Flores Indonesia Road Trip – Komodo to Riung via the Trans-Flores Highway

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
9
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
5
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
72 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
132nd/454
Top 30%
continent
Asia
country
Indonesia
Length of time
3-4 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$70 (typically $50 - $80)
Time of year visited
March
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Driving Islands Volcanoes
All Tags
Adventure Beaches Bird spotting Boat trip Forests Hiking Hilltop towns Jungle Local villages Mountains Restaurant recommendations Snorkeling Sunrise
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

The further east you go through Indonesia, the less developed everything becomes. You go Java → Bali → Lombok → Komodo… and then suddenly you’re properly off the beaten track.

The vast majority of people haven’t heard of the likes of Western Nusa Tengara, Flores (Eastern Nusa Tengara), Sumba or the Alor Archipelago that continue far to the east … which of course makes it all that much more appealing for a real adventure.

In March 2025 we hired a driver and headed from Komodo along the Trans Flores highway seeing volcanos, lush jungle, empty roads, traditional villages and the extraordinary Seventeen Islands Marine Park along the way

But the real highlight was just how unspoilt it all felt. Travelling through South East Asia can feel like a tourism conveyor belt at times, but this was proper travelling again.

 

Flores Indonesia Road Trip – Komodo to Riung via the Trans-Flores Highway. Boat trip through the Seventeen Islands National Marine Park on Flores, Indonesia

 

Table of Contents

The Route

 

The Trans-Flores Highway Route

There’s a single road that runs almost the entire length of Flores — the Trans-Flores Highway — and this trip follows the western half of it from Labuan Bajo to Riung.

 

Lonely Planet's Trans-Flores Highway Route

Lonely Planet’s Trans-Flores Highway Route

 

Luan Bajo to Seventeen Islands National Park

We did the first half of this route over a roughly 10 hour drive.

 

 

 

I’ll summarise the wow factor for each piece.

Day 1

  • ⭐️ Start in Labuan Bajo – a very basic town worth a few hours but it is of course the gateway to the world-class Komodo Islands (not the focus of this review, but a true ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ experience and see Sailing the Komodo Islands in November for tips) .
  • ⭐️⭐️ Drive via the lookout point in Cancar for the Lingko Spider Web Rice Fields.
  • Gash – Lunch in the highland market town of Ruteng.
  • ⭐️⭐️ Drive the coastal road that loops anti-clockwise via Waebela round Mount Inerie.
  • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stay the night at the Manulalu B&B which has the sensational views of Mount Inerie from the Heaven’s Door Bar and Restaurant.

Day 2

  • ⭐️ Drive the short distance to the Bena Traditional Village.
  • ⭐️⭐️ Then north to the pretty cool Mengeruda Hot Springs Gate.
  • ⭐️ End in Riung to stay 1/2 nights. I’d highly recommend Nina Bungalows as the owners were just wonderful and the Pato Restaurant for food – there didn’t seem to be much else!

Day 3 and 4

  • ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Exploring the 17 Islands Marine Reserve for the beautiful islands, the thousands of flying foxes that make their way inland in the later afternoon and generally being on a boat drifting through paradise.  You could definitely do all this in a day, but we enjoyed it so much we took 2.

Day 5

  • Fly out (there is Turelelo Soa Airport around 2hrs to the south)

 

Timings

You could definitely experience 17 Islands within the one day – we did 2 because we enjoyed it so much – and / or spend a bit more time at various spots along the route. You could rush this in 3 days, but 4–5 days is ideal so you can stop properly along the way and spend at least a full day in the Seventeen Islands Marine Park.

 

Highlights of the trip

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#1 The sensational views from the Heaven’s Door Bar and Restaurant balcony across to the Mount Inerie volcano and the beautiful coastline

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#2 The Seventeen Islands Marine Reserve - 20+ islands to explore. May not be quite as wow factor as the Komodo's, but having them to yourself is one hell of a leveller

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#3 The drive. Its around 10 hours total across what felt like true Indonesia. Practically no other tourists, small villages, beautiful lush green jungle countryside

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#4 Seeing the Lingko Spider Web Rice Fields from the lookout point in Cancar

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#5 Sat on the front of the boat in tropical paradise for 2 days

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#6 The tens of thousands of flying foxes that make their way inland in the later afternoon

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#7 The Mengeruda Hot Springs Gate - thermal springs leading into rock pools and streams throughout. All done surprisingly well

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#8 The beautiful views from the top of small islands like Nusa Rutong

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#9 Snorkelling in the beautifully clear waters of 17 Islands Marine Park

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#10 Getting to know your driver!

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#11 Views when you wake up. From Heaven's gate

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#12 Views when you fly in. Komodo Islands

Practicalities

The road

The Trans Flores Highway was windy but pretty good the whole route we took. Just need to be informed of potential landslides in the rainy season (Oct-Apr)

 

Getting a car

Our first reaction was just to rent one and drive ourselves.  The main issue with this is if something goes wrong you don’t want to be trying to sort things out, potentially with no reception, in the middle of Flores. Go with a driver who will just manage everything for you, it’s actually often cheaper anyway.

We used Alex (+62 812-3763-7717) who I’d recommend, or just ask your hotel and they’ll find you one who’ll take you for the whole trip. We paid Rp1.6m / US$100 for the full 2 days of driving.

 

Bring cash! 

We travelled in 2025. Very few places – including the hotels – took credit cards.  And the ATMs often only fill up with cash on certain days of the week.  Bring cash.

 

Time of year

March was perfect.  Great weather and with practically no fellow tourists. But just be aware of it being Ramadan. It doesn’t limit what you can do, but can be super noisy at night.

 

How much?

Rp1.6m split between 2 for the driver, Rp0.5m to stay in the Manulalu B&B (split), Rp1.5m for three night stay in Nina Bungalows (split), Rp0.7m for each day of the 17 Islands boat trip (split), Rp0.25m for each lunch and dinner.  So, with a bit of flex Rp3.5m / USD210 for the 4 days.

 

Sign by Heaven’s Door Bar and Restaurant, next to the sensational views of Mount Inerie 

Sign by Heaven’s Door Bar and Restaurant, next to the sensational views of Mount Inerie 

 

What did we miss?

 

Obviously we only did the first half of the Trans Flores Highway and it would have been cool to continue on. We ran out of time and flew out on Day 5, but it looks like it gets even less touristy the further you go. I would personally love to have made it all the way to the Alor Archipelago for the diving.

 

The extra item would have been to potentially take another day in the Manulalu B&B at the volcano lookout point and climbed Mount Inerie.  I’d imagine the views from there would have been truly spectacular.

 

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Sailing the Komodo Islands in November
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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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