Have you always dreamt of staying on a desert island? Imagine waking up to the sound of gentle waves, walking barefoot on soft white sand, and nothing but the ocean stretching to the horizon. No emails, no traffic, no to-do lists, just island life in its purest form. That’s Darocotan Island, a secluded paradise near El Nido in the Philippines.

Back home in the UK, whenever we imagine the one spot we’d love to spend the day, this is often the answer. Our stay at Bice Camp, Darocotan Island was pure magic, one of those rare travel experiences that stays with you forever. The only regret is that we only stayed one night, 2-3 nights would have been perfect.

In this guide, we’ll take you through everything you need to know, from how to get there, where you’ll sleep, and exactly what to expect. We also have a complete guide on our time in the Philippines Here if you are looking for more travel inspiration and helpful info!

Darocotan Island

Darocotan Island feels far away from the world, and is a stunning paradise that we loved relaxing on and truly switching off. It was a unique experience we will treasure forever. What also makes it a great option is how easy and affordable it can be for a desert island experience in the beautiful Philippines.

There are a few different resorts / options on the Island. The most popular being Bice Camp, Isla – The Isla Experience, DRYFT, and Dos Playa Ecocamp. We chose to do Bice Camp as it was a very affordable option, and we found it to be very simple to arrange everything with them. We had a great time staying at Bice Camp and can honestly recommend it! Our guide will be relevant to the whole Island, but specific parts will relate to our experience with Bice Camp.

We used booking.com to book our stay, but you can also find Bice Camp on Facebook.

Getting to Darocotan Island

Bice Camp made this really simple for us, and the journey is not a difficult one, especially for the Philippines. In less than 2 hours from setting off from El Nido, you will be transported away from one paradise to an even more untouched one. Darocotan Island is next level!

You do have the option to arrange getting to the Island yourself. However, to include the transfer via Bice Camp the cost was around £15 per person for a return trip.

We were picked up in a small shared van from our hotel in El Nido at around 11am. An hour drive and we arrived at Teneguiban. There it was a 10-15 minute boat ride and we arrived on Darocotan Island. You really wouldn’t expect the journey to this paradise to be so simple and quick, but that really was it.

The journey on the way back to El Nido was the same experience, and we left Bice Camp around 11:00 am.

Accommodation

Accommodation on Bice Camp is basic, you need to have realistic expectations and appreciate the desert island experience. Saying that, we did actually have one of our best nights of sleep ever here. One or two of the other island options might have a slightly higher standard of accommodation, but we were perfectly happy with Bice Camp, especially with how much we paid.

We had a simple bamboo hut located right on the beach front. It fitted into the surroundings perfectly and was very comfortable. Inside there was a double mattress, bedding, towels, a mosquito net, and some space to store your bags.

The showers and toilets were located on one side of the camp, and were again simple. However, they were clean and to be honest better than some bathrooms we had in the Philippines.

Around the camp there is plenty of shade, places to sit, and hammocks. It’s well maintained and is right on the beachfront. The accommodation for one night cost around £26 – a great deal!

darocotan-island-bice-camp-accommodation

Food and Drink

There are a few places you can eat on the island, however we felt no need to leave Bice Camp as they had decent options and affordable prices considering the location. There is a restaurant and bar at Bice Camp and they have a good selection available and friendly staff.

We enjoyed noodles and spring rolls for dinner, costing around £7 per person. After dinner we enjoyed a few beers with some of the staff and other travellers which were reasonably priced too.

In the morning Breakfast cost around £3 per person and we mainly just enjoyed some fresh fruit and a drink, but there were other options available.

There’s also drinking water available, you can fill your water bottle up at the bar whenever you need to. There might have been a very small charge for this, but if there was it was minimal.

Things to Do

Nothing! – To be honest this is surely the reason to come to Darocotan Island, to simply switch off and spend some time doing absolutely nothing. Take a book, or some headphones, or enjoy a nice cold beer while lying in a hammock and enjoying paradise.

Swimming and Snorkelling – The beach is beautiful and the perfect place to take a dip in the tropical water. It’s a great place to snorkel from, with plenty of coral and wildlife to explore. What’s even more unique is the 1987 shipwreck which you can snorkel to right from Bice Camp. You can borrow snorkelling equipment from Bice Camp, but we bought our own.

Games – There’s a few games and sports which you can enjoy while at Bice Camp. We spent some time playing some volleyball on the beach.

Socialise – There will be other travellers on the Island too. We found the evening a great time to get to know them better, swap stories and even play/enjoy some live music.

Explore – Lastly, you can explore the island better. Take a walk and see the island in full!

Our Experience and Tips

We really did have the best time, and we would stay at Bice Camp again in a heart beat. We were apprehensive about it at first, as when we started looking into Darocotan Island there wasn’t too much information available. However, it was truly perfect.

The total cost for one night, including return transfer from El Nido, and our food & drink for a couple is around £90 with Bice Camp.

Darocotan Island is only going to get busier as this special little gem gets better known and more people come to experience it. When we came, the amount of people and overall atmosphere was pretty perfect. There must have been about 15 of us at Bice Camp which meant we had a great mix between interacting with others, and enjoying some quiet time.

Don’t forget to bring suncream and mosquito spray. Towels and bedding were provided which is always helpful when backpacking! Mosquitoes were surprisingly not too bad, and you have a mosquito net so we had a bite-free night.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our experience with Bice Camp on Darocotan Island and it has helped you out if you are thinking of going.