We usually start off by reading some blogs and then may even head over to Lonely Planet for some tips of the area. Here are some thirngs you guys can do in Labuan Bajo for four days. If you want to know more, check out some information on Labuan Bajo from Lonely Planet.
Here is a our list of things to do in Labuan Bajo:
Labuan Bajo is a port town off the West coast of Flores Island in Indonesia. It is most famous for being near Komodo National park, where you can see ancient gigantic lizards, the Komodo Dragon. These beasts are not all that frightful, you will have a guide to protect you, but it is fascinating to see.
Labuan Bajo is also famous for its beauty. There are beautiful islands jetting out in the ocean. There are many things to do from snorkeling, scuba diving, island hopping, and even some short hiking. Here is our list of what you can do for 3-4 days in the this little town of Labuan Bajo.
Day 1: Arrival to Labuan Bajo.
Most people are going to fly into the airport at LBJ. It is about 2km from Labuan Bajo, and about a 5 minute ride from there. Certain hotels can pick you up, you can walk to town, or even order a taxi, grab, or wave your hand for a scooter ride into town.
Lots of flights will come in the afternoon and leave in the morning. So when you arrive you can get accustomed to the area. There is a fish market with BBQs going on around 6 p.m. right off the pier area, there are plenty of places to eat. You can explore the town and search for your tours for the next couple of days.
Day 2: Island Hopping Tour:
There is one main tour in town. It is the island hopping tour. There will be a boat that will take you out to four destinations.
First is Padar Island:
Padar Island is the place where you can take famous Instagram photos of this beautiful island with beaches on three sides. It has a 20 minute hike, and the views as you hike are Amazing!!!

Next is Pink Beach:
This is where the beach has pink sand. There are two pink beaches. One is on Sarai Island. The other one is called Pink Beach off of Komodo Island. You will usually go to the beach before you go and see Komodo Dragons.

The Highlight would be Komodo Dragons:
Next stop is off to either Komodo Island or Rincan Island. (Right now Komodo Island is closed due to people stealing Dragons for black Market). These two islands will be the place you go to for seeing Komodo Dragons. The guides will take you in the afternoon after the dragons are tired, sleepy, and have already eaten. They will be easier to spot.
Komodo Dragons are fascinating creatures. They are one of the oldest living creatures in the world. They also have bite that carries a venomous bacteria in the saliva that can kill a person. Their immune system is incredibly strong. They are amazing creatures to spot.

Last Stop will be another island for snorkeling:

These places are all in the tours. The Tours also provide lunch. I would recommend to ask the tour operators about if they provide lunch, breakfast, snorkeling gear, and water. There will also be park fees and ranger fees. It may be around 300K IDR. It all depends on weekdays and weekends.
A lot of these tours will come together and put people all in one boat. The price is fairly the same price. It is around $400K IDR in the off season of April so I would price check.
Day 3: Scuba Diving:
If you want to see some beautiful spots you can come to Labuan Bajo for some Scuba Diving. It is recommended as a better spot to Scuba Dive than the Gili Islands. The places are quite beautiful. The tours will put you on a slow boat and have everything provided for you. There are usually three dives in a day. The dive masters will take in account your certification level, experience, and test to see how you will fare after the first dive.
We went to Divers Paradise. It was a great experience. They were very professional, kind, and made the adventure worth every penny. Plus they were the cheapest. It is around $1.5 million IDR for the three dives. There is a fee for Komodo National park. It is about $175K IDR. Some dive shops will talk about a government fee. I am not sure if that is a real thing or not, we just didn’t pay for any government fee with Paradise Divers.
You can contract with the dive shops to dive a few days in a row. Many people we met were diving for a couple of days in a row. They will even do dive trips with three dives the first day, two dives and a trip to see the Komodo dragons. Usually, the second day is a cheaper.
On our trip, we were able to spot 5 Manta Rays in the water before the dive. Then we were able to swim with the Manta Rays under water. What an amazing experience.
The coral is also quite beautiful in Labuan Bajo. You must spend some time either snorkeling, diving, or both.

Extra Day: Scooter Trips and the Cave:
You can spend your last day or an extra day renting a scooter and visiting various spots in the area. There is a cool cave a little bit north for lots of people to check out. You will have to scooter to the village where you can pick up a boat for about $150-300K IDR. Might as well bargain to get the price down. The cave has a government fee of $50K IDR, and you can swim and chill in the cool cave waters.
Scooters will cost you a bit of money. Scooters to rent are around $75K IDR. You can search and search, but everyone charges relatively the same price. If you only want it for half day, you can negotiate. We got it down to $65K IDR for about 6 hours. It will be hard to find a cheaper price. Trust me we searched.
Just a little bit more about Labuan Bajo
Labuan Bajo is fairly cheap. You can find accommodation for good deals in hostels, booking.com, and even airbnb. We stayed at Danke Lodge. We found it on booking.com. It had free transport to anywhere, which was awesome. They were only a text on Whatsapp away.
The food was cheap as well. There is a cool fish market down by the pier. The food prices were around $100K-150K IDR for fish. You can negotiate the of course or at least try. There are some grocery stores to find some beer. A big beer is around $33-40K IDR and a small one is $20-30k IDR. These are the prices you will find in a grocery store, and the higher prices are for the restaurants.
The local restaurants with Indonesian food has cheaper prices. You can look at trip advisor. Here are our suggestions.
Everyone is quite friendly. Besides the things I mentioned, there isn’t much else to do in Labuan Bajo. Don’t spend to long there if you are on a time crunch. Enjoy and go off on your next adventure.
The people and service are very friendly and accommodating for tourists. Just remember to bargain, ask questions, and look up reviews online.
“Life is short and the world is wide.” – Simon Raven