buy fruits, vegetables, and rice while in Puerto Princesa. They also have meat and fish, clothes, household needs, shoes, just about everything, plus mom and pop restaurants.
Robinsons Palawan: This is a typical high-end mall in the Philippines with retail stores, restaurants, and a grocery store.
SM Mall (and Groceries): This is a typical high-end mall in the Philippines with retail stores, restaurants, and a grocery store.
NCCC Palawan: This is a typical local style mall in the Philippines with retail stores, restaurants, and a grocery store.
Puerto Princesa Restaurants
Local-ish ((Pesos below) 57 PHP Pesos to 1 USD at time)
Mang Inasal: Qiang’s favorite local chicken fast food. This is a big fast food chain, so you can try any of them around the Philippines.
Kalui Seafood Restaurant: Tuna steak 320, Veggie plate 250, beer 90, mango shake 120
The 7641 Connect: Insala chicken 200, Bake Oyster 50 each, Tofu sisig 250, beer 100
Neva’s Place: Tofu & mushroom 240
Ima’s Vegetarian: Teriyaki 160, Vegetable Rice 180,
Namaskar Vegetarian House: Veggie and Rice 90, Fried Tofu 70,
Chooks To Go: Roasted 1/2 Chicken 175
Puerto Princesa Foreign-ish Restaurants
Gold • Cup Specialty Coffee Roaster’s: French Omelette + Latte 420, Chow mien 305, Affogato 295
Grains Plant-based Cafe: Teriyaki bowl 220, Katsu curry +rice 220, Fresh juice 150
McDonald’s: American fast food chain with old favorites and local adaptations.
Palaweño Brewery: Flight 4 beers 250, Normal size 180
Tiki Bar: Live Band Playing Western Music, about half locals, half foreigners. Beer 100, entry ticket 50, 7 nights a week.
Puerto Princesa Services
Philippines arrival & departure e-card: Complete a few days before entry and before departure.
Porto Princesa Immigration Field Office: After your first free month, most people extend their tourist visa for up to 36 total months before doing a visa run to a nearby country to start the process all over again. After the first one-month extension, you can do two-month extensions on each visit. The cost for an expedited extension is about $55 USD per month. If you are willing to come back in 5 days, the regular extension is about $38 USD. Of course, rules and costs are subject to change without notice.
Cinema (Movies): English movies from the West and from Asia play here.
RCBC Bank: My favorite ATM.
Spintrix Laundry: This is where we had our laundry cleaned and folded.
Beauty Studio Aesthetic By Jessa D: Qiang had her nails and hair done here, and I had my hair cut.
Smart Data Package (Smartphone): 30 days, 24 GB for about $6 USD
Puerto Princesa Nightlife
In Puerto Princesa, the early evening starts at the waterfront at the Puerto Princesa City Baywalk Park, where there is great people watching and a few good restaurants. Around 7 PM, I would head over to Palaweno Brewery to try the home-brewed beers. Then, around 10 PM, head over to the J1 Bar and Restaurants for more people watching and to see how the locals party. Then I would head over to the Tiki Bar to hear some love top 40 music and dance the night away, or shoot a game of pool.
Your marching orders are contained in order on this Google Map. Flag down a tricycle cab to transfer between places for about 100, or take a multicab for 15 per person. A multicab is a shared van full of people heading in your direction. Google Map
Puerto Princesa City Baywalk Park
One of the highlights of Puerto Princesa is this beautiful bayfront walkway. It is great for people watching and meeting someone in public for a walk on a date. In the Philippines, people love to see and be seen. Google Map
Puerto Princesa Houseboat Rental
One of our favorite things to do in Puerto Princesa is to rent a houseboat at Canigaran Beach for the day and bring food for a picnic on the water. The boat rental is 1000 PHP ($18 USD) for the day.
That includes towing your houseboat out to the sandbar and back. Make sure to bring the sunblock and something to eat because there are no restaurants out in the ocean. The water was shallow during our visit, about 0.5 meters or 3 feet.
Make sure to book your houseboat well in advance, especially on weekends and holidays. Contact them on Facebook.
Flag down any tricycle taxi on the day you go. The tricycle taxi is 300 PHP each way. When the taxi drops you off, tell them what time to pick you up.
Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park
While in Puerto Princesa, consider visiting one of the largest underground navigable rivers in the world. We took the tour hosted by Klook, which cost 2200 PHP ($40 USD) per person, including transportation and lunch. They even pick you up at your accommodations.
Estimated Cost to Retire in Puerto Princesa, Philippines
Here are our estimated basic recurring costs of living converted into US dollars if the two of us moved to Puerto Princesa on a tight budget. We will also include more typical or middle-range expenses that other expats might spend to give you another data point.
These estimates do not include everything that it would cost you to live here since we don’t know your lifestyle and needs. But I will give you a link to other optional costs that you can add that are more specific to your personal lifestyle and needs.
Rents: I found this two-bedroom apartment for rent in Puerto Princesa for 18k PHP per month ($325 USD) on a one-year lease.
But I would want to be a little closer to the city center and would be willing to give up one of the bedrooms, so I estimate around $450 per month for our rent. For the middle range estimate, I will use $700 per month in rents. Make sure to read how I find perfect apartments around the world.
Utilities: Puerto Princesa is at sea level, so we would need to run our air conditioner to sleep for most of the year. We estimate that our utilities will run about $90 USD per month for electricity, gas, and water.
The utilities for the larger place would be about $125 per month USD.
Groceries: Based on our time here and the money we spent on groceries, we estimate about $350 USD per month on groceries for the two of us. We would shop mostly in the public market where the vegetables, fruits, rice, and meats are cheaper. We would cook and eat mostly at home.
Middle-range expats will shop more often in expensive grocery stores, buying imported food from home, so we estimate about $450 per month for them.
Restaurants: If we went out to eat twice per week, once for date night and once for lunch somewhere, plus some street food, we would spend around $65 per week or $260 per month in restaurants for the two of us. We would eat in mom-and-pop-style restaurants when possible, but also in the expensive tourist restaurants once a week or so.
Middle-range expats are likely to spend more in expat-style restaurants serving foreign-style food, so I estimate about $360 per month for them.
Cell Phone Data: The cost to recharge our prepaid service is about $6 per month. My Android phone will act as a hotspot so we can both be on the internet at the same time when we are out of the house together.
Middle-range expats are likely to pay for two data plans, so $12 per month for them.
Laundry: We paid about $4 per week for drop off and pick up, wash, dry, and fold laundry, so $16 per month for laundry. This would be about the same for the middle-range expats.
Water: R/O water in twenty-liter bottle jugs delivered would be about 50 pesos per jug, so 10 jugs would be about $10 USD per month. This would be about the same for the middle-range expats.
Internet: Our Internet would be about $36 per month. This would be about the same for the middle-range expats.
Transportation: Puerto Princesa is kind of spread out, but the area we would spend most of our time in is within a 15-minute walk. But we may ride a few multicabs to other parts of town and spend about $40 per month on transportation.
Middle-range expats are likely to spend more on transportation, like a used car or scooter, so gas and expenses would be about $150 per month.
Alcohol (Optional): San Miguel Pilsen Grande beers (0.5 liters)are about 120 PHP or $2.15 USD each in stores, which is about two beers. But you will see regular-sized San Miguel Pilsen beers in bars and restaurants for about 100 PHP or $1.79 USD each. We would drink mainly at home, so we estimate about $110 per month in alcohol for the two of us.
The middle range expats are likely to drink more expensive and craft beers and more often in restaurants and bars so we estimate about $250 per month for them.
Entertainment (Optional): We would budget about $150 per month for entertainment for the two of us.
Estimated Costs to Retire in Puerto Princesa
|
Puerto Princesa Philippines |
Lower (USD) |
Middle (USD) |
|
Rent |
450 |
700 |
|
Utilities |
90 |
125 |
|
Groceries |
350 |
450 |
|
Restaurants |
260 |
360 |
|
Cell Data |
6 |
12 |
|
Laundry |
16 |
16 |
|
Drinking Water |
10 |
10 |
|
Internet |
36 |
36 |
|
Transportation |
40 |
150 |
|
Total |
$1258 |
$1899 |
|
|
|
|
|
Alcohol |
110 |
250 |
|
Optional Total |
$1368 |
$2169 |
|
|
|
|
|
Entertainment |
200 |
300 |
|
Optional Total |
$1568 |
$2409 |
We gathered this data with our feet on the ground here in April 2025. The above lower estimated cost of living would be if the two of us lived in Puerto Princesa on a tight budget. The middle estimate is just an example of what other expats might spend if they moved here.
To understand what it would cost you to live here, you must put your feet on the ground, see how you would choose to live, eat, and entertain yourself, and add it all up. It doesn’t matter what anyone else spends because we are all different.
You should also add anything to the above table that you spend money on in your home country that is not listed in the above table. Presumably, you find those things necessary in life. To do that, visit Numbeo Puerto Princesa and add anything not mentioned in the table.
Never move anywhere until you have visited first personally to verify the living costs for your lifestyle and needs. I am not guaranteeing these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different depending on your lifestyle and the time since this post.
More typical expat living costs in the Philippines range from about $1200 to $3000 per month. But people spending that much also have higher incomes or pensions. They often report spending more on entertainment, eating out, and alcohol. Many also have more expensive cars, houses, or apartments.
Also, if you are going to try to retire cheap offshore, make sure to read my report, the Two Biggest Risks of Retiring Early for Cheap Offshore, which explains why you should have emergency funds available for unexpectedly large expenses.
Where We Stayed
Here is where we stayed in Puerto Princesa. Since we didn’t stay long enough to negotiate a 12-month lease, we had to pay the higher Airbnb rates. Here is our process for finding cheaper places as we slowly travel the world: How to find great apartments around the world.
Puerto Princesa Livability Factors and Retirement Desirability Score
Here are the factors I think about when I consider a place for early retirement potential. After I discuss each factor, I will assign an overall retirement desirability score for Puerto Princesa. I am writing the following based on my personal experience here.
Walkability: Medium Desirability. Puerto Princesa is spread out, but we could walk to most daily needs in our favorite part of the city. When we needed to get to other parts of the city, we would use the multicabs or the tricycle taxis instead of buying a car or scooter.
Internet: High Desirability. It is possible to get about 100 MBPS up and down in Puerto Princesa for about $36 USD per month. We used my smartphone as a hotspot when we needed connectivity outside the home or when the power was down.
Food: Medium. There was a reasonable assortment of restaurants, both foreign and domestic.
Transportation: High. The multicab system is efficient and cheap. 15 PHP per person each way to get across town. A multicab is like a minivan that seats about 16 people. You just wave one down when you see it going in your direction.
Weather: High. The hottest month in Puerto Princesa is generally May, with an average daily high of 31°C (88°F) and average nightly low of 26 °C (79°F). The coldest month in Puerto Princesa is generally January, with an average daily low temperature of around 25°C (77°F) and a nightly average low of 24 °C (75°F). The most rain falls from June through October, with August being the rainiest time.
Things to Do: Medium. This is a medium-sized town in the Philippines with about 300k people. There is dining, fishing, scuba diving, swimming, boating, yoga, partying, live music, etc. Just normal life.
Healthcare: Medium. There are a few hospitals and clinics in Puerto Princesa that will be able to handle everyday health problems. But for more difficult procedures and or diagnosis, they may stabilize you and send you to Metro Manila or Cebu. More generally, the best health care in the Philippines is in Cebu City and Metro Manila.
Expats: Medium. We saw very few expats walking around Puerto Princesa. This would be a great town to live if you were more interested in integrating into the local culture than hanging out with a bunch of other expats.
The low number of expats is confirmed by the lack of expats joining Facebook Pages: one, two. Even if you do find an expat enclave, make sure to make friends with both locals and expats for a richer experience. I explain why in my report, The Top 10 Mistakes International Retirees Make.
Real Estate: I never recommend buying real estate until you have lived somewhere for at least 2 to 3 years. I have a report explaining Why Retired Expats Should not Buy Real Estate Overseas for the first 2 to 3 years of living somewhere new overseas. Make sure to read that before deciding to buy real estate overseas.
In the Philippines, you can’t own land directly in your name. Some foreigners get a long-term lease on land before they build, others take title in a corporate name, and others get married and put the property in their Filipino wife or husband’s name.
But do hire a local lawyer if you decide to invest in real estate. Do not use a lawyer referred to you by someone with a conflict of interest with you, such as a new local spouse, a real estate broker, or your spouse’s family.
Visa: High. For your exploratory visit to the Philippines, citizens of many countries can obtain a 30-day free visa stamp upon arrival at the international airports. Plus, you can extend your tourist visa for a total of 36 months in the Philippines without bothering with a retirement visa. The monthly visa extensions cost about $38 USD per month regular or $55 per month expedited. After 36 months, you just leave the Philippines and go to another country, and then fly back to start the whole 36-month process over again. For this reason, almost nobody I have met in the Philippines bothers to get a retirement visa. These rules and costs change without notice, so verify at the time you read this.
Puerto Princesa Overall Retirement Desirability Score: Medium. If you prefer medium-sized towns, and you don’t need a large pool of other expats to entertain you, then Puerto Princesa may be rated High for you. Qiang really loves this place. Overall, it is a very nice place to live.
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