Sombori island (and its exotic neighbor Labengki) has to be one of the most wonderful places we’ve seen in Indonesia.
The hundreds of paradise islands and lagoons have earned it the nickname of ‘the Raja Ampat of Sulawesi’ because it looks just like the famous islands in West Papua.
Sombori and Labengki are remote enough they won’t be spoiled by tourism anytime soon, and English documentation for these places is still virtually non-existent on the web.
This travel guide will explain how to get to Sombori, where to stay, what to do there, and everything else about how to experience this gem of Indonesia yourself!
Endless lagoons at Sombori Island
Sombori island is located in the far southeast corner of Central Sulawesi province, in Indonesia.
Tours to Sombori are combined with Labengki, a nearby island that has most of the accommodation in the area, and some of the same spectacular scenery.
Tropical paradise
Sombori is drone heaven
Sombori and Labengki are remote islands, so the process of getting there takes a bit of effort.
The first step is to fly to the city of Kendari (KDI), which has direct flights from Makassar, Jakarta, or Surabaya. If you’re coming from Bali, you’ll need to transit in one of these places on the way there. You can shop for flights to Kendari at Skyscanner.
Once you arrive in Kendari, you may have to stay a night depending on when you get there. If so, we’d recommend the Swiss-Belhotel or Claro Hotel Kendari.
From Kendari city, the next step is a 45 minute drive to the harbor, and then a boat journey to Labengki that will take about 1 hour by speedboat, or 3 hours by wooden boat.
Sombori island is another 2 hours further north of Labengki, so you can get on a boat and visit it on a day trip from there. We did two day trips to Sombori during our stay.
The most popular way to visit Sombori and Labengki is with a package tour that includes your food, lodging, and boat. You can try to arrange these separately, but the price won’t really change.
We paid 15 million Rupiah ($1,000 USD) to upgrade to a 7 day package that included Kendari airport transfers, the boat journey from Kendari to Labengki, 6 nights in the Labengki Beach Huts, unlimited private boat touring around the islands, and all of our meals for two people. Keep in mind these were Covid prices from 2020, so the prices have gone up a bit recently.
This place is pretty expensive for Indonesia, but most of the cost is for the private boat charter and petrol. There’s very little wiggle room because it’s such a remote area and hard to bring supplies of any kind. My wife is Indonesian and she tried negotiating. A deposit is also required since they have to buy the food and fuel before you go.
We arranged our entire trip with Oji, a Kendari native with a lot of experience in Sombori and Labengki. He was very helpful and handled our lodging, meals, and boat tours.
Side note: The locals at the village in Sombori and Labengki speak very little English, and that goes for most people in Kendari too. This was a non-issue for me since my wife is Indonesian, but for others it’s something to keep in mind.
It’s best to iron out any important details before you start your trip, and if there’s anything specific you really want to see then maybe save a picture of it in your phone to show your boat guy.
• Paradise Island (Pulau Kayangan) – Viewpoint #1
Your first tour stop in Sombori island will usually be Pulau Kayangan, also known as the ‘Raja Ampat viewpoint’ because it looks just like the famous islands in West Papua.
Puncak Kayangan Viewpoint #1
• Paradise Island (Pulau Kayangan) – Viewpoint #2
This is a second ‘Raja Ampat viewpoint’ at Kayangan just 100 meters from the first one.
The view is a bit different here because you’re standing right on the edge of one of the blue lagoons.
Puncak Kayangan Viewpoint #2
Drone view of Pulau Kayangan from way up
• Grandma’s House (Rumah Nenek)
One of the most scenic and exotic spots in Sombori island got its name (‘Grandma’s House’) from a fisherwoman who lived there for many years in a flimsy old wooden shack.
The grandma has passed away now, but if she was around I’m sure she could tell lots of great stories. They said one time a whale shark swam into the lagoon here and they kept it as a pet for almost two months! They finally let it go because it was hard to feed.
This is a beautiful location, especially if you have a drone. There are four turquoise lagoons, or five if you count the one by the shack.
Grandma’s House
Drone pic of Rumah Nenek
• Diamond Cave (Gua Berlian)
Limestone caves are common in Sombori, and this is one of the biggest and best we saw.
Diamond Cave gets its name from the sparkling limestone rocks, which are especially noticeable when light shines on them from the hole in the ceiling of the cave.
We didn’t find out until afterwards, but this cave also has some prehistoric handprints if you look closely on the walls.
Gua Berlian
Cave wall
This lagoon is shallow enough to have its own beach with soft white sand.
As the story goes, a fisherman was searching for freshwater here and he discovered a natural well by reaching into it with his left hand, giving the beach its name.
Air Kiri Beach
Drone pic of Air Kiri Beach & Lagoon
• Allo Cave (Gua Allo)
This is a cool sea cave hiding in plain sight on the coast. There are two entrances, and you can swim into the cave (or canoe in) if the tide is high, or walk in when it’s low.
Inside, there are hundreds of bats hanging on the ceiling, and a secret passage that leads to a small natural swimming pool.
Gua Allo Cave
Outside view
• Prehistoric Cave (Gua Prasejarah)
Before we left Gua Allo, an old fisherman pulled up in a canoe and waved for us to follow him to an ‘even better’ cave that the tours don’t see.
‘Bring your camera! Very good pictures!’ he told us in Indonesian. I was pumped. We waded ashore again, and after a short trek and machete-hacking our way through some jungle, we reached a big cave on the side of the mountain.
Inside, we could tell right away that the place was important because it had government signs, roped off areas, and excavation tools. There were prehistoric hand prints on the cave wall!
Sulawesi is known for having the oldest cave art in the world, and we had already seen some of it at Rammang Rammang and Leang Leang (near Makassar), but this one was a huge surprise!
Cave entrance
Prehistoric hand prints
• Princess Lake (Danau Putri)
While flying the drone at Gua Allo, we accidentally discovered this donut shaped hidden lake.
The locals knew about it, and it’s possible to reach it on foot (but very difficult access).
• Hermit Crab Beach (Pantai Umang-Umang)
This beach got its name from the crowds of tiny hermit crabs running around on the sand. We saw hundreds of them!
We even spotted a giant sea clam in the water here! Sombori and Labengki are known for having some of the biggest sea clams in the world, but sadly a lot of them have disappeared because of dynamite fishing.
Drone pic of Hermit Crab Beach
• Five Kings Lagoon (Laguna Raja Lima)
This is a group of five lagoons on the northeast edge of Sombori.
It even has a multi-colored lake hidden in the jungle behind the lagoon.
Five Kings Lagoon
Drone pic of Laguna Raja Lima
• Ambokita Island (Pulau Mbokita)
This is a snorkeling spot we visited near the small fishing village of Pulau Mbokita.
Sombori and Labengki are not really known for good snorkeling, partly because the local fishermen have destroyed a lot of the coral with dynamite fishing, but this spot was fantastic.
Snorkeling at Pulau Mbokita
Colorful fish and coral
• Koko Island (Pulau Koko)
This island has a white sand beach separated by shallow lagoons on both sides, and a treehouse viewpoint where you can get top notch views of Harapan Island and the surrounding area.
It’s a nice viewpoint, but I wish they’d use neutral colors for the boards instead of the tacky rainbow colors. It looks unnatural.
Drone pic of Koko Island
Koko Viewpoint
• Jellyfish Lake
There’s a newly discovered jellyfish lake in Tarape island (near Sombori) where you can swim with millions of stingless jellyfish!
This lake was only discovered in 2023 so it’s not very well known yet, but you can see pictures from our Sombori tour company on their Instagram page and it looks amazing.
• Labengki Island
A typical 3-day or 4-day Sombori/Labengki tour spends the bulk of the time in nearby Labengki, a pair of islands about 2 hours south of Sombori that has most of the accommodation in the area.
The scenery in Labengki is at least as amazing as Sombori. It’s an exotic paradise with heart shaped lakes and lagoons, white sand beaches, and giant limestone mountains.
Last but not least, here’s my 4K drone video of Sombori island from our trip to show you just how incredible this place is.
Happy travels!
