Last Updated on 18 February 2026 by Cycloscope
How to plan a bicycle trip to Flores. A travel guide to plan a perfect road trip
This article aims to offer basic tips and advice for a successful bicycle trip on Flores Island.
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Although these are mainly focused on how to travel Flores by bike, they can be pretty useful for anybody willing to travel Flores off the beaten path, by any means of transport.
Flores is certainly not an easy destination for bicycle touring beginners. If you want to try it yourself and start from the top, check out our beginner’s guide to bike touring.
If, instead, you prefer motorized means of transport for your Flores road trip, you can rent a motorbike or a car in Labuan Bajo and Maumere or use public transport (check below) and then rent motorbikes in the various towns.
Check Also
Cycling Indonesia – a full guide and 9 itineraries
To plan your road trip and learn how to get to Flores, check out our
Check also our in-depth articles about:
Maumere and Koka Beach
Moni and Kelimutu Crater Lakes
The ancestral villages of Bena, Gurusina, and Wolondopu
About Flores Island
Flores is an island in the East Nusa Tenggara archipelago in Indonesia, mainly famous for Komodo National Park, the only place in the world where you can see Komodo Dragons, and a diving Mecca.
Flores Island is one of the poorest islands in Indonesia, but also one of the richest in terms of cultural and geographic diversity.Â
17 volcanoes, 6 different languages, cultures, and costumes still tied to the old traditions, and last but not least, stunning beaches.
Flores is becoming increasingly popular among adventurous tourists, mostly fed up with the crowds of Bali and the Gili Islands.
Even though most of them stick to the western part, using Labuan Bajo as a base to explore Komodo National Park, do snorkeling or diving, and see the famous dragons, there’s much more to see in Flores, and bicycle touring is the perfect way to see it.
As we may wonder, we will immediately answer the question you’re most likely to ask: Is beer available in Flores? Yes, it is. Flores is a Christian-majority island, and as opposed to the Muslim-majority islands of Indonesia, beer is everywhere.
Check also our in-depth articles about:
Maumere and Koka Beach
Moni and Kelimutu Crater Lakes
The ancestral villages of Bena, Gurusina, and Wolondopu
Bicycle Touring Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
Cycling Flores is incredible, though: over around 530km from Maumere to Labuan Bajo, you’ll go up and down four times from sea level to more than 1,000 msl, climbing incredibly steep slopes while being baked by the heat.
If that doesn’t scare you, bicycle touring in Flores will reward you with lush, mountainous terrain, stunning volcanoes, and ancestral cultures. It is one of the most beautiful islands we’ve ever seen.
It’s difficult to highlight the highlights of this road trip, since the whole route is gorgeous: Ruteng with its scenic spiderweb rice paddies, the traditional village of Bena near Bajawa, where Christianity meets ancestral beliefs, and the Kelimutu crater lakes, so close to each other yet so different in color.
And then the white sands of Koka beach and the black ones of Ende, the perfect shape of the nervous volcano Inierie (2,245msl), the pristine jungle all around.
Free Camping in Flores
Flores is certainly not the most free-camping-friendly destination. Its steep mountain crests and thick jungle make it very hard to find a place to pitch a tent.
Camping on the beaches could be an option, but you’ll be very exposed, and the heat will make it hard to sleep.
For those bicycle-touring camping addicts, Flores feels pretty safe anyway; the worst that could happen is some curious locals trying to figure out what the hell you’re doing.
As far as wild animals, beware of macaques and snakes. We only pitched the tent once, and it was inside a small bamboo restaurant.
Accommodations – Where to Sleep in Flores
A basic guesthouse will cost you 10-15 USD; most, if not all, are equipped with squat toilets, electric fans, and bucket showers. In the hilltop areas, some guesthouses have hot water; look for them as you’ll need them up there.
With 20/25 USD, you can get nicer beach resorts with AC, go east of Maumere, and you’ll find some.
Be aware that there are no accommodation options between towns, so plan your bicycle touring day accordingly to reach a town at the end of the day. If you can’t make it, try to ask locals or schools.
As a general rule, always ask to see the room before checking in. Since the prices are fairly similar, avoid the dirty ones. WiFi is not very common in basic guesthouses.
Food in Flores
Flores is a wonderful island, but its food is mostly hideous. Many warung (eateries) cook their food in the morning and then leave it under the sun on unrefrigerated shelves. Sometimes, it can also be older than one day.
Always smell the food before buying it, and prefer soups over cold dishes, as they are less likely to be rotten. In most tourist towns, guest houses usually serve their own freshly cooked food, some are even halfway good.
Always pack some supplies, since there are very few options (if any) between towns. Fresh fruit is the best option for the bike traveler.
Water Supplies
Although Flores is full of clear streams coming down from the mountains, drinking water is not easy to find.
We always bought our water in shops, sometimes packing up to 5 liters each. The hot weather and steep climb demand good, constant hydration when cycling in Flores.
There are many water sources, good to cool yourself down, get rid of some sweat, and even drink if you carry a water filter.
Supermarkets
Outside of Maumere and Labuan Bajo, supermarkets are nonexistent in Flores. In small shops, you can buy biscuits, instant noodles, water, beer, rice, and a few other things.
Fruit sellers (mostly bananas) can pop up in the most unexpected locations, but are not as common as one may think. Some roadside stalls may sell boiled eggs and tempe.
Flores Island Roads
Roads in Flores are surprisingly good, mostly paved and pothole-free. Gradients are extreme, but that’s because of the geography of the island, and they make bicycle touring in Flores the gorgeous challenge that it is.
The main problem when traveling to Flores by bike (or any other means of transport) is the constant risk of landslides. Landslides are incredibly common in Flores, especially during the rainy season.
We met three fresh ones, and we had to wait more than an hour each time for the road to be cleared, and we encountered countless landslides that were one or more days old but still not completely removed. I guess this makes cycling in Flores a bit dangerous.
There’s not much traffic in Flores, a relief after the hell of Java. Bus drivers, as usual, are the biggest danger on the road. The remaining traffic is mainly slow, broken scooters.
Transportations
Flores Island is mainly served by privately owned minibuses, which are fairly common and can be found almost everywhere along the main roads.
Should you happen to be sick or tired of cycling the steep mountains of Flores, you can easily wave one of those, and they will get you and your rig on for a very cheap price (2/3USD is fair for a hundred kilometer, be prepared to be asked a bit more, but please don’t get scammed, bargain to a reasonable price). Hitchhiking on trucks is another option.
Motorbike rentals are available in every town; prices go from 4 to 10 USD per day.
Safety
Although Elena was once chased by a harassing motorbiker when I was out of sight, I would say Flores Island looked reasonably safe to us. Of course, exercise the common precautions, such as not showing off your wealth and not getting drunk or high.
Maumere at night can look a bit creepy, and so can certain areas of Bajawa or Ruteng; be careful when going out after dark. Labuan Bajo, instead, is pretty safe, but don’t forget that drunk tourists are always appetizing prey.
Language Communication and Internet Connectivity
Basic English is spoken in most guesthouses, and it is not uncommon to also meet locals who can blabber a few words.
The number of English speakers here is way higher than in Japan or Kazakhstan, for example. Don’t expect to communicate with everyone in English; always use simple sentences and speak slowly.
Although there are more than 6 official languages and countless dialects spoken in Flores, Indonesian is still the national language, and 99% of locals can speak it. Learning a few words of Indonesian is useful and fun. Indonesian is one of the easiest languages in the world.
As previously said, WiFi is not so common on Flores Island, so we advise getting a local SIM card. You can buy it, cheaply and easily, in any town.
Ready to cycle the Flores Islands? Check our
Check also our in-depth articles about:
Maumere and Koka Beach
Moni and Kelimutu Crater Lakes
The ancestral villages of Bena, Gurusina, and Wolondopu