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Separated from Bali by a mere one-hour flight, Sumba feels worlds away. Yet Sumba is almost always discussed in the context of the nearby island of the gods. Condenast and Travel and Leisure will have you packing a bag bound for this unspoiled island paradise “destined to be the next Bali” ASAP. You know, “before it’s ruined by tourists” like us all. But the mainstream media is fudging the numbers a little bit. It’s not the future Bali. It’s not Bali 25 years ago. The island, truthfully, has nothing to do with Bali except for the national flag they share.
Bali is and always has been (for recent history) a Hindu island. They are renowned for their hospitality that runs so deep it may as well be genetic. It’s a tropical paradise on land and underwater.
And whenever blogs speak of Sumba, it’s always the lagoons, the beaches, the natural beauty, the HORSES— all lovely and unspoiled by capitalism and humans.
But you hear very, very little about the deep traditions and somewhat…hostile attitude to foreigners. I hesitate to use the word hostile here. Because it’s bound to be misinterpreted. The Sumbanese people are incredible, welcoming, lovely humans. But they are not like Balinese in their reliance on tourism and willingness to let ignorant tourists walk all over them and disrespect their traditions. Every year during the Pasola festival across the country, people die in fights (locals, not tourists). Land disputes are occasionally settled by machete, and head-hunting was a practice in the not too distant past. Funerals are celebrations marked by massive bloodshed. Pigs, Buffalo, yes, sometimes even dogs are part of the slaughter.
Dogs are still eaten on Sumba. Be wary of any dish with the RW characters next to it on a menu. It’s slang for rintek wuuk, which translates to “soft fur.”
To me, this all makes Sumba all the more interesting. It also pretty clearly explains why Sumba will never become Bali, and you shouldn’t come here expecting it.
Consider this Sumba guide your crash course to what the island is actually like, why you might want to visit (or steer clear entirely), and how not to be a total idiot if you do choose to visit.
Your Guide to Sumba, Indonesia
Here’s everything you need to know before you go to Sumba.
What SIM Card Works Best + Connectivity Tips
Since the airports in Sumba are not international ones, you’ll likely be getting your SIM elsewhere. Either way, across nearly all of Indonesia, Telkomsel is the best choice.
I use a hard SIM, not an E-SIM, but both are fine as long as you get Telkomsel.
Wifi is basically a total no-go on the island. I can almost assure you that unless you are staying at NiHi (and even they encourage you to be off the grid), you will need to use your own internet. Even that is unreliable in many areas.
At my most favorite place to stay in West Sumba, I had to walk down to the beach to even get two bars of 4G and send a WhatsApp message.
Is Sumba a Budget-Friendly Travel Destination?
50-50. It is not as affordable as most Indonesian islands. This is solely because of accommodation. I would say a local guesthouse averages $35 a night for two with no breakfast. And this is for those looking for budget-friendly. I spend less for a much nicer room in Bali with a full Balinese breakfast spread.
In our 2-week trip, we ended up spending about $60 per day for the two of us. Not counting the $400 we got snatched on the beach. Yes, stupid to be on the beach with $400. I know. It was a quick spontaneous ATM stopoff that did not go as planned.
How To Reach Sumba, Indonesia?
Sumba has two airports. One on the East and one on the West. The western airport is nearly 1/3 the price of the eastern airport. Unless you plan to only visit the east of the island or price is not a factor for you, you’ll be flying into and out of the west to a town called Tambolaka. The eastern side is called Waingapu.
Don’t be confused when booking flights and accidentally select the island of Sumbawa, which is entirely different (although near) to Sumba.
Flights come to Sumba directly from two Indonesian islands regularly — Bali and Lombok. Both clock in at about an hour and cost around $115 one way. You’ll find routes on Batik Air, Nam Air, and Wings.
What Is There to Do/See in Sumba: Why The Island Exploded in Popularity?
This is where I help you understand that Sumba is more than just unspoiled natural wonders. And beach horses are not in your future (probably). Here are some of the more compelling reasons to visit Sumba.
- Iconic surfing. This is really where visits to the island began. I’m no surfer, so I don’t have specific recs, but I do know the waves here are mega and typically not for beginners.
- Swimmable lagoons. Stunning blue water surrounded by ocean or rice paddies.
- Beaches with nothing on them. No bars, restaurants, hotels, NADA.
- The best Ikats in Indonesia. I’ll get to that later. Just know handicrafts here are top-tier.
- Funerals with animist traditions. If you’ve been to Sulawesi’s Tanah Toraja region, you’ll find similarities.
- Very unique villages. Super tall houses and elaborately carved graves.
- Hikeable jungle waterfalls. Lots of quiet nature.
Why Should You NOT Visit Sumba?
Let me de-influence you. While Sumba has incredible horses, the only place they swim on the beachfront is at Nihi Resort, where they are trained to. Which you can’t see unless you’re a paying guest. If you’re hoping for a honeymoon-like getaway (I know unspoiled beaches screams romance) think again.
Sumba has malaria, massive insects, few hospitals, poor infrastructure, and you are going to be deeply dissatisfied with 90% of all stays (yes, even the ones that claim to be 5-star) because the island just cannot provide it — again, aside from NiHi.
If you’re not coming to the island out of cultural curiosity and a desire to explore— I can pretty much assure you it won’t be what you expected.
Does Sumba have Entrance Fees?
You will also have to pay a small fee to visit many places on Sumba. It’s usually villages and lagoons and such. This is typically no more than a few dollars. Don’t haggle the prices for these places are set.
How Long Should I Stay in Sumba?
No less than 10 days. If you’re going to try to explore both sides of the island, then 2 weeks minimum. It takes about 5-6 hours to cross the island east to west by car, and attractions are spread out.
The best plan of attack is to base at a guesthouse you like and do day trips to sights you want to see.
All the blogs that say you should do 7 days or something like that are either staying at one resort and just hitting the nearby beach OR paying a driver to take them to sights in a quick sightseeing extravaganza. Neither is really exploring the island independently, so keep this in mind.
East Sumba or West Sumba?
After visiting both, my gut goes with West. You get better beaches, plenty of culture, my favorite homestay, and a good mix of attractions like the lagoon.
But the east has the stunning green hills, good beaches, the dancing trees, technically better Ikat, a remote island, and a LOVELY eco-friendly homestay overlooking a great view.
You can’t go wrong. I suppose there’s a reason we planned a long enough trip for both sides.
The east is known to have the bigger city and slightly better infrastructure, but the destinations you visit around the east felt very remote to me.
What to Expect from Accommodation
If you’re staying in budget homestays ($20-$75 a night), you can expect no wifi, no a/c, a whirring fan if you’re lucky, nighttime visitors to your restroom (yes, I’m talking insane spiders, geckos, frogs, NATURE), and a mosquito-netted bed (hopefully hole-free).
Objectively, the price tag for these stays is too high. But ethically, I wouldn’t want to support *almost* anyone but the locals on Sumba. It’s a HUGE problem. The reason they charge the price they do is because there is no other cheap option. The Sumbanese people all have agreed on these prices together to make sure they don’t compete brutally with one another.
The other style of accommodation on Sumba, that I’m sure you’ve seen all over Instagram, is white-washed luxury villas with crystalline blue pools and spacious outdoor patios. For a healthy $250-$3,000 per night. The problem? These hotels are snatching land from tribal Sumbanese and privatizing the beaches and giving NOTHING back to the island. They tap the already short water supply to fill their pools; they don’t even live in Sumba, and if you’re not the kind to care about other people — you should also know that they crumble really quickly. Most are a little worse for wear as the tropics take their toll. Food is, for the most part, mediocre, as getting ingredients shipped here is challenging. And outside NiHi, the experience does not match the price tag.
What’s The Deal With All the Luxury Villas?
*sigh*.
Well, Bali is “full”. So the same extractive kind of tourism is spilling over. Much to the locals’ dismay.
I don’t hate all luxury or foreign hotels. Just the ones that plop themselves directly in front of a village living in straw huts and build a giant eyesore of a wall and give nothing back to the island or the locals.
For example, one super luxury hotel on the island I used to hate on UNTIL I dug deeper and talked to locals and learned that this single hotel has not only employed 300 locals full time (and loads of day laborers), they built health clinics, roads, water infrastructure, are working to eradicate malaria, funded education, and created hospitality schools where they train Sumbanese of all backgrounds and hire directly from that pool. (It is NiHi, in case you were wondering). So when other luxury hotels decline to even improve the road they sit on or give fuck all to the impoverished island while literally profiting off it— that sucks. Don’t support their business.
What’s the Food Situation in Sumba?
Your restaurant choices will likely fall into two categories.
Small wooden roadside warungs serving meals from large pots of precooked local delicacies. 10/10 delicious, affordable, and quick. Maybe an elevated tummy trouble risk — but I experienced no problems.
And, hotel and guesthouse restaurants. These will be slower, sit-down affairs, still with basic menus usually consisting of chicken or fish, fried or grilled, with a side of rice and veggies. Mie Goreng and Nasi Goreng piled high on plates. Costs here will usually be 2-3 times as much as the warungs. But you cannot deny the convenience of the guesthouse dinner when you’ve spent a long day exploring, and the sun sets, plunging the island into darkness.
Snackers rejoice because Indomaret is now on Sumba! This is new as of late 2025! You can get water, Pocari, and all the basics here as needed.
You will not find independent beach bars or restaurants in abundance (even in towns), and certainly nothing that’s close to a smash burger or quality pizza.
How Do I Get Around Sumba?
Most independent travelers to Sumba rent a motorbike. This is locally the main mode of transport and because the roads in Sumba are traffic-free and paved in many places (as long as you’re not going deep into the interior) it’s very easy even for beginners.
In Sumba, a basic motorbike (usually not great quality, but it will get you where you’re going) costs 150k rupiah per day. A nice one is about 200k per day.
As I mentioned before, though, Sumba is large, and without a lot of infrastructure, most people do not ride scooters from one side to another. They opt for a bus, bemo, shared taxi, or private car transfer. These are in order of price, with the bus being around 100k a seat and the private transfer being 1.2 million for a whole car.
The best option in my opinion is getting a hold of the shared taxi, where you’ll pay 200k per seat. Our taxi also ended up being a private car because it simply didn’t fill.
You can also fly between the two major cities if you’re not into the 4-6 hour journey, but it’s quite a bit more expensive — it’s actually 2-3 times more than flying to nearby Bali.
Should I Hire a Guide For the Cultural Encounters?
100% yes. For a few reasons. One, because if you just show up to a village, no one speaks English and you aren’t going to get to do anything but look at the outside of the houses and be bombarded by locals trying to sell you things they made. You certainly won’t get to attend any ceremonies or festivals.
The other reason is less for you and more for them! We should incentivize this kind of cultural preservation in a place where tourism is still so fresh. It only costs about 1.5 million for a full day with a driver and guide. If you can afford to, you’ll get so much more out of your visit.
ATM Access
Most ATMs in Sumba have a lower limit. Around 1-2 million rupiah. BNI doesn’t charge an additional fee, though. You’ll find working ATMs in the major cities and towns on both sides of the island. Cash is pretty much the only way to pay for most things on the island.
What Is Ikat and Why Should You Buy One
Ikat is an ancient textile technique that comes from the Indonesian word “to bind”. Sumba is known to have the best Ikat in the world thanks to intricate natural dyeing, prolonged handcrafting time, and deep cultural symbolism. You can learn more about Ikat here.
You can get a cheap handmade Ikat for about 1 million, but the best will sell for about 6 million. Machine-made ones will always be cheaper and a little more precise, but personally the handmade is far superior.
Ikat isn’t the only cool thing you can get either. You can get wooden carved local instruments, batik, and lots more.
A Few Important Things To Note For People Who Want to Visit Sumba
- Water is scarce on Sumba. Specifically west Sumba. Don’t waste it.
- The island is very impoverished. This doesn’t mean you should hand out cash willy-nilly to assuage your guilt. You should, however, make a huge effort to seek out small local businesses and shops for snacks, food, whatever else.
- Theft is not unheard of here. It is rare, but we were the unfortunate idiots who got $550 stolen from our beach bag after hitting the atm.
- You’re going to need to shed that break-neck travel pace here. It’s simply not meant for speeding through sights.
- The Mamuli is an important symbol in Sumba culture. You’ll see it everywhere — it refers to the mother in the animist tradition.
Sumba is without a doubt one of the most beautiful islands in Indonesia. But it’s not really ready for the average tourist yet. There’s no comfortable middle ground of travel that doesn’t erode the local culture. If you choose to go, you should be ready to rough it a little because that’s where Sumba is at. Or just go ultra-luxury and stay at NiHi Resort for $3-4k per night and know that your money is actually going back into the community in a meaningful way.
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