After spending four days in central Ubud and seeing temples and beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Sites, I decided to fly to Komodo Island so I could see these majestic dragons in their natural habitat. Komodo Dragons are native to Indonesia and prefer extremely dry climates. They are found on four islands including Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Montang. Komodo Dragons are capable of running very fast and are highly venomous, so if you want to see them it’s always recommended to go with a local guide or on a tour. I booked a day tour that stopped at the highlights of Padar Island and Komodo National Park through EventBrite for $84. This tour included hiking, swimming at a Pink Beach, a tour through Komodo National Park, and snorkeling with Manta Rays so I think it was extremely worth the price. I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the tour, but grateful that I had the chance to see so many rare sites.
Getting to Komodo Island
From Denpasar Airport in central Bali, I booked a roundtrip ticket to Labuan Bajo Airport on Komodo Island through Lion Air for $115. This is the average price of tickets to the island from Bali so it wasn’t a bad deal.
You can also take a multiple day boat tour here from Lombok, but some of the tours have mixed reviews due to the quality of the accommodations on the ship. These tours allow you to see more locations where Komodo Dragons live, however, and can sometimes be a better bargain.
Expect to stay on Komodo Island for at least 3 days since hotel pickup for the Komodo National Park tours start before 6am and end in the evening. I found my stay to be extremely relaxing and loved how gorgeous the island was. I would highly recommend coming here if you love adventure!
Trekking through Padar Island
My guide picked me up around 6am and took me to the pier where I met up with my tour group on a speedboat. Our first stop of the tour was Padar Island, which is a rocky island in the Komodo archipelago with beautiful mountains and lush scenery. Hiking to the top of the hills gives you a beautiful view of the ocean and surrounding islands. What’s unique about Padar Island is that although there is wildlife there, no people live on the island which is why its nature is so pristine and clear. Though hiking to the top definitely left me in a sweat, the view was worth it!
Swimming at Pink Beach
The next stop of the tour was Pink Beach, which had been on my bucket list for the longest time. Though many people argue if the sand on the beach is actually pink or edited in photos, I can confirm that it here really did look pink here! You can especially see the bright pink color when the waves soak the sand.
But how do pink beaches get their color? According to The World Travel Guy:
Pink beaches apparently get their color from foraminifera, which are microscopic red organisms that live in the coral reefs and get washed up on the beach.
The World Travel Guy
Not only was the pink color visible on the beach, but you can also see traces of it when you go snorkeling in the water. I would highly recommend coming here even if you don’t want to go on the full tour, because traveling to a pink beach is a once in a lifetime experience!
Touring Komodo National Park
Our next stop was the main event: Komodo National Park. There are around 3000 Komodo Dragons residing on this island, but unfortunately during our tour we only saw a few of them lounging on the beach. The tour featured two main locations: the beachfront near the pier and a trek on a paved path through the jungle. Though Komodo Dragons are usually active during the day, many of them hide away in the jungle of this island because they do not particularly like humans. But rest assured, this tour is not invasive to their home and the guide will help you safely approach and interact with the dragons. During the trek we saw one Komodo nest which looked like a huge hill on the ground. We learned that Komodo dragons sometimes eat their young which just adds to their infamous legend. Though I was a bit sad we didn’t see more of them, I was happy to see the ones on the beach because they are such rare reptiles.
There are other multiple day trips that you can book online that specifically focus on seeing the dragons, but I liked this tour the best because it stopped at so many different locations in one day.
Swimming with Manta Rays
The last two activities on our tour were snorkeling at Kanawa Island and a dive spot where several giant Manta Rays live. I have swam with smaller Manta Rays on the Big Island of Hawaii, but this was my first time swimming with them in Asia. I actually liked this dive spot better than the Hawaii one because they were much bigger and there was more room to swim. Seeing them up close is an experience that I will never forget! Manta Rays make great snorkeling buddies because they are so friendly. Your guide will help you take pictures and videos if you have an underwater camera.
Recommended Food & Drink
The first place I tried was Happy Banana Komodo, which is a sushi place with vegan options downtown. This was my first time trying sushi in Indonesia so I was very excited to go! I tried two of their rolls that featured avocado and mayo, and also their vegan tofu katsu nigiri. Overall the taste of the sushi was similar to American sushi, but the texture of the wasabi and ginger was a bit off compared to Japan. Despite that, this is one of the best restaurants on the island due to their variety of dishes so I would recommend it.
Komodough is a cute little bakery downtown that had the best pun on the island. Here you can buy fresh loaves of bread to take with you on your travels, coffee, and adorable little pastries. I enjoyed drinking avocado coffee (not pictured because I drank it so fast) and also trying some of their bread. This is a great place to come in the morning for a light breakfast and also at night for a small snack. Overall, I love the business they are doing here and how accommodating they are being open during the morning through the evening.
A new restaurant and cocktail bar had just opened when I arrived on the island, so I decided to check it out. Copper Bonnet Bistro & Bar features fancy craft cocktails and entrees, and was definitely one of the most upscale places that I found on the island. I ordered two cocktails; one that simulated the salty taste of sushi with a piece of nori pinned to the glass, and one that tasted likely bubbly rose and cream. Both were the most original cocktails that I tried in Indonesia, so I highly recommend this place to all who love fine drinks.
Accommodation
I stayed at Bayview Gardens Hotel which had free breakfast and an infinity pool with astonishing views of the bay! Rooms are around $60 per night, but the stay includes breakfast and is in a central location so you can walk to bars and other places easily. Komodo Island has a lot of wonderful accommodations for travelers, but I liked this one because it was extremely quiet and the rooms were top quality. Absolutely perfect for resting after a long day.
Thank you for reading the last article in my Indonesia series! My next big trip will be to Europe in April, but until then I hope to keep writing about fun attractions in Japan. Happy holidays and thank you for keeping up with my travels.