Paisu Pok Lake is a beautiful sapphire lake in Banggai, Indonesia, which was still a hidden gem until recently, although images of this incredible lake are now going popular all over social media, so it seems that the word is officially known.
We recently visited Paisupok and it is as beautiful as it looks in the photos. It is not very difficult to get there if you are already in Sulawesi, which you should, because Sulawesi is a huge island with so many wonderful things to see and do.
This guide will teach you how to get to Paisu Pok Lake in Banggai and what else you need to know before you go!
How to get to Luwuk & Banggai
Paisu Pok Lake is located on Peleng Island, which is part of the Banggai Islands Regency in central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
To get there, the first step is in Luwuk. There are daily non-stop flights to Luwuk Airport (LUW) from Makassar in South Sulawesi. If you are coming from Bali, Jakarta or any other place in Indonesia, you will have to change trains in Makassar on the way to Luwuk. You can buy flights on Skyscanner.
Once you arrive in Luwuk, the taxi drivers are waiting to take you to the city and the journey only takes about 20 minutes. We paid 50,000 Rupees for the airport transfer.
From the city of Luwuk, you can take the public ferry from the popular port of Luwuk (“Pelabuhan Rakyat”) to Leme Leme on Peleng Island. He leaves every day at 2 o’clock in the evening and the journey takes 2 hours, although he usually leaves an hour after (Indonesian rubber time).
How to get to Paisu Pok Lake
The Luwuk ferry takes you to the port of Leme-Leme on Peleng, which is still 23 kilometers from Lake Paisu Pok.
You can then rent a scooter at Novpitri Homestay near the port or hire a private driver with a car. Google Maps says it’s a 40-minute ride, but it actually takes more than an hour on a scooter because some parts of the road are broken and you have to slow down to cross them safely.
There is very little traffic on the road and it is easy to find the lake. You can’t get lost, especially if you download an offline map beforehand. Here is the place for Navigation.
From the parking lot, it is only a 5-minute walk to Paisupok Lake, and the trail is completely paved.
After visiting the lake, you can return to Luwuk by ferry from Leme Leme, which returns every day at 8 am, or you can head east to Salakan and continue exploring the Banggai Islands!
Paisu Pok Lake: what to expect
Paisu Pok Lake is just as beautiful as it looks in the photos. We saw it for the first time in the morning and thought it was stunning, but the color and clarity get even better when the sun is shining on it.
You can rent a small boat, a canoe or a stand-up paddle board to explore the lake, or you can swim and snorkel. The water is cold in the morning, but at noon it was perfect and it was a great escape from the heat and humidity of Sulawesi.
The inside of the lake is almost as beautiful as the outside, with fallen logs and rocks that give it personality, and the color of the water seems to change with the lighting.
It is extremely clear, almost like glass, and you can usually see to the bottom, although in some places the water is actually more than 10 meters deep!
In matter you’re wondering, I haven’t added any additional color or saturation to the images in this blog post. This is what the water really looks like. The name “Paisu Pok” means “black water” or “black water”, according to the locals.
There are only a handful of other places like this in Indonesia, such as the sapphire Labuan Cermin Lake in Kalimantan or the smaller Danau KACO Lake in Sumatra.