Long Beach, San Vicente

Long Beach runs fourteen and a half kilometres down the coast at San Vicente, between El Nido and Puerto Princesa, and its defining quality is emptiness. There is no resort strip, no line of bars, no boat fleet - just a continuous band of pale gold sand with the West Philippine Sea on one side and coconut and scrub on the other, broken by a few river mouths and a handful of resorts spread far apart. It has been designated a tourism enterprise zone for years and an airport now serves the town, so change is coming, but for now the beach is where people go to walk for an hour and see nobody. Waves roll in properly here, sunsets are unobstructed the whole length, and the water is clear but not the glassy lagoon variety - this is open coast. Most visitors base themselves at the Poblacion or New Agutaya ends and use the beach rather than tours.

What you actually see

• The empty strand - fourteen kilometres with almost nothing on it.
• The open sea - surf and unobstructed sunsets.
• The river mouths - breaks in the sand along the length.
• The scattered resorts - a handful, widely separated.

When to go

November to May for settled weather; the habagat months bring big surf and rain to this coast. Sunset is the reliable draw.

Honest expectations

There is very little infrastructure - few restaurants, limited transport along the beach, patchy signal. Surf and currents make some stretches poor for swimming. Getting here is a long road trip.

Nearby

Port Barton's bay and island trips are south; El Nido is roughly two hours north.