Adventure itinerary across Indonesia’s Flores island

The most incredible, memorable, thrilling and eye-popping adventures in life happen when we least expect them. That much I’ve now learnt from travelling around Asia for 3 months.

When I first went to Indonesia I had a rough plan – go to Java, Bali and Lombok, that’s literally as detailed as it got 😀 . Flores was nowhere to be found on my bucket list. Sure it would’ve been fun to visit but it was far, super remote, little was known about it so naaaah! A few days after I landed into Indo though a series of earthquakes hit Lombok so going there suddenly became just a crazy thought! Strangely I didn’t feel disappointed, I somehow knew that something else will come along. And it sure did! Just a short week later I met an awesome gal (who’s now one of my closest travel friends) and one thing led to another and there I was sitting on the stairs of my homestay in Canggu, booking my last minute tickets to join my new friend at the end of her trip across Flores so we could do the Komodo trip together before we had to say Goodbye!

But I wanted more! I didn’t just want to see the famous stuff. I wanted the local, proper deep into the island authentic experience to find the people and places that barely anyone ever bothers to venture to. So here is my full itinerary which honestly, in reflection, I wouldn’t change a bit!

Labuan Bajo

Want it or not we had to fly into Labuan Bajo. Why the slightly negative association with this town, aka sh**hole 😀 , well because it literally is just that haha

When we first got here, having already spent 20 days in Indo, I just couldn’t believe how rundown this place was. There’s only one real street with diving shops and tour kiosks on both sides of it, overflowing with angry, pretty hostile locals, shouting out prices and tour packages. I couldn’t believe it. This was not Indonesia! It was everything BUT what I had seen from the country this far. Needless to say, Labuan Bajo is the base for the Komodo national park and for this once in a lifetime unreal adventure all the hassle was 100% worth it plus it was actually quite good in a way to see how different everything was from one island to the next.

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Labuan Bajo is the base town for the following sites which I strongly recommend sticking in the plan:

• Komodo National Park (incl. both Komodo island and Rinca island) – don’t worry, you can step on a Komodo dragon on both islands 😀 (but please try not to 😀 )

• Padar Island – when it comes to landscape, this still is the most incredible place I have ever stepped on in Indonesia. Sounds too strong but when you go there, you’ll immediately know why. The views at the end of the short 20-30min hike to its highest point are unquestionably worth every single drop of sweat and beat even the wildest expectations.

• Pink Beach – just as the name suggests, this beach attracts with its unique pink colour, creation of the microscopic organisms called Foraminifera, which produce the distinct red pigment on the coral reefs, hence the pink sand. Pretty cool right!

• Diving and snorkelling – whether you’re an avid diver or quite like to be able to stick your nose up and get some fresh air when snorkelling, the Komodo tour will meet you with some of the best coral reefs and marine life there is around Flores.
  

• Venture out of LB without a tour – I and my friend hopped on a scooter in a quest to find a local waterfall but we never got to it because it turned out to be way further than expected. Instead, we were stopped by the most curious and hospitable people of a mountainous village quite literally in the middle of nowhere. They invited us over for a local coffee and homemade doughnuts which was the sweetest gesture we couldn’t even think to say No to. So surrounded by the large family of about 15 people, of all ages, we put all of our body language to use to try and have a little conversation with our lovely hosts. This is really what I mean by travel locally so venture out, hop on a scooter and get lost if you will. That’s how I got to see what others probably never will and so can you!
  

You’ll be overwhelmed by the people offering you package after package so try not to go crazy from the millions of times you’ll have to say “No, thank you” (or “Buruk, terima kasih” in Indonesian hehe) and just make sure you haggle on the price. My friend only had 2 days left from her trip so we had to do a one day tour only (most people go on a liveaboard for 2-4 days). After an unreal amount of negotiation, we managed to seal the deal (still not cheap) for IDR500,000 each. Some people were quoting us in the millions (luckily Indonesian rupiah but still 😀 ) so hold onto your wallet and don’t dive into it too early into the game LOL!

Restaurant Recommendations: Tree Top and
Happy Banana Komodo. For the rundown place that LB is, it’s pretty steep on the price so both of these places aren’t the typical warung style cheap eateries I indulge in everywhere else I go in Indonesia but they are AMAZING so at least we got our money’s worth! (avoid a place called Matahari at all costs)

Ruteng

What a lot of travellers would do after Komodo is get on a flight from Labuan Bajo to Ende which is the closest airport for the Kelimutu hike. But sadly they don’t realise that the best part of exploring Flores is hidden right in between these two major cities.

So after Labuan Bajo I hopped in a shared car to Ruteng. What the hell is Ruteng? 😀 You’re rightly confused. Let’s just say that when I checked into my hostel, there were only a handful of people (all solo travellers by the way) so Ruteng definitely isn’t at the spotlight which is exactly why it made it on my list. When I got to Ruteng, I actually had no expectations. Having seen how terrible Labuan Bajo was, I was just sort of expecting more of the same. To my surprise though, Ruteng was a lot bigger and noticeably cleaner than LB. More importantly, the people were nice again! I think LB is so commercialised now that it’s become all about the money and with competition being so fierce, it’s hit the locals big time.

When they dropped me off at my hostel, I was welcomed by a girl with the widest smile I had seen in days. My heart started to pound with excitement again. I already knew I was gonna love this place! The girl was in her early 20’s even though she looked more like a child than a grown woman (with a little kid waiting for her at home) and as she greeted me she gave me the warmest “Hello, Miss Marchela” that my ears had ever heart. This was the moment I realised that extending the trip down from LB was gonna turn out to be a freaking awesome decision. I was dying to experience the real authenticity of Flores. I wanted to see how people live, what they make a living off, what they do all day in a place as remote as Flores. And that’s exactly why I didn’t totally mind the 5 hours drive from LB to Ruteng 😀

Ruteng and Bajawa (the next stop) are the closest towns for exploring the traditional villages of Flores. It’s not even accurate to refer to them as “villages” because these areas where indigenous people still live are really small (usually around 15-20 houses all really close to one another).

Things to do from Ruteng:

• Ruteng Puu
• Wae Rebo
• Spiderweb Cancar

Bajawa

Bajawa is the place I wanted to get to eventually and Ruteng kinda split the long journey half way through allowing me to see Wae Rebo as well (gotta admit I was never really that fussed about it because I knew it would be a tourist scam, but more on that in a later post). What I was really looking forward to was immersing myself into the far less known villages of Bena and Tololela. This is where the true authenticity, simplicity, warmest hearts and widest smiles and local hospitality were part of people’s ordinary daily life.

Things to do from Bajawa.

• Bena
• Tololela
• Hike mount Inierie (altitude 2,240m)
• Malange Hot Springs – best natural bath you will ever take (no kidding) and it’s warm too!

Exploring the traditional villages was the most authentic thing I did in the whole of Indonesia so I will be dedicating a whole post packed with travel stories from my visit to each. Trust me, you gotta look out for this post because the stories literally spanned the whole spectrum of emotions, good and bad!

Warung recommendation: Kopi Mane (I swear this little, almost impossible to spot, local place makes the best Nasi Goreng I’ve ever tasted)

Moni

After an eventful couple of nights in Bajawa, I hopped on a bemo (the local mini bus) all the way to Moni, for another 5 hours of adventurous travel. The actual village is so small, you would easily just drive past it if it wasn’t was the incredible Kelimutu lakes sitting on top of a hill just a short 15min drive from the village. Until I got to the base for the lakes, I had barely seen any tourists after Labuan Bajo and I truly mean that. But when I got to the base for the sunrise hike, I could tell crowds of tourists had flown in from LB to Ende just to green tick Kelimutu. Having said that, I’m so grateful that this didn’t put me off because the lakes truly were like no others I had seen before.

Things to do from Moni:

• Kelimutu Lakes (this is a big highlight so watch out for a whole post on it)
• Koka beach – just when I thought that Flores isn’t anything special when it comes to beaches, I and my travel buddy I met in Ruteng hit the road to lay our towels on Koka beach, which was just over an hour scooter drive from Moni. Not surprisingly, the tourists from Kelimutu didn’t follow along and it was literally just the two of us on the entire gorgeous beach … and it was just after lunch! Talking about lunch for a second, if you make it to Koka beach, don’t miss to have a bite at Koka 99 (Warung Makan Koka on Google maps). Honestly, the Nasi Goreng here was a good opponent of the one I had in Ruteng.
  

Warung recommendation in Moni: Mopi’s Place (this place served tempeh sate which was the most delicious tempeh dish I’ve ever had, honestly I can still taste it when I remind myself of it YUUUUM).

Maumere

After the most incredible and unexpectedly my favourite 10 days in Indonesia, it was time to head back to civilization as my visa was starting to run out. I hopped in a shared car for the final leg of the trip to Maumere which is the most southern town on the island with an airport. I flew back to Densapar, Bali and with that, I ended the most authentic and most adventurous part of my Indo trip.

Flores met me with the most genuine locals and with two solo travel girls who not only became extremely close friends but were also unreal support and my rock when I most needed it so the island will always have my heart because my trip genuinely was a rollercoaster of emotions, adventures, friendships and forever lasting memories and encounters.

Looking for more articles on Indonesia? 

• Adventure of a lifetime: Mount Bromo without a tour

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