Indonesia – Flores Island – What to see

When you start looking into where to go in Indonesia, it can be an overload of options and if you are short on time then it makes the choice even harder. I only had 2 weeks there, so I decided to spend most of my time on Flores Island; (I had hoped to climb  Mount Rinjini but because of the season, the mountain was closed. Quite disappointed about that.)

Komodo Island

One of the places you must visit on Flores Island is the Komodo National Park. This is the only place where you can see the famous Komodo dragons – a flashback to the era of the dinosaurs. These amazing creatures are only found on two Islands: Rinca and Komodo, and they can only be reached by boat. Single and multiple day trips can be organised in the town of Labuan Bajo, but I do recommend the 2 day/ 1 night trip to really enjoy the area. On this slightly longer trip you get to see both islands with the dragons on them, visit manta ray bay, pink beach, flying fox cove and another island beach.

Kelimutu National Park

Kelimutu National Park has the famous Mount Kelimutu which is a dormant volcano with three lakes at the top. It may not sound very special but the three lakes are all different colours and the colour of the water changes during the years. To get to Kelimutu you need to either fly into Ende and then travel to Moni or go across the island if you have time. The journey from Ende to Moni is a wonderful journey.

Bajawa

Just outside of this village are the traditional tribe villages. You can easily visit them either with a tour, which is usually about 250.000 ($20), or on your own with a scooter, which will cost about 100,000 ($7) for the day. There are many traditional villages to visit and the drive to each one is as worthwhile as the actual villages. I recommend doing it yourself if you want to enjoy the countryside, but I also found that there was no one in the village who could explain any of the traditions; there are quite a few strange structures on the site which could do with an explanation. Each village either has a set entrance fee or they work on donation. Bena village was 20,000 to enter, but the others I visited were donation only (5,000-20,000 recommended). Those villages were Luba and Gurusina. There are a few others which you can visit along the way but those three are the most famous.

Gunung Inerie

Another place to visit in Bajawa is Gunung Inerie, a volcano. This is a steep hike up and a lot of people do it to see the sun-rise. It’s a tough climb so make sure you are ready for it.

Hot springs

You can also visit the hot springs which is natural spot in a river about 45mins to 1 hour away from Bajawa by scooter. Make sure you enter the water from further down the river near the building as they burn you near the top as I found out first hand. I unfortunately only found this out later as there was no-one there when I went to advise me so after burning my feet, I got dressed and left.