Hundred Caves

Useful Information

Location:	Tagabinet, Puerto Princesa, Mimaropa. (10.0833190, 118.8488432)
Open:	Short Tour: All year daily 8:30-16. Cave Trekking: Pickup 7, Return 14. [2026]
Fee:	free. Short Tour: Adults PHP 600. Cave Trekking: Adults USD 58. [2026]
Classification:	Karst Cave Ecotourism
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=1,000 m.
Guided tours:	self guided. Cave Trekking: D=3 h, MinAge=6, Min=2.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Hundred Caves, Puerto Princesa Tourism, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Tel: +63-906-082-0446.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Hundred Caves is actually a single cave, the strange name is not explained. But the site is also named Avatar Mountain, as it resembles the flying mountains in the movie. The karst cave has white limestone walls with large scallops, and on a total length of one kilometer numerous speleothems. This includes not only stalactites and stalagmites, but also rimstone pools and calcite crystals growing in the pools. The passage is mostly horizontal, easy to walk on a dirt trail, the ceiling is generally high enough to walk upright. The cave, although not developed, is freely accessible. As far as we know it is not gated, but unfortunately there is no information on the web about this, probably because they prefer visitors to enter with a guided tour. Obviously this is a good thing for cave protection as well as for the local, who earn a little money.

The cave is actively advertised by the local tourism industry, and there are several online portals offering cave trekking tours. The cave is managed and protected by the Tagabinet Neighborhood Tourism Association, Tagabinet is the small barangay near the cave. There is a parking lot at the road and a 15 minutes hike to the cave entrance. A steep staircase leads to the cave entrance, and there are climbs inside, where a simple rope with knots is the only help to climb a narrow shaft with several meters height. So the whole tour requires physical abilities, surefootedness and fitness.

There are actually different tours, a 45 minutes easy tour and a 3 hour cave trekking tour. Those are so-called ecotourism tours, they are quite fond of their "sustainable" tourism. Helmet, headlamp, gum boots, and gloves are provided. Bring clothes to change, towel and a plastic bag for the dirty and wet clothes. The tours start with the pickup at Puerto Princesa around 7, the cave is reached and entered around 9, after the tour a lunch is provided, then the transfer back to your hotel, which is reached typically at 14. The short tours are much cheaper but do not include the free transfer. It’s necessary to rent a car, a jeepney or a shuttle van.