Exploring the Underrated Beauty of Banggai Islands in Indonesia

The Banggai Regency in Sulawesi Island is one of Indonesia's most underrated tourist destinations, featuring the stunning blue lake of Paisupok and other breathtaking landscapes, including beaches, caves, waterfalls, and wildlife.

This region is vast, encompassing three different administrative districts—Banggai, Banggai Kepulauan (Islands), and Banggai Laut—making it somewhat more complex to navigate than other parts of Sulawesi. Fortunately, my wife is Indonesian, which greatly assisted us.

We independently toured Banggai Kepulauan, arranging our own hotels and transportation for each step of the journey. This blog post will explain how you can do the same. If you prefer to join a group or take a private tour, I'll also share the contact information of some local guides to facilitate your trip.

Regardless, Banggai Islands offer some fantastic attractions. If you're already planning a trip to Sulawesi, Banggai Islands are definitely worth visiting. Here's our travel guide!

Contents

Day 1 of Banggai Kepulauan Itinerary: Luwuk to Peleng

• Flying to Luwuk
  The starting and ending point of your Banggai Kepulauan adventure is Luwuk, a small town with a population of about 35,000 in central Sulawesi.

Multiple flights operate daily from Makassar in South Sulawesi to Luwuk Airport (LUW). Alternatively, you can hire a driver to take you from Ampana by road after exploring the Togean Islands, another worthwhile destination in Sulawesi.

If you're flying to Luwuk from Bali, Jakarta, or other parts of Indonesia, you must make a connecting flight in Makassar before heading to Luwuk. You can purchase flights on Skyscanner.

• Taking a Ferry to Peleng
  Upon arrival in Luwuk, taxi drivers will be waiting to take you to the town, which is just a 20-minute ride. We paid 50,000 Indonesian rupiahs (IDR) for airport transfer.

From Luwuk Town, you can take a public ferry from Pelabuhan Rakyat Luwuk to Leme Leme on Peleng Island. The ferry departs at 2 PM daily and takes 2 hours, but it usually leaves an hour late (Indonesian rubber time).

Tickets can be purchased on the spot for 54,000 IDR (about $3) per person. Online booking is currently unavailable, but tickets are not sold out.

The ferry is a large wooden boat that can carry 50 to 100 passengers. It has berths and benches but is not very comfortable. If you prefer more privacy, you can rent a small double room with bunk beds and a fan for an additional 50,000 IDR.

Alternatively, you can arrange a speedboat to take you to some of the best attractions on Peleng Island, including Paisu Pok Lake and Poganda Beach. In this case, the journey from Luwuk takes about an hour, and you might see dolphins on the way.

A round-trip for a private speedboat tour like this costs around 1.5 to 4 million IDR (100to250), so it's not cheap. However, it's faster than the ferry, and if you're traveling with friends and split the cost, it can be economical in some cases.

Regardless of whether you choose the ferry or the speedboat, the sea between Luwuk and Peleng Island is very calm, so I don't think waves will be a problem for the crossing under normal circumstances.

• Overnight Stay in Peleng
  We arrived in Peleng after 5 PM, and the sun was setting. We were eager to see Paisupok Lake, but we didn't have enough time on the first day.

We stayed overnight at Novpitri Homestay, which is right next to the port of Leme Leme. The rooms are very basic, with fans, squat toilets, and cold water buckets for showers. When we visited in late 2023, there was only generator power, but now there's 24/7 electricity.

They have only one air-conditioned room, so it's best to book in advance if you want it. Even if you speak Indonesian, they respond slowly on WhatsApp. Don't expect luxury from the homestay, but it's fine if you're spending the whole day exploring outside. We already knew it was the toughest place we'd stay during our Banggai trip, so two nights here were fine.

The normal price for an air-conditioned room is 200,000 IDR per night, and a fan room is 150,000 IDR. Hopefully, they'll add mosquito nets soon. The family is very helpful and cooked dinner for us, which was very cheap and delicious: rice, vegetables, scrambled eggs, fried tofu, and chicken.

If you want to stay closer to Paisu Pok Lake, Luk Panenteng Village by the lake has many very basic homestays. If you stay there, you can walk to the lake every day for a swim.

Before going to bed, we rented a motorcycle from the homestay so we could visit the lake and beaches the next day. They had the motorcycle ready for us when we went to sleep!

Pantai Mandel Beach, Banggai Kepulauan, Luwuk, Sulawesi, Indonesia Travel Guide
Banggai has many small private beaches, like this one near Mandel Beach.

Day 2 of Banggai Itinerary: West Peleng Island

• Paisu Pok Lake
  Paisu Pok Lake is a beautiful blue lake on Peleng Island and one of the main highlights of the Banggai area.

You can rent a boat, canoe, or stand-up paddleboard to explore the lake, or swim and snorkel in it. The water of this lake is the bluest I've ever seen. It's as beautiful as it looks in photos.

It takes 1 hour to drive from Leme Leme to Paisupok because some sections of the road are damaged and you must slow down for safety. Traffic is sparse, and it's easy to find the lake.

I wrote a complete travel blog post about our visit to Paisupok with many tips and photos, which you can check out at the link below.

• Paisu Batango
  The next destination on Peleng Island is a small lagoon called Paisu Batango, a 5-minute drive from the lake. It's marked as "Luk Bath Panenteng" on the map.

The name Paisu Batango means "water from the trunk of a tree" because the lagoon's water source comes from natural springs. Unfortunately, locals bathe here and wash clothes with detergent, slightly reducing the water's clarity.

Despite the mixing of deep lagoon water with salty water from the ocean, the cold spring water still presents a beautiful turquoise color.

Paisu Batango

• Poganda Beach
  The third attraction on Peleng Island is a white sand beach called Pantai Poganda, located between Leme Leme and the lake. It's just a 30-minute drive from Paisupok.

This is a peaceful beach with calm waters and palm tree shade, perfect for snorkeling. Even without snorkeling, we were surprised to see many starfish. There are plenty of starfish in the shallow water near the beach.

This is a great beach for watching sunrises and sunsets, depending on the season. There are also several swings and a pier where you can sit and relax.

• Overnight Stay in Peleng
  After a full day of exploring, we returned to Leme Leme and stayed at Novpitri Homestay for another night.

If you need to return to Luwuk at this point, there are ferries departing from Leme Leme every morning at 8 AM, but we decided to head east to Salakan and continue exploring Banggai Kepulauan.

Before going to bed, we arranged for a driver with a van to take us sightseeing and then to Salakan the next day.

The cost was 850,000 IDR (including gasoline and the driver) to take us directly to Salakan or 1.2 million IDR to visit two caves in the southwest of Peleng before going to Salakan. We decided to see the caves!

Day 3 of Banggai Itinerary: Caves and Salakan

• Driving to the Caves
  Our driver, Anto, picked us up at 6:30 AM, and we started our day trip. First, we had to fill up the gas tank, which took about 45 minutes because it was hard to find a gas station that was open so early.

The drive to the caves was scenic, with hills, jungles, palm forests, and sea views. The entire trip took about 5 hours—2 hours to the caves and 3 hours to Salakan—so we were glad we were in a car rather than on a motorcycle.

We found that the roads in Peleng are paved but damaged in many places. You can ride a motorcycle, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're experienced.