PhilippinesIsland

Palawan

12,189 km² rising to 2,085 m out of the Sulu Sea.

Brookes PointJose RizalEl NidoNarraRoxasRio TubaQuezon

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

12,189km²

Area

1,271km

Coastline

measured on a simplified outline

2,085m

Highest point

Mount Mantalingajan

886,308

People

30°C

Warmest sea

May

853km

To the mainland

When to go to Palawan

Best for the beach from January to April.

The sea is warmest in May (30 °C) and coolest in February (27 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

28°28°26°

Jan12

27°28°26°

Feb7

28°29°27°

Mar7

29°30°28°

Apr10

30°30°28°

May21

30°29°28°

Jun26

29°28°27°

Jul28

29°28°27°

Aug28

29°28°27°

Sep26

29°28°27°

Oct27

29°28°27°

Nov24

28°28°27°

Dec22

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island in the Philippines

Palawan is an island in Philippines. It covers 12,189 km², with 1,271 km of coastline. Its highest point, Mount Mantalingajan, rises to 2,085 m. About 886,308 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 853 km away.

Getting there

Puerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire in Puerto PrincesaDiscover Cars · Affiliate link
FerriesDos Palmas Ferry Route, Boat Route to Underground River, Puerto Princesa - Mangingisda, To Rio Tuba
853 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
From January to Aprilbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Car hire in Puerto PrincesaDiscover CarsSee

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Palawan.

62beachesPhoenix Beach, Sumagingsing Beach, Tagbarungis Beach and 59 more
16viewpointsUgong Rock, Salvacion Viewdeck, North end of palawan viewpoint and 13 more
9lighthousesRoxas Port, Taytay Lighthouse, Panacan Lighthouse and 6 more
14ferry terminalsPuerto Princesa, Santa Lourdes Wharf, Brooke's Point Port and 11 more
105named peaksMount Mantalingajan, Mount Gantung, Stripe Peak and 102 more
46waterfallsSalakot Waterfall, Nagkalit-Kalit Waterfalls, Estrella Falls and 43 more
1castles and fortsFort Santa Isabel
3ruins and archaeological sitesPasimbahan Magsanib, Ille cave
15dive centresDown Under Dives, Palawan Divers, El Dive and 12 more
2waymarked walking routesMatalingajan Traverse, Magarwak Trail
5campsitesDuli Beach, Gunub, Salvacion River Camp and Firefly Watching and 2 more
389hotels, guesthouses and apartments
281restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Palawan in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Palawan, each with its own numbers.

51beaches and covesCoastya
113mountainsPeakyas
1lakeLakeyas

Highest point
2,085m
Mount Mantalingajan
prominence 2,085 m · according to Peakyas
Largest lake
6.1km²
Lake Manguao
according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
30.0°C
Erawan Beach
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

51 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

Lasgas Beach30.0°C
Erawan Beach30.0°C
Nagtulay Beach30.0°C
Alemanguan Beach30.0°C
Enarayan Beach30.0°C
Pinagmangalokan Beach30.0°C
Sagboyin Beach30.0°C
Mahilamonen Beach30.0°C

43 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗

113 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

Mount Mantalingajanprominence 2,085 m2,085m
Mount Victoria, Palawanprominence 1,619 m1,726m
Thumb Peakprominence 1,296 m1,296m
Anepahan Peaks1,080m
High Nipple926m
East Shoulder868m
Low Nipple401m
Bando Peak289m

105 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

1 lakes

on Lakeyas, the lake atlas

Lake Manguao6.1km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 205 m above the sea. 68 % of it is below 200 m.

35 %0–50 m
33 %50–200 m
19 %200–500 m
10 %500–1,000 m
2 %1,000–2,000 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Palawan12,189 km²

Sicily25,615 km²

Jamaica11,068 km²

200 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

Brookes Point76,715 people
Jose Rizal59,040 people
El Nido51,367 people
Narra28,342 people
Roxas15,242 people
Magsaysay12,603 people
Panacan10,526 people
Rio Tuba8,944 people
Quezon7,860 people
Taytay7,717 people
Panitian7,258 people
Pañgobilian7,178 people

Month by month

The weather on the island.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon high (°C)	28	28	29	30	30	29	28	28	28	28	28	28
Night low (°C)	26	26	27	28	28	28	27	27	27	27	27	27
Sea (°C)	28	27	28	29	30	30	29	29	29	29	29	28
Rain (mm)	67	34	37	56	126	204	216	208	194	209	182	154
Wet days	12	7	7	10	21	26	28	28	26	27	24	22
Sun h/day	6.5	7.5	8.1	8.2	7.0	5.5	5.0	5.1	5.0	5.3	5.5	5.6
Wind (km/h)	24	22	19	15	12	13	15	16	14	14	17	22

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	+0.5	+0.3	+0.6	+0.6	+0.7	+0.8	+1.3	+0.8	+0.8	+0.3	+0.4	+0.6
2021	+0.5	+0.4	+0.4	+0.2	±0.0	+0.4	+0.2	+0.7	+0.6	+0.6	+0.3	+0.5
2022	+0.4	+0.6	+0.9	+0.2	−0.2	+0.5	+0.1	+0.4	+0.5	+0.1	+0.5	+0.6
2023	+0.4	+0.4	±0.0	+0.6	+0.1	−0.3	−0.4	+0.5	+0.6	+0.8	+1.1	+0.7
2024	+0.9	+0.7	±0.0	+0.7	+0.9	+0.5	+0.2	+0.5	±0.0	+0.4	+0.6	+0.8
2025	+0.6	+0.9	+0.3	+0.2	+0.1	−0.6	−0.4	±0.0	−0.2	±0.0	±0.0	+0.4

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Puerto Princesa Subterranean Park, limestone formations, Palawan, Philippines — Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0

Palawan, Philippines, View over northwest coast of Palawan and South China Sea — Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0

Island Hopping in Palawan — Daxster16 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Palawan Island, Philippines — Tminolli · CC BY-SA 4.0

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Dumaran Island

Philippines307 km²132 m189 km away

Balabac Island

Philippines302 km²525 m237 km away

Linapacan Island

Philippines98 km²122 m260 km away

Mapun Island

Philippines63 km²49 m277 km away

Banggi Island

Malaysia434 km²520 m290 km away

Culion Island

Philippines399 km²447 m305 km away

Agutaya Island

Philippines15 km²50 m326 km away

Coron Island

Philippines72 km²600 m329 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, population	Wikidata (Q1061269) · CC0
Outline	Natural Earth · public domain
Sea temperature	NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
Climate	NASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Towns	GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls	Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beaches

Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit

lakes

Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit

mountains

Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit

waterfalls Cascadyas

Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit

islands

Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here

rivers

Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit

canyons

Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit