El Nido Lagen Island Resort in Palawan reopened this year after a 12-month renovation that cut the key count from 51 to 42, rebuilt all 18 overwater villas in bahay kubo style, and reclaimed a 200-metre white-sand beachfront — rates from US$1,425.
Palawan’s limestone karsts and lagoons have been on every world’s-most-beautiful list for a decade, and El Nido is their poster child. Lagen Island — a private-island resort inside the 90,000-hectare El Nido–Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, founded by a group of divers back in 1998 — is one of the originals here. This year it reopened from a 12-month rebuild, and it did something almost no luxury renovation dares: it came back smaller.
El Nido Lagen Resort: Key Facts
- Reopened: 2026, after a 12-month renovation — originally opened 1998
- Location: private island in the El Nido–Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, northern Palawan, Philippines — AirSwift flies Manila to El Nido (Lio) in about 55 minutes, then it is a 40 to 50-minute boat ride to the island
- Keys: 42, down from 51 — 18 rebuilt overwater villas with sunken lounges and bed-to-bay views, plus 24 forest rooms and suites facing the sea with the Napuro forest behind
- Design: WATG, Wimberly Interiors and Henning Larsen with Ayala Land Hospitality’s creative team — bahay kubo–inspired villas, palm-fringed roofs, woven panels, ceramic beads by local clay brickmakers, hand-carved doors
- Beach: a reclaimed 200-metre stretch of white sand where beachfront cottages once stood
- Dining: the Boat House arrival pavilion (built like a paraw sailboat), the Beach Club (wood-fired pizzas, seafood), the Club House (elevated Filipino — Lagen Kinilaw, Ginataang Alimango — plus southern European dishes and a full vegetarian menu), and bespoke dining from garden caves to sandbar picnics
- Wellness: the new Lagen Wellness Sanctuary — three treatment rooms, Pilates studio, Technogym gym, hot and cold plunge pools, steam and sauna — with Babaylan-tradition Heritage Healing therapies and an ESPA partnership
- Diving: new marine sports and dive centre, PADI courses, 20+ dive sites from the property, plus Schiller water bikes and night-lit kayaks
- Rates: from US$1,425 per night, per the reopening press release
Less Is More, Literally
Most renovations add keys; Lagen removed nine. “Sometimes, less is more,” is how Gustavo Morales, COO of owner Ayala Land Hospitality, put it — the beachfront cottages went, and the 200-metre beach took their place. The conservation detail runs deeper than the brochure line: the new pool is cleaned with UV light instead of chemicals, the lighting scheme creates a turtle-friendly dark zone along the sand, original flooring from the 1998 structures was repurposed, and instead of building privacy screens between villas, the resort grew them. A dedicated conservation centre now anchors the eco-experience program, with a head of sustainability on staff.
Filipino Craft, Not Imported Polish
The rebuild’s design brief was indigenous craftsmanship over imported luxury cues, and the specifics are convincing: villa exteriors carry bespoke ceramic beads shaped by clay brickmakers working from Filipino weaving patterns, doors and railings are chiselled with vernacular motifs by local wood carvers, and the villas themselves reference the bahay kubo, the traditional stilted hut. Creative director Paloma Urquijo Zobel de Ayala assembled the artisan network. The forest rooms get the quieter deal — sea views in front, limestone cliffs and rehabilitated greenery behind.
I’ve Dived concervation projects Before
A private-island resort founded by divers, rebuilt around conservation, in a protected marine area — I know exactly what this formula delivers when it works, because I’ve lived it at Misool in Raja Ampat, the benchmark for dive resorts that fund the reserve around them. Palawan is also home turf for my Philippines diving: my Infiniti liveaboard review of Tubbataha — the UNESCO reef in the Sulu Sea — departs from Puerto Princesa, on this same island. Lagen’s 20-plus house sites are a different, easier kind of diving than Tubbataha’s walls, which is exactly why the two combine so well.
Tip: if you can travel between mid-March and mid-June, pair Lagen with a Tubbataha liveaboard out of Puerto Princesa — the reef’s short season is the only time it’s diveable, and you’ll cover Palawan’s gentlest and wildest diving in one trip.
How Much Does El Nido Lagen Resort Cost?
For a dry-season midweek stay (16–18 February, two nights, two adults), the entry-level Forest Deluxe Room comes out at about US$1,750 per night with breakfast, taxes and charges included, while an overwater Water Villa runs closer to US$1,915 per night on the same dates; the Forest Suite sits between the two at roughly US$1,815. The resort’s own Island Discovery package — 30% off flexible rates with daily full-board dining, standard island-hopping tours and Lio Airport transfers on stays of two nights or more — is bookable to 13 December 2026 for stays until 15 December 2026, so it’s worth pricing that against the OTA rate before you commit. Rates shift often with availability and platform promotions, especially in a resort’s first year back, so it’s worth a quick check across sites before booking. Taking 5 minutes to compare the websites below can save you hundreds of dollars. To save time, you can simply click on the links below where we have already entered the info for El Nido Lagen Resort.
Check the rate on Booking.com — free cancellation and no prepayment on the dates we checked.
Compare on Trip.com — often worth a look for travellers based in Asia.
See it on Expedia — useful if you’re bundling flights with your stay, and they sometimes have better prices than Booking.com.
Also on Traveloka — a strong option for hotels in Southeast Asia (search the hotel by name).
Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you book through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure policy.
This preview is based on official announcements — I haven’t stayed yet. Read more about how I review or visit my Work With Me page.
