If you’re looking to visit the only place in the world with wild Komodo Dragons, this post is for you. There are however other parts of this island trip that tend to be overshadowed; I can promise you they are not to be missed. Here’s some insight into Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo National Park. 

Whilst I wouldn’t head back to Bali in a hurry (more detail here) I would however head straight to Labuan Bajo. It’s a short one hour flight from Bali (Denpassar airport) and feels like a whole world away. It has a relaxed island vibe, with stronger heat & more laid back style. 

It still has a similar set up to Bali but aims to provide transport via private taxis as opposed to the usual Gojek & Grab apps, so when you arrive at the airport if you haven’t pre-booked transfers, you will find taxi stands waiting to take you to your accomodation. We chose to stay at Seaesta Hotel & Hostel, so our taxi cost us 70,000IDR (roughly $7NZD).

I couldn’t recommend Seaesta more if you’re looking for accommodation. We treated ourselves to a twin room, but even the bunk bed hostel rooms looked fancy. The hotel also has a rooftop restaurant and pool, so we often got breakfast here & sat by the pool making the most of the ice cold coconuts on offer. 

To see the Komodo Dragons, you have to visit Komodo National Park, a 45 minute boat trip from Labuan Bajo. Komodo National Park is actually made up of a number of different islands, but the best way to visit is to book through a tour agency. 

There are always lots of tour operators & people in the streets offering the same trip for different prices, but I really recommend the one we used, which was with Red Whale Dive Center.

The tour took us to six key spots, which i’ll break down below, but before I get into that, here’s some essentials you must take:

Day Pack List: 

• Waterproof/Water Resistant Suncream (because with all that snorkelling it will come off!)
• GoPro (you will thank me later!)
• Cash (you’ll be surprised as to how many things we had to pay for in cash!)
• Water (it gets HOT) 
• Snacks (Indonesian food doesn’t tend to be the most dairy free cuisine)
• Active clothing (you’ll be swimming & hiking so wear something comfortable & easy to both hike and swim in)

Padar Island:

Possibly the most Instagrammed spot of the area, chances are you’ve seen this spot already but what isn’t detailed is the hike. It’s a pretty steep walk up, around 45 minutes or so (which is a lot tougher in the heat) but it really is worth it. I’d recommend wearing shoes as opposed to jandals/flip flops for this one!

Pink Beach:

The beach definitely living up to its name, is pink from the red coral washed onto the shores. This is your first opportunity to try out snorkelling (gear included in the Red Whale tour) and i’m not even exaggerating when I say you can dunk your head in and see a multitude of colourful fish swimming around you. 

Komodo Island:

As Komodo has wild Komodo Dragons, it’s understandably not possible to walk around the island at your leisure. At this point, the tour operators will pass you over to a park ranger, to show you around the island in the hope of spotting some dragons. It’s worth noting you must pay for the ranger in cash (around 150,000IDR roughly $15NZD) so be prepared to take cash with you on the boat trip. It’s an easy walk around, following a little trail through the woods keeping an eye on your surroundings. We were lucky to spot a total of five dragons, even managing to get super close to them, although it was a adrenaline filled experience.. 

Taka Makassar:

This stop completely took my breath away. We pulled up to a small sand bank in the middle of the ocean, and it was a pure tropical paradise. We found ourselves snorkelling amongst beautiful tropical fish, watching them swimming around the coral in every direction. 

Manta Point:

Until this day, I had never been snorkelling before. As we headed to Manta Point, the tour guides advised us to be kitted up and ready to jump off the boat, as the current was too strong to stay in one place.. I was under strict instructions from the doctor to not get any water in my ears so naturally my concern was with not loosing the gopro so I could get some cool footage. I’ll be honest, I was panicking trying to remember everything & breathe, whilst remaining with the group. It took a good five minutes to calm myself down and get into a rhythm. I was just enjoying the swim & seeing what was about on the sea bed, when suddenly a big black mass was heading straight for me. It took me a few seconds to realise it was a huge Manta ray, followed by another. It swam towards us, and then circled below. One of the tour guides took my gopro and swam to the sea bed, getting up close to the Mantas and capturing some amazing footage. An absolutely unreal experience I will never forget, which has now fuelled my new love for snorkelling. 

Turtle Bay: 

Another spot in which we had to jump off the boat, thankfully Turtle Bay wasn’t as tidal, so it was a lot more relaxed. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any turtles, but I think by this point we had been pretty lucky with the dragons & rays!

We managed to achieve all of those stops in one day trip from roughly 06:30 to 17:00 with a total cost of 1,450,000IDR ($150NZD) – worth every cent. We only had three days in Labuan Bajo before returning to Bali, but if I was to do it again I would return for more island hopping in the area & continue on to explore the rest of Flores. 

If you’re short on time, three days is still enough time to see Labuan Bajo and I couldn’t recommend it more. I’m excited to explore more of the Indonesian islands in the future, there is so much more to see than just Bali. 

If you’ve been or are planning to go, flick me a message over on instagram @harrietcartertravel I’d love to hear your experiences!

Harriet 📷