Flores: Paradise.

Oct 31, 2015
2 min read

Definitely my favorite trip to date! One word to describe it: AMAZING! Flores had been a hidden gem until Sail Komodo took place in 2013. Since then, the amount of local and international tourists has been increasing exponentially thanks to massive media exposure and envy-inducing photos going viral on social media. Mind you that a trip to Flores is still rather expensive in comparison to other local destinations such as Bali. But it's definitely worth every penny.

There are so many interesting places to visit in Flores and it surroundings. I'd recommend that you spend at least a week to drive from east to west coast. Unfortunately we didn't manage to visit Mount Kelimutu, which is located on the far east. Instead, we explored more of the west coast area as we arrived and departed from Labuan Bajo airport. Here are the highlights of our 4D3N trip.

Day 1: Labuan Bajo - Kanawa Island - Pulau Kelelawar

Our driver picked us up from the airport and drove us to the harbor where our boat was waiting. We decided to had an overnight boat trip to explore more of the small islands. Our first stop was Kanawa Island - one of the perfect snorkeling spots in the area with dozens of colorful (star)fish, beautiful corals and I was lucky to spot an octopus.

After an hour of snorkeling at Kanawa, we rushed back to our boat to catch sunset at Kelelawar Island where hundreds of bats came out of their hidings and flew across the orange-shaded sky.

Kanawa Island

Kelelawar Island

Day 2: Rinca Island - Padar Island - Pink Beach (Komodo Island) - Pulau Kelor - Labuan Bajo

After spending the night aboard the boat, we kicked off the day visiting the Komodo Dragons sanctuary at Rinca Island. We were told that it was better to view the Komodo Dragons in its natural habitat on this island than on the Komodo Island itself. We chose the one hour trekking route as we had quite a jam-packed itinerary for the day.

Rinca Island