ljturco

Hi,
I am new to the Indonesia forum, but have reading through others' Trip Reports and questions. I am hoping that this group can help me narrow down the itinerary for a summer 2023 trip to Indonesia. We will be four adults (ages 40 - 55) and two children (ages 9 and 12). We are all active and fit but not hard-core athletes or outdoorsmen. We enjoy outdoor adventure, hiking, cultural sights, and most especially for this trip - wildlife! Our "must-see's" include orangutans in the wild (realizing most of the ones we will see have been habituated to humans at some point), an elephant experience, tarsiers, and great snorkeling. We are quite happy with the following itinerary, but need to cut 2-4 days. We will spend 4-5 days in Thailand after, and just can't take much more than three weeks off work. I will put the basic itinerary below, and my specific questions are:

1. If we need to cut something, should we cut the Tanjung Putting section? We will see orangutans in Sumatra, so this seems like the obvious "cut" to me, but is the Klotok experience in Tanjung Putting just so fabulous that we shouldn't miss it? Should we cut something else instead? Or just make it all work?

2. How do people feel about Lion Air? This itinerary does NOT use Lion Air, and could probably be more efficient if we DO use Lion Air, but I am scared about safety.

3. Do we have too many days anywhere? Too few? We like to aim for 3 nights in each location so that we can settle in a bit and not feel rushed, but also like to see everything as "efficiently" as possible.

Itinerary:

July 15 - arrive in Singapore (from the US)
July 16 - fly to Manado, Sulawesi and transfer to Bunaken / Siladen area
July 17 -18 beach time and snorkeling. This time is to recover from the terrible flight and time change (3 nights in Bunaken)
July 19 & 20 - Tangkoko National Park to see tarsiers, macaques etc (2 nights)
July 21 - spend night in Manado in order to fly out the next morning
July 22 - fly Manado - Medan, Sumatra, and then transfer to Tangkahan
July 23 - Tangahan for elephant experience and jungle hiking (2 nights in Tangkahan)
July 24 - 26 Bukit Lawang to see orangutans, gibbons etc (3 nights in BL)
July 27 - night in Jakarta in order to fly out the next morning
July 28 - fly to Pangkalanbun
July 29-30 - Tanjung Putting to see orangutans etc (3 nights on Klotok)
July 31 - night in Bali in order to fly out the next morning
Aug 1 - starting at Labuan Bajo - Komodo boat excursion (sleep on boat)
Aug 2 - day 2 of Komodo boat excursion (sleep in Labuan Bajo)
Aug 3 - fly to Bangkok

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!

dk2022

Regarding Lion Air. Yes, they have a bad record but our flights were on time with no issues. Please check other airlines as I think Batik and Wings Air also belong to the Lion group.

Regarding your plan, is a great itinerary but quite packed. Please consider spending more time in Flores as you like snorkeling and other cultures. We liked it a lot. Snorkeling and diving in Komodo is outstanding. Secondly, there are some authentic and stunning traditional villages in Flores, especially in the Ngada area. We got lucky with a traditional house inauguration ritual, unforgettable:

https://travelbeforethecrowds.com/be...age-in-flores/

ljturco

Thank you for your response and the link to your blog which I am looking forward to checking out more thoroughly. We have narrowed down our itinerary significantly, and spending more time in Flores might be an option. The revised itinerary looks like this:

July 14 - arrive in Singapore (from the US)
July 15 - fly to Manado, Sulawesi and transfer to Bunaken / Siladen area
July 16-17 beach time and snorkeling. This time is to recover from the terrible flight and time change (3 nights in Bunaken)
July 18-19 - Tangkoko National Park to see tarsiers, macaques etc (2 nights)
July 20 - spend night in Manado in order to fly out the next morning
July 21 - fly to Bali and spend one day / two nights in Ubud
July 23 - fly to Labuan Bajo. One overnight
July 24 - 25 three day / two night live aboard trip to Komodo for dragons and snorkeling
July 26 - fly to Medan and spend the night
July 27 - 29 Bukit Lawang (one night in jungle; two nights in lodge)
July 30-31 - Tangkahan for elephant experience (2 nights)
Aug 1 - Medan for overnight
Aug 2 - fly to Bangkok. Five nights in Bangkok where we will do day-trips while my sister and her hubs attend a conference

I inserted the two nights in Bali because we have to fly through Bali to get to Labuan Bajo and I thought we might really regret not "going to Bali" when we had to fly into Bali anyway. I could probably be talked into spending those two extra nights in Flores if you think that would be worthwhile! Any thoughts? Unfortunately, we cannot add any more days at this point. We have to be in Bangkok on Aug 2.

Thank you for any input!