What is the Super Ultimate Tour?
If you are traveling the Philippines in 2026 and Palawan is on your list, you will most likely be visiting Coron. Located far in the North of Palawan Island Group, “Coron” is a general area including Coron City on the southern tip of Busuanga and also the name of the nearby luxury Coron Island. Coron is known for island hopping, remote beaches, and its world-class snorkeling and diving.
As soon as you step off the plane/boat in Coron, you will be bombarded with pamphlets all offering some version of the
The tours in Coron are standardized, so the differences aren’t in the stops themselves, just the operators (which does matter!)
For the sake of this guide, we are going to focus on the joiner/shared tours instead of the private tours which we did not do.
Essentially, there are 4 standard tours in Coron and the Super Ultimate combines the highlights of them all, and makes for a jam packed day. See below for a flyover of the different tours in Coron and what we saw for per person pricing:
Tour A: Kayangan Lake, Coral Garden, CYC Beach, Quin Reef, Atwayan Beach
₱1,200–1,400 ($20-$23)
Tour B: Twin Lagoon, Barracuda Lake, Skeleton Wreck, Smith Beach
₱1,400–1,600 ($23-$26)
Ultimate Tour: Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, Skeleton Wreck, Coral Garden, beaches
₱1,600–1,800 ($26-$29)
Super Ultimate Tour: Ultimate Tour plus Barracuda Lake (and often Siete Pecados or an extra snorkel stop)
₱1,800–2,000 ($29-$32)
What Tour Did We Choose?
After talking with the reception at our hotel, we decided to sign up for the Super Ultimate Tour because we had a difficult time gauging which stops we would like the most. If you are like us and tend to be indecisive, the Super Ultimate Tour is a great opportunity to see it all in one day.
After we did the Super Ultimate Tour we were exhausted (our boat didn’t return until about 5:30 PM) and we felt that we didn’t have much time at some of our favorite stops, and spent too much time at some of the more underwhelming ones.
So, we want to break down and rate the stops on the Super Ultimate Tour so that you can make your own informed decision about which tour(s) might be right for you!
Breakdown: Super Ultimate Tour Itinerary
9:00 AM: Meet at the tour operator’s office.
Here you will be given the option to rent snorkels and kayaks for the day. In our opinion, for the Super Ultimate Tour, you only need the snorkels. As you will see, the time at most stops is not long enough to really get your money’s worth from the kayak rental which is significantly more expensive than just the snorkel which cost about $2.50/pp. Renting fins for another $2.50 might be a good idea if you want to dive down as deep as possible at places like Skeleton Wreck, but they are definitely not necessary for the Super Ultimate Tour.
10:00 AM: Arrive at Kayangan Lake
Kayangan Lake is an absolutely stunning clear blue water lake surrounded by beautiful limestone karsts. It was quite busy when we were there, but it’s big enough that we could swim away from people and just enjoy the water ourselves. The “local lifeguards” strictly enforce that every tourist must have a life jacket at all times – not necessarily worn. We used the life jackets as floatation devices to take a rest from swimming. We really enjoyed the water and space here at Kayangan Lake, but there was nothing to see in terms of snorkeling.
Overall, we enjoyed Kayangan Lake and thought it was one of the better stops of the day.
Kayangan Lake: 🌕🌕🌕 (3/5)
11:30 AM: Arrive at Barracuda Lake
As far as we could tell, this was the stop that basically turns the “Ultimate Tour” into the “Super Ultimate Tour” so naturally, we had higher expectations for it.
Despite the name and slightly unfortunately, apparently there are no actual barracuda in the actual lake, at least not at the depths humans swim at, so we didn’t see any of those.
In reality, it ended up feeling, to us, very similar to Kayangan Lake. Our tour operators told us that we could take our snorkels to see the limestone cliffs underwater which was interesting but nothing compared to some of the other snorkeling we had done in the Philippines.
The best part about Barracuda Lake was that as you dive down deeper, the water gets warmer because it sits on top of a hot springs.
Overall, we were slightly underwhelmed. After all, this was the stop that turned the Ultimate Tour into the Super Ultimate Tour.
Barracuda Lake: 🌕🌕 (2/5)
12:45 PM: Arrive at Skeleton Wreck
Just before 1 PM we arrived at the Skeleton Wreck which is actually the remains of a small Japanese vessel from WW2. The exposed metal frame of the boat has become covered in corals and sponges making it an artificial reef – hence the name “Skeleton Wreck.”
One end of the ship is deep to about 22 meters, but the other is only about 5 meters deep making it easily accessible to snorkelers. However, when we were there the water was quite choppy and visibility was poor. The best we could do was dive down, grab hold of the ship and try to see the reef but without much luck.
While it was very cool seeing a war ship covered in corals, we were still a little underwhelmed by the quality of the snorkeling at this stop – mostly because only part of it is accessible to snorkelers and diving down 5 meters sounds easy but it doesn’t leave most people with a lot of breath time for actually seeing the boat and reef. We envisioned it would probably be much better explored while scuba diving.
Skeleton Wreck: 🌕🌕🌗 (2.5/5)
1:30 PM: Lunchtime
Our guides told us we were supposed to have lunch at the beach next to the Skeleton Wreck, but the water was too choppy to pull all the way to shore so we had lunch on the boat instead.
Lunch on the boat was plentiful and delicious: Fruit, fried noodles, egg rolls, fish, adobo chicken, fried vegetables, and of course rice.
Lunch: 🌕🌕🌕🌕 (4/5)
2:30 PM: Arrive at Coral Garden
After lunch we took a short cruise over to the Coral Garden where we were excited to do some snorkeling.
This ended up being our favorite stop of the tour: the Coral Garden was FULL of colorful corals and fish, the visibility was crystal clear, and the snorkeling was incredible.
Unfortunately, due to the jam-packed nature of the Super Ultimate Tour, we only got about 30 minutes at the Coral Garden which left us feeling disappointed because we had just started exploring the reef when they began calling us back in to the boat.
We have done a lot of snorkeling in the Philippines and the Coral Garden in Coron was one of the best that we experienced! If you enjoy snorkeling, make sure whichever tour you choose includes the Coral Garden.
Coral Garden: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 (4.5/5)
3:00 PM: Arrive CYC Public Beach
At around 3, we anchored just 100 meters off of CYC Beach. We felt that the staff kind of downplayed this spot to us to keep the tour moving by telling us “This is just a public beach, if no one wants to go to the beach we can keep moving.”
Of course we wanted to go to the beach, and we were happy we did. White sand, clear water great for snorkeling and swimming – this beach, although it’s public, is clearly a hot spot for day trips off the bigger island.
At this spot there was also a “floating 7Eleven” who came up to our boat and sold us beer and cold drinks as the sun was just starting to set behind the distant cliffs. We got some Red Horse Stallions for a reasonable price and soaked up the sun on the boat before the final stop of the day: Twin Lagoon.
CYC Beach: 🌕🌕🌕 (3/5)
4:15 PM: Arrive at Twin Lagoon
For our last stop of the day, our boat pulled into the famous Twin Lagoon. Surrounded by jagged limestone, these two lagoons are connected by a tiny passageway that you can swim or kayak under.
As we said earlier, this is probably the best opportunity to kayak if you choose to rent one, but we still only had about 45 minutes here.
We did not have a kayak, so we just swam from the one lagoon to the next and then back. After a hot day in the sun and mostly warm, shallow water – the cool water of these lagoons (and the occasional shady area) felt extremely refreshing. Again we held onto our life jackets for breaks temporarily.
Swimming in the afternoon sun surrounded by massive, jagged limestone cliffs and no boats was a great way to end the day. We were definitely pleased by the Twin Lagoon and fully exhausted from the swim from one side to the other.
Getting back onto the ladder to leave the lagoon there were some triggerfish defending their territory – mind your feet!
Twin Lagoon: 🌕🌕🌕🌗 (3.5/5)
5:00 PM: Back on the boat
By 5 PM, we were rounded up back onto the boat where the team served us a Filipino treat: fried bananas for our drive home.
5:30 PM: Arrive back in Coron
Is Super Ultimate Tour Worth It?
In our eyes, spending the extra couple dollars per person (if you can afford it), then yes – the Super Ultimate Tour is definitely worth it at the price point. Including lunch and all of the stops, we felt the price was more than fair and a great way to spend a day in Coron if your time there is short.
But, if you are expecting Barracuda Lake to make the Super Ultimate Tour something head and shoulders better than the Ultimate tour – you may be disappointed like we were.
Also, the Super Ultimate and Ultimate tours may not be for your if:
You are someone who does not enjoy swimming, then you may not enjoy this tour very much as basically every stop requires swimming from the boat.
You are primarily looking a tour in Coron with the intention of doing quality snorkeling, you could definitely do one of the other tours that are slightly cheaper and will afford you more time at the better snorkeling spots (namely the Coral Garden). Or you could build your own private tour to focus on the snorkeling spots and skip the touristy lakes and lagoons.
Conclusion: One of the Best Ways to Spend a Day in Coron
At the end of the day, we had a great experience and we left Coron feeling like we had explored some of its most iconic sites while also holding onto the knowledge that we could return to do more serious diving without the need to revisit some of the busy spots on the Super Ultimate Tour.
TLDR: Our Ratings for Each Stop On the Super Ultimate Tour Below
Kayangan Lake: 🌕🌕🌕 (3/5)
Beautiful water and great swimming to start the day. Although it’s quite busy, there is plenty of space to swim.
Barracuda Lake: 🌕🌕(2/5)
No Barracuda in this lake, and smaller swimming area than Kayangan. We didn’t feel it deserved to upgrade “Ultimate” to “Super Ultimate”
Skeleton Wreck: 🌕🌕🌗 (2.5/5)
No skeletons in this wreck, either. But, the ship is cool if you are a comfortable free diver with the ability to hold your breath long enough to actually enjoy it.
Lunch: 🌕🌕🌕🌕(4/5)
Delicious food and plentiful for the whole boat. Definitely the kind of meal that refuels you for more swimming.
Coral Garden: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗(4.5/5)
Amazing and impressively colorful! This was the highlight of our Super Ultimate at our, although we felt we did not spend enough time here.
CYC Beach: 🌕🌕🌕 (3/5)
Nice little beach great for swimming, but we would have preferred to use the time at the Coral Garden.
Twin Lagoon: 🌕🌕🌕🌗 (3.5/5)
Really cool swimming spot if the tide is right to swim from the one lagoon to the other. Also your best opportunity to kayak if you prefer to stay on top of the water as opposed to in it.