The two and a half day experience in Komodo was fantastic. On the afternoon of the day we arrived, we found a travel agency in town and booked a half-day bat sunset tour and a one-day tour.
p1-p3, the one-day tour to Padar Island was breathtakingly beautiful. The mountain climbing difficulty is low, and you can climb in flip-flops (much easier than Nusa Penida).
During the rainy season, Padar is a lush green.
p4-p5, Sunset Hill Hotel, over 200 per night, with an excellent view but average conditions, and it’s a bit far from town. There are geckos indoors, and the blankets are thin or just a layer of blanket, but at this price, what more can you ask for [laughing and crying emoji]
p6-p7, Meruorah Hotel, around 1000 per night, with extremely good service, complete facilities, and a great location right next to the pier and night market.
p8-p10, the half-day bat sunset tour, no sunset during the rainy season, but the scene of thousands of bats returning to their nests was very impressive.
p11-p12, the one-day tour to Moon Bay.
p13-p14, the one-day tour to Pink Beach, visibly pink, but hard to capture in photos.
p15, Komodo National Park, where the locals help tourists take forced perspective photos.
p16-17, the one-day tour diving spot, saw a manta ray squadron and turtles while snorkeling.
p18, Zasgo Hotel, a newly opened hotel, over 300 per night, with a very high cost-performance ratio, clean rooms, and a great view from the restaurant and pool.
Additional points:
1. For one-day tours and half-day tours, there’s no need to book online in advance. After landing, the taxi driver to the hotel will usually recommend tours, and you can bargain. My final cost for one-day tour + half-day tour was 2250k per person.
2. The rainy season is from January to March.
The advantage is that Padar is lush green, not barren, but the disadvantage is that you almost never see the sunset on the half-day tour, and the one-day tour may be canceled due to high waves.
3. My flight was AirAsia direct from Kuala Lumpur to Komodo, which was quite cheap. The visa on arrival in Komodo was also quick, unlike the long queue for the visa on arrival in Bali before.
