Which Komodo tour to choose and how much to pay? There are many tour providers (direct and agency) at vastly differing prices.
Day trip or multi-day. Budget, mid-range or luxury? Which boats are safe and good quality? How to get a good price? Is the snorkelling equipment included or not? What about meals? Unlimited water? Air conditioning or not?
You can find them all in Labuan Bajo, the starting point for the Komodo tours. Below is an overview of the Komodo tours with length, destinations and prices.
What Komodo tours are offered?
Broadly speaking, there are private (tailor-made) and scheduled tours. The private tours will be similar to the top luxury safari camps in Africa. Elegant and comfortable. Excellent fresh food including the catch from a few minutes ago. A chef on board. Flexible itinerary to suit your particular needs. However, it all comes at a (hefty) price. A three-day two-night luxury tour can be easily $3-10,000 for smaller boats.
For the rest of us, the scheduled tours come in a few flavors depending on the length, comfort level and number of activities.
Important: all tours share the same base itinerary, with additional islands and activities for the longer trips. All trips go to the stunning Padar island and the Komodo National Park, a beach and manta ray snorkelling.
How much is a Komodo tour?
Generally, there are three main types: a day trip, 2 days 1 night (2D1N), 3 days 2 nights (3D2N). All prices below are for shared accommodation: you will share a room on the boat with other 2-3 people. A mid-range option with all those included: snorkelling equipment, unlimited water, coffee/tea, and three meals per day. In Labuan Bajo evaluated as a good-quality vessel with a good safety record.
A good-quality day Komodo tour costs around IDR 600,000 (some agents or hotels will charge IDR 50-200,000 on top).
A good-quality 2D1N costs approximately IDR 1,750,000 to 2,000,000 (direct price) with agency price IDR 300-500,000 more.
A 3D2N Komodo tour is currently IDR 2,500,000 (direct) with agency price IDR 300-500,000 on top.
In addition, you will pay the Komodo National Park entrance fee of IDR 400,000 separately in cash on your boat. This covers also all snorkelling fees.
(1) Day trip
A day trip offers the base itinerary, and can be done on a slow or fast boat. A slow boat will be a larger wooden vessel prevalent on all Indonesia islands, with a capacity for 10-20 tourists. A fast boat will be a modern western-type speedboat also for 10-20 tourists. As you would expect, fast boats are more expensive.
(1a) 6:00am Labuan bajo
All tours usually start at 6:00am before the heat starts to build up from the Labuan Bajo harbor. You cannot miss the modern building dominating the landscape. Boats are docked on the right hand side with a few bays. You will probably also see the large ferries to West Sumba or Sumbawah (“we bridge nation”) on the right.
You will depart promptly on time with the safety introduction. The guide will describe the itinerary and provide an introduction to the islands. My guide spoke excellent English, was friendly and quick to answer any questions or requests. This is a ratings-based business and the tour owners know it well.
You will pay your IDR 400,000 Komodo National Park fee in cash on the boat now.
On my trip the following were included free of charge: bottled water, hot tea or coffee, bananas, use of snorkelling equiptment, lunch box.
(1c) labuan bajo to padar island
It will take approximately two hours to reach the Padar island. The ride will be awesome and you will probably see some large silver fish jumping out of the water. Don’t sleep, those views are unique and you have paid for them.
You will also pass the Rinca island on the left. This is the island with a large dragon population (approximately 1,200). Look closely at the Rinca shore. If you are lucky, you might see a dragon walking along the beach looking for the turtle eggs, one of their preferred meals.
An incredible sight, completely authentic with not a single tourist around. Just a Komodo dragon cruising around looking for breakfast.
(1C) 8:00am padar island
After two hours of impressive views of the islands and rocks, you will arrive on the Padar island. It is stunning with thousands of Instagramable pictures everywhere. You will hike the mountain with all comfortable steps in probably 10-15 minutes, depending on how many photos you will take on your way up.
The view from the top is magnificent with many islands and rocks and beaches. On a clear day, you will not forget this view any time soon.
Depending on the season, there will be (many) tourists, but especially the local groups are friendly. You will probably swap stories with some people from Jakarta or Denpasar.
(1d) 10:00 komodo national park
After another one hour of beautiful views in all directions you look, you will come to the Komodo island. If you have read its reviews earlier, they are probably true.
It is touristy with many groups of approximately 10-15 tourists shepherded by a park guide. It is hot and dry. And yes, there are hawkers selling the dragon badges or wooden sculptures or plates. However, to be fair they are not aggressive and a simple “no, thanks” will usually do.
On the other hand, please do not forget that tourists are the biggest source of income here, so buying an excellent fresh coconut will already help the local community. And it will taste great after the 30-45 minute walk.
You will probably see 1-5 dragons (max) close to the entry gate. In all likelihood, there will be several groups taking pictures of a single animal. It has seen it all thousands of times, and usually does not care about anything else but how to cool down its body in the midday heat.
In summary, we all have to do it, but it will probably not be the highlight of the trip. If you have been to the Galapagos islands before, this Komodo experience will probably feel a bit underwhelming.
(1E) 12:00 beach
With the Komodo dragon ticked off your lifetime to-do list, all tourists enjoy the well-deserved break after this hard work. A lunch box is then provided and it usually includes some good local food (rice, vegetables, spicy sauce, fish or chicken).
(1F) 15:00 Manta ray point
On the way back to Labuan Bajo you will stop at a place frequently visited by the giant manta rays. They are incredibly elegant creatures floating majestically with a wing span up to 2 meters. An incredible sight, a lifetime memory to swim along them.
(2) 2 days 1 night (2D1N) Komodo tour
The trip will have the same base itinerary as the day tour with more time spent in individual stops and more snorkelling. You will also visit additional destinations: Kelor island and see the flying foxes. Those are large bats up to 50-70cm size.
(3) 3 days 2 nights (3D2N) Komodo tour
The 3D2N tour will again share the same itineraries such as the day and 2D1N trips with some add ons. You will visit the Kanawa and Siaba islands for turtles. If you are lucky, you will be able to swim with them, a great experience.
Overall, the longer trips are offering a wider experience with a more leisurely pace, more stops, and nice sunrises and sunsets in the sea. Moreover, you will probably also bond with the fellow passengers and almost everybody like this cameraderie.
Where to go next?
If you have a few days to travel west along the Trans-Flores highway, Ruteng, Bajawa, Riung (Flores) and Kelimutu are excellent. You will see few tourists but many traditional villages (some more touristy than others).
Or you will have a private tour of the islands in Riung (Flores), because there will be no other tourists in this fishing village (our experience, not making it up). Similar to the Komodo tours but MUCH more private.
If you time it well, you might also be able to see a traditional village ritual, for example in the Bena Traditional Village (Flores) close to Bajawa.
If you are going back to Lombok, we liked Tetebatu (Lombok) and Mt Rinjani (Lombok) Hike a lot.
On the always lovely Bali, after a Body Cleansing Ceremony (Bali) you will feel refreshed and more positive. Guaranteed.
