Traveling to Indonesia

[ChrisM]

My spouse and I just booked a Liveaboard in Raja Ampat for the end of 2025. Does anyone have experience getting there from the US? Specifically from the East coast? All I know is we need to ultimately get to Sorong to catch the boat.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Myanna

We're booking an early 2026 trip. From the west coast looking at options to get to Sorong. Most reasonable is Jakarta. You can do it from Bali or Singapore and even Haneda but they all pretty much go thru Jakarta anyway

 

[Kendall Raine]

Garuda recently added a DPS-SOQ non-stop. This is a real non-stop (not the DPS-UPG-SOQ same plane faux non-stop). Friday and Sunday's only, but keep an eye out as they may add days if demand justifies. That makes DPS a more inviting point of entry into Indonesia than before when you had to go DPS-CGK-SOQ.

 

[ppatin]

We did a Raja Ampat trip from the US East coast in late 2022. Outbound we flew IAD-NRT-CGK on ANA. Return was CGK-SIN-EWR on Singapore Airlines (we used points/miles, hence the different routings).

On the outbound leg we spent a few nights in Jakarta before catching a Garuda flight to Sorong. Honestly, it wasn't worth the time we spent there. Jakarta is not a pleasant city at all. Crowded, dirty and the traffic is horrendous. I really liked most of the people we met and Indonesia is an interesting place but Jakarta is totally skippable. We did do a cool day trip out to a volcano and the hotel we stayed in was lovely for a very reasonable price so it had that going for it.

We did not spend any time in Sorong. Our flight left Jakarta in the evening, arrived in Sorong the next morning and we went straight to the boat. Everyone who did stay there had nothing but negative things to say. The hotels in Sorong (or "so-wrong" as one person put it) sounded grim. On the return we left Sorong fairly early in the morning, got a dayroom at a hotel near the Jakarta airport and caught a flight to Singapore that evening.

Our long-haul flights were in business class which was an absolute game-changer for that part of the trip. In 2016 we did a Komodo trip and flew in coach. The flights were so long and unpleasant that I wrote Indonesia off as not worth it. Like most people in the US my PTO is precious and spending 3+ days of a 14 day trip in airplane seats and airports felt like a bad use of time. A couple of years after that I discovered the points/miles game so our 2022 trip was infinitely more comfortable. The SIN-EWR flight was ~18 hours long and I was actually a bit sad when it ended.

 

[tursiops]

We avoid Jakarta, and prefer Makassar. You can fly SIN-UPG-SOQ or KUL-UPG-SOQ.

 

[Joneill]

We did not spend any time in Sorong. Our flight left Jakarta in the evening, arrived in Sorong the next morning and we went straight to the boat.

There is some risk in that approach as cancelled flights and lost baggage are not completely uncommon. The boat will leave without you and/or your gear.

Everyone who did stay there had nothing but negative things to say. The hotels in Sorong (or "so-wrong" as one person put it) sounded grim. On the return we left Sorong fairly early in the morning, got a dayroom at a hotel near the Jakarta airport and caught a flight to Singapore that evening.

I stayed at the Swissbel hotel in Sorong for 2 nights before the boat and it was nice (clean and comfortable) - no issues at all and not expensive. The new Aston near the airport is supposed to be nice as well but it more expensive.

Our long-haul flights were in business class which was an absolute game-changer for that part of the trip. In 2016 we did a Komodo trip and flew in coach. The flights were so long and unpleasant that I wrote Indonesia off as not worth it. Like most people in the US my PTO is precious and spending 3+ days of a 14 day trip in airplane seats and airports felt like a bad use of time. A couple of years after that I discovered the points/miles game so our 2022 trip was infinitely more comfortable. The SIN-EWR flight was ~18 hours long and I was actually a bit sad when it ended.

Agreed - I’m looking forward to the Singapore Airlines 18.5 hour legs in business class again next Jan/Feb! Premium economy on those planes did not look that bad either - especially if traveling with a companion and you pick 2 seats on the sides.

 

[ppatin]

There is some risk in that approach as cancelled flights and lost baggage are not completely uncommon. The boat will leave without you and/or your gear.

Yes, there is some risk. We emailed the boat we were on and asked if they recommended spending a night in Sorong. They said plenty of people were flying in the morning of departure. Based on their advice and the fact that it was a non-stop from Jakarta we decided the risk was acceptable.

I stayed at the Swissbel hotel in Sorong for 2 nights before the boat and it was nice (clean and comfortable) - no issues at all and not expensive. The new Aston near the airport is supposed to be nice as well but it more expensive.

When did you stay there? It sounded like that hotel may have gone downhill post-COVID.

Agreed - I’m looking forward to the Singapore Airlines 18.5 hour legs in business class again next Jan/Feb! Premium economy on those planes did not look that bad either - especially if traveling with a companion and you pick 2 seats on the sides.

It's crazy how nice Singapore Airlines was. My only regret is that our CGK-SIN flight was delayed so we didn't have time to check out the lounge in Changi. Oh well, someday!

 

[Luko]

When did you stay there? It sounded like that hotel may have gone downhill post-COVID.

I stayed at the Swiss Belotel last august, it was nothing like some described it.
Slept and ate there, the service was fast and nothing to complain about the food (indonesian dishes), the reception was helpful to find a driver and allowed for early check in.

Most of the people who complain about "So Wrong" have either known the place 10 years ago where you wouldn't have ventured to the airport toilet without a nuclear suit on or they just spread stories they have only heard or they have a cultural shock because they were simply ignorant about them (like the muezzin sounds at certain times of the day)
Sorong is now nothing like it was. Just slightly boring.

 

[Joneill]

Yes, there is some risk. We emailed the boat we were on and asked if they recommended spending a night in Sorong. They said plenty of people were flying in the morning of departure. Based on their advice and the fact that it was a non-stop from Jakarta we decided the risk was acceptable.

It's a personal decision, but I would not take that risk. I know a few folks that missed cruise ships as they planned to fly down to Florida the morning of departure, but snow in the Northeast cancelled their flights. My brother-in-law got to a Cayman Brac Trip a day late as his flight out of Boston got cancelled due to weather as well. It's just not worth the risk for a trip like this for me.

When did you stay there? It sounded like that hotel may have gone downhill post-COVID.

I stayed there in December of 2022 - everything was good!

It's crazy how nice Singapore Airlines was. My only regret is that our CGK-SIN flight was delayed so we didn't have time to check out the lounge in Changi. Oh well, someday!

The terminal 3 Krisflyer lounge in Changi was really nice. I had almost 8 hours there on the way home!

 

[Joneill]

I stayed at the Swiss Belotel last august, it was nothing like some described it.
Slept and ate there, the service was fast and nothing to complain about the food (indonesian dishes), the reception was helpful to find a driver and allowed for early check in.

Most of the people who complain about "So Wrong" have either known the place 10 years ago where you wouldn't have ventured to the airport toilet without a nuclear suit on or they just spread stories they have only heard or they have a cultural shock because they were simply ignorant about them (like the muezzin sounds at certain times of the day)
Sorong is now nothing like it was. Just slightly boring.

Agreed - not much to do, but I just relaxed and got on Indonesia time before the boat. I also wandered a short distance to a gelato shop and a convenience store - no problem!

 

[ChrisM]

Garuda recently added a DPS-SOQ non-stop. This is a real non-stop (not the DPS-UPG-SOQ same plane faux non-stop). Friday and Sunday's only, but keep an eye out as they may add days if demand justifies. That makes DPS a more inviting point of entry into Indonesia than before when you had to go DPS-CGK-SOQ.

Thanks for the heads up Kendall. Certainly a nicer option from LAX than CGK, for a number of reasons.