Raja Ampat is the ultimate remote getaway, with islands, home stays, pristine water, and no people. It was my favorite place in Indonesia, and I can’t wait to go back. Read below for logistics and my favorite dive sites.

Note: If you don’t have international data, I highly recommend downloading an e-sim before your trip! While many of the huts have wifi, it’s good to have service in case of emergencies or to ensure your map loads. I use Airalo for my e-sims, which is affordable and is easy to download. Make sure your phone is e-sim compatible!

Where is Raja Ampat?

Raja Ampat is an area in north east Indonesia, near the town of Sorong and south of the Philippines. It has become famous as one of the best dive sites in the world with pristine nature and animal sightings, partially because it is so hard to reach. Raja Ampat actually consists of 1,500 islands and spans >3,000 square miles - a huge area to explore. Most people visiting Raja Ampat go to a town called Wasai via ferry boat and stay in a homestay, which is basically huts on the water where you get food and unlimited beach access to snorkel. There are other islands with public ferries, but anything off the beaten path (aka where the ferry does not go) requires you to rent a private speed boat, which can cost you upwards of 25 million IDR, which is over $1,500.

The TLDR is Raja Ampat is in north eastern Indonesia and off the beaten path for the standard traveler, which makes it less crowded and all the more desirable!

How to get to Kri Island

First, to get to Raja Ampat, you will need to fly into Sorong (SOQ). There are many affordable flights that connect through Makassar (UPG) from Jakarta and Bali, and even international airlines. Local Indonesian airlines that fly this route include Sriwijaya / Lion Air / Super Jet. Garuda Indonesia has a direct flight once per day from Jakarta to Sorong, and there is a direct flight a few times a week from Bali on Batik but it books out months in advance. I booked my flights through my Capital One Venture X card booking platform. Note that I have both the Capital One Venture X and the Chase Sapphire cards, but I was unable to book local Indonesian airlines through Chase. Typically I always book flights directly through airline websites (I got burned once on a round trip flight from Expedia and almost got stranded in Singapore because they forgot to book me a flight back!!). This time, I decided that there was no way I was going to accrue any points on an Indonesian airline so I decided to take the risk and get 5x points through Capital One, and had zero issues!

Second, you will need to take the public ferry from Sorong to Wasai. Depending on the time of year, the ferry runs 1-3x per day and takes about 2 hours. Make sure you check the schedule online or using the Facebook RA travelers page, as the schedule changes often. You don’t need to book this in advance and you can just arrive at the ferry terminal to book a ticket. The ticket costs about 135k IDR ($8.50). Note that the ferry operates on island time, and I heard stories of it being 2 hours delayed once! Keep it in mind if you have a tight connection to the airport.

Finally, to get to Kri, you can either organize a private boat with friends or, if you are staying in a homestay on the island, they should have a boat to pick you up. Costs vary, but for example the homestay transfer where I am (Mambetron) is 800k IDR ($49) each way for a “small” boat, so the cost is for the boat and will be less with more people. You can probably fit about 6 people in a small boat. The large boat costs 1.5M IDR, and has larger capacity, larger engine, and a sun shade overhang.

For my trip, I booked a week long diving package with Soul Scuba, which included private transfer directly from Sorong on a speed boat and it took about 2 hours each way. If you want to go directly from Sorong, some dive resorts will have a direct transfer option.

You may ask… why go all this way for a little island? This journey is for those that want to get off the beaten path and into nature. The island itself is rugged with steep rocky cliffs and not much else to do except enjoy the ocean views and swims with little to no people. Did I mention the pristine reefs?

Private ferry from Soul Scuba to Kri Island

Is Sorong worth a visit?

Not really. The city is not built for tourism and has few things to see. There is a morning fish market and mosques. Most people will stay in Sorong for a night either before or after their island trip, depending on flight timing. I would plan to head straight to Raja Ampat, but ensure that you won’t miss your flight.

How long to go to Kri?

This depends on how long you want to stay off the grid! Most people I met stayed for no less than 3 nights. I met people staying for 1 month, and others who didn’t have a return date at all. I stayed for 6 nights, but I was part of a dive package and went diving 3-4x per day at different sites around the island. If you are not diving, I would recommend at least 4 nights and you can schedule a few day trips with your homestay to visit other parts of the island.

The Homestay experience

Most homestays have 6-8 small bungalows on the beach or water. These bungalows have a bed (sometimes 2), a toilet room with shower, electricity outlets, fan (no AC, just the sea breeze!), and a deck with chairs and hammock overlooking the ocean. The toilet is very basic and my shower had running water.

The homestay will feed you all meals (breakfast at 7a, lunch at 1p, dinner at 7p) with tea and water. Some will sell beer for 50k per drink.

Many homestays have electricity hours, for example they only run the generator from 6pm to 6am. That means wifi is only available from those hours, some come prepared with an external battery and some off grid time!

(That also means if you bring your own beer, which you should if you want your own beer as you won’t find it on the island, it won’t be cold during the day!)

Hammock outside of my private cottage / homestay on Kri island

How to book a homestay

I used booking.com to book my stay at Mambetron (with free cancellation up to the day before arrival!). Most homestays are not on booking platforms though, and you will need to find them on Google maps and message the phone number using WhatsApp to ask for availability. In general, you can find a place to stay 1-2 weeks in advance, but some of the popular places could book out months in advance. For example, where I stayed there was a group of 12 that booked the entire homestay!

Something I did not know when I came to Kri is it is not super accessible to walk to other homestays. Only when the tide is low can you walk on the beach around parts of the island, but when the tide is high, there is no where to go except by boat! Keep this in mind and if you are trying to stay near friends or a dive center, I recommend booking a place directly next door. That’s what I would do next time!

Traditional food served by the homestay - fish, vegetables, rice, and tempeh (with watermelon for dessert!

Is Kri only for divers?

Absolutely not! Many people come to just relax by the beach or snorkel at the house reef. I’d say the majority of people are not divers, but of course it depends on where you stay. Make sure to bring your own mask and snorkel to explore the house reef because many homestays do not have them for rent. You can also book day trips to popular places like Piaynemo or an island through your homestay and split the cost among those who want to go - a benefit of staying at a larger homestay is there are more people who may be willing to come.

Liveaboard vs homestay for diving

Doing a Liveaboard is always the dream. Especially in a place like Raja Ampat, which is so large and has thousands of islands to explore, being on a boat gives you access to more remote areas and less travel time back and forth to a home base. I decided to do a homestay primarily for cost reasons. A 7 day Liveaboard was upwards $6k, while 7 day homestay plus dive package (with boat transfers) was $1,370 - and I would have gotten the same number of dives in both situations! Homestay packages can also range less than that; I did a relatively luxury dive trip. So you have to decide for yourself: is a Liveaboard worth 4x the cost? I had an awesome time at my homestay diving from Kri, and would definitely do it again!

How to book diving

I chose to dive with Soul Scuba on Kri. For most companies, you should message them using WhatsApp for availability and pay a deposit through Wise. Wise is widely popular in Indonesia and a much cheaper and easier way to wire transfer money. Final payment is due on arrival in either local cash or Wise, and yes, there is wifi to pay them, but maybe not a lot of reliable service. The dive company I worked with had bookings months in advance, but some other ones you can book weeks in advance. Just send them a message and they will take care of you! I rented all my gear as well.

My week schedule

Saturday Eve - Sunday Morning: red eye flight from Jakarta to Sorong (with a layover in Makassar), arriving at 7am

Sunday: Grab from airport to ferry (48k IDR), speed boat with Soul Scuba 8:30-10:30am, remainder of day at homestay relaxing / swimming / walking on the beach.

Monday: