The Banggai area of Sulawesi is one of the most underrated destinations in Indonesia, with an incredible sapphire lake called Paisupok and other attractions such as beaches, caves, waterfalls and wildlife.
This is a large area that includes three different government districts — Banggai, the Banggai Islands and Banggai Laut — so it’s a little more complicated than visiting other places in Sulawesi. My wife is Indonesian, it helped me a lot.
We visited the Banggai Islands independently and organized our own hotels and transport for each stage of the trip. Check out this blog post to find out how you can also do this. I will also share some contacts for local tour guides if you want to join a group or take a private tour to make it easier for you.
Anyway, Banggai has some wonderful sights and is worth a visit if you are already planning a trip to Sulawesi. Here is our guide!
Banggai Islands Itinerary day 1: Luwuk to Peleng
Flight to Luwuk
This itinerary for the Banggai Islands starts and ends in Luwuk, a town of about 35,000 inhabitants in the center of Sulawesi.
There are several daily flights to Luwuk Airport (LUW) from Makassar in South Sulawesi, otherwise you can hire a driver and travel overland to Luwuk from Ampana after visiting the Togean Islands, which are another beautiful place in Sulawesi.
If you are traveling to Luwuk from Bali, Jakarta or any other place in Indonesia, you will need to change trains in Makassar on the way to Luwuk.
Take the ferry to Peleng
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 (i.e. Indonesian rubber time).
The ferry is a large wooden boat that carries about 50 to 100 passengers, and it has berths and benches to sit on, but they are not very comfortable. If you want more privacy, you can rent a small room for two people that has bunk beds and a fan. It costs an additional Rupee of 50k per room.
Alternatively, you can arrange a speedboat to take you to some of the best sites on Peleng Island, including Paisu Pok Lake and Poganda Beach. In this matter, the journey from Luwuk takes about 1 hour, and on the way you can sometimes see dolphins.
Lodging in Peleng
When we arrived in Peleng, it was already after 5 in the afternoon and the sun was setting. We really wanted to see Paisu Pok Lake, but there wasn’t enough time on the first day.
We stayed at the Novpitri Homestay, located right next to the port of Leme Leme. The rooms are very basic, with Fan, Squat toilet and bucket Of cold water for the shower. When we were visiting at the end of 2023, electricity was only produced by generator, but now they have electricity there 24/24 and 7/7.
You only have one air-conditioned room, so it’s a good idea to book it in advance if you wish. They are slow to respond on WhatsApp even when they speak Indonesian. Don’t expect a homestay luxury, but if you’re away all day, it’s okay. We already knew that this would be the most difficult place we would stay during our trip to Banggai, so two nights here was not a problem.
The normal price is 200,000 rupees per night for the air-conditioned room or 150,000 for the fan room. I hope they will add mosquito nets soon. The family was helpful and prepared dinner for us which was also very inexpensive and good: rice, vegetables, omelets, Fried tofu and chicken.