Budget in Sulawesi
Part of the Sulawesi travel guide — see every topic in All Sulawesi Guides.
Sulawesi is inexpensive for accommodation, food and local transport, and expensive for the two things people come for: diving in the north, and moving between the island's regions. A backpacker in Toraja or Makassar manages on 300,000–450,000 rupiah a day. A diving trip in the north, with a resort package and three dives a day, runs 2–6 million rupiah a day. The gap between those two figures is the whole budget question for a Sulawesi trip.
On land
Guesthouses in Rantepao and Makassar 150,000–500,000 rupiah; mid-range hotels 500,000–1,200,000. Food: a warung plate of coto or konro is 25,000–60,000, a good seafood dinner in Makassar 100,000–250,000 for two, and Toraja's guesthouse meals 40,000–90,000. Village entrance contributions in Toraja are 20,000–50,000 each. A guide in Toraja, which is genuinely worth having, is 300,000–600,000 a day. A car with driver is 700,000–1,000,000.
Diving
This dominates a northern trip. Lembeh and Bunaken resorts are generally sold as packages of accommodation, meals and diving: budget operations run 1.5–3 million rupiah per person per day and the well-known resorts 4–8 million and upwards. Independent day diving from Manado or Bitung is 1–1.8 million for two tanks. The Bunaken park fee is separate. Homestays on Bunaken island itself, with independent dive shops, are the cheap route and cost a fraction of the resort packages.
Transport
Flights from Jakarta to Makassar or Manado are 700,000–2,000,000 rupiah. The Makassar–Manado internal leg is 700,000–1,800,000 and saves several days. Makassar to Rantepao is 200,000–400,000 by overnight bus or 1.5–2.5 million for a private car. Manado to Bitung for Lembeh is 300,000–600,000 by car. Ferries to the Togeans are cheap and slow. The internal flight between the two ends of the island is almost always worth its cost in days saved.
Practicalities
Carry cash outside Makassar and Manado; ATMs exist in Rantepao and the larger towns but are unreliable, and the islands have none. Diving packages are usually quoted and paid in dollars or euros at the resort end and in rupiah at the independent end. Share a car and a guide in Toraja, which halves the two largest daily costs. And note that Toraja funeral attendance itself costs only a gift and a guide, which makes the most remarkable thing on the island one of the cheapest.
Budget at a glance
| Land budget day | IDR 300,000–450,000 |
|---|---|
| Dive resort day | IDR 1.5m–8m depending entirely on the resort |
| Guesthouse | IDR 150,000–500,000 |
| Toraja guide | IDR 300,000–600,000 a day — worth it |
| Makassar–Manado flight | IDR 700,000–1.8m — saves several days |
| Cheapest route north | Bunaken island homestays with independent dive shops |