A beautiful tropical island is like a mini Maldives without the tourists.

Palawan is an island in the Philippines with a population of 995,000 people. The capital and largest city is Puerto Princesa.

It is known as the Philippines’ Last Frontier and as the Philippines’ “best island” with abundant wildlife, jungle mountains, and white sandy beaches attracting tourists.

Lonely Planet said of Palawan: “With seascapes the equal of any in Southeast Asia, the Philippines’ most sparsely populated region is also the most beguiling.”

One of the island’s most unique attractions is the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, one of the longest navigable river-traversed caves in the world.

Visitors can board unmotorised paddle boats with audio guides and travel about 1.5km upstream into the cave, in a trip that takes about 45 minutes.

Another popular attraction is diving and snorkelling the Coral Triangle biodiversity corridor. At the Tubbataha Reefs National Park, a partially sunken atoll, hammerheads mingle with giant wrasse and manta rays on a coral shelf.

Among the other top places to visit are Coron Island, Kuyawyaw Falls, Miniloc Island, Cadlao Island, and Estrella Falls.

The island has a plethora of warm sandy beaches with turquoise clear waters to enjoy, including Nacpan Beach, Duli Beach and Long Beach.

There are eight airlines that fly from the UK to Palawan with the most popular flights from London and Manchester taking 24 hours. Palawan has countless places to stay across the island with hotels, hostels, AirBnbs and more for visitors to enjoy.

The island only received 800,000 visitors in 2022, more than half the number the Maldives welcomed the same year – 1.8 million.