Entering Indonesia, reaching Labuan Bajo, and what to carry

The table below holds the entry facts. Most visitors clear immigration at the first Indonesian airport they land at, Bali, Jakarta or Surabaya, and not in Labuan Bajo. A visa on arrival, or an e-VoA, covers 30 days for many nationalities. Others apply in advance on the immigration site.

Three items catch people out. Your passport needs at least 6 months of validity after you arrive, and blank pages. An onward or return ticket is needed. And the arrival card is compulsory, free, and filled in online within 72 hours before you land.

Treat the fee and the list of eligible countries as facts to verify. Rules and prices change, and the table shows the date it was last checked. Look at the official immigration site first, and book flights afterwards. This page cannot do that for you.

From Komodo International Airport, code LBJ, the harbour is 2 to 3 km away, around 10 minutes by car. Most flights arrive from Bali, Jakarta and Surabaya, and a few feed in from Lombok and Kupang. The table gives the flight times and the airlines that fly each route.

Schedules change, so check yours when you buy the ticket. Land the day before sailing: we ask for it, and a delayed flight on the morning of a 09:30 pickup leaves nothing in hand.

Three-day and four-day trips finish in Labuan Bajo around midday on the last day. Book your onward flight after 14:00. Flight tickets are not something we sell, though we advise on them.

Your fare is settled with us by card link, bank transfer or one of the other routes on the invoice. The cash question starts after that. The table lists the banks with machines near the harbour and at arrivals, the withdrawal limits and what a card costs you at the till.

Take cash before you board. Neither the national park nor the islands have a cash machine, and the bring list includes emergency cash. Crew gratuities sit outside the fare too, and the table shows the range that guests commonly leave, which is a guide and never a rule.

The rupiah moves against the dollar and the euro, so the figures in the table are a mid-2026 guide. Our own fares are in rupiah, with a dollar figure beside them.

There is local Wi-Fi on board; the connection depends on mobile coverage and is not promised, so plan for gaps. Download maps, tickets and anything you need to read before you board.

On land, a registered SIM or an eSIM gives you the best chance of a connection. The table names the network with the widest coverage at sea and explains the registration, which needs your passport.

If your work cannot wait three days, tell your office the signal comes and goes. If it must be daily, the hotel night before is the place to finish it.

No connection speed is promised, and this page names none.

Tap water in Labuan Bajo is not safe to drink. Use sealed bottled or filtered water, including for brushing teeth if your stomach is sensitive. Soft drinks are included, and bottled water is not listed, so ask us what to expect.

The table lists the mosquito-borne diseases present, the two hospitals in town, the emergency numbers and the pharmacy position. Bring prescription medicines and sunscreen from home, because the pharmacies in town carry a limited range. The bring list includes personal medicines and sunblock.

No vaccine appears as compulsory in the entry facts we hold. Take advice from your own doctor or a travel clinic before you fly. Travel insurance is outside the fare, and cover for medical care and evacuation is worth having.

At the gangway you look for the hull painted RAFFLES, with two masts and two cabin decks. Before that, two offices decide your day. Each boat's sailing permit comes from the harbour master's office, and access to the park is controlled by the park office.

A boat bound for the park needs an electronic boarding pass for every passenger, with each name matching the passenger list. We register you from the passport names you send. The harbour guideline further asks for life jackets and life rafts for all aboard, and for a weather check before any sailing permit.

The table lists recent closures. Read them as history and not as a forecast: they show that Komodo and Padar can close at short notice for waves and wind, and that the captain's stop order is a real decision. Park tickets have a page of their own.