Guide to Sulawesi, the true local Indonesian travel experience

When traveling, I like to look for more off-the-beaten path, local experiences, and after 2 months in the well-traveled islands of Java, Bali, and Lombok of Indonesia, I was very ready to make my own adventure and experience authentic local life somewhere. I bought a plane ticket to Sulawesi, where I’d meet a boy I had met in Lombok again, and together we planned to take our time and adventure through the island slowly, not having much of a plan and just seeing what we’d find. It turned out to be a perfect 2 months exploring this not well-traveled island that has so much culture and natural beauty to offer. In the end, it felt like our slow travel of 2 months turned out to not even be close to enough! If you like adventure, local culture, and finding off the beaten path experiences, Sulawesi is the perfect island for you.

Routes through Sulawesi

First things first, Sulawesi is a big island. There are a few different ways to do Sulawesi depending on how much time you have and how much of an adventure you want. We flew into Makassar (the capital of the south) and traveled from south to north by land, and then flew out of Manado (the capital of the north). It requires at least 1 month to complete this route, though I would even recommend 6 weeks or more. We took 7 weeks and wish we had a couple more. If you have less than one month, I would recommend just choosing either the south or the north, or flying between north and south instead of traveling it by land.

North vs. South Sulawesi

Both the north and the south have an abundance of beautiful nature in the form of mountains and beaches, and both have rich local culture to experience. You can dive and hike in both, though the north is known to have more dive spots. The main difference between the north and the south, is that the south is less traveled and is less on the typical tourist path. We personally loved this and preferred the south to the north because of this reason. It felt like once we started making our way up north, we were on the typical tourist path as everyone else in Sulawesi. And while I call it “touristy”, it’s by no means touristy in comparison to places like Bali or even Lombok. I would choose the south if you want a more off the beaten path experience, or the north if you want to have a bit of an easier travel experience and be around other travelers more. Both are beautiful and full of their own rich experiences, so if you can, it’s best to experience both!

South Sulawesi

We initially planned to fly into Makassar in the south and then take about a month making our way to the north by land. But after spending two weeks and not even making it north of Makassar, we quickly realized one month was not close to enough. In fact, we were going to run out of time before our visa expired in 2 months if we didn’t move a bit faster!

We arrived in South Sulawesi without much of a plan, just a few pins on Google Maps of places a local friend had recommended to me. We set out without knowing what to expect and found our adventure along the way. I look back at this time in South Sulawesi as a time marked with freedom and excitement of discovering a place that was so undiscovered. With few other travelers and a path not already marked, it was a time full of local experiences and discovering unexpected paradises. It was in a true adventurous spirit that we embarked on this path!

Central Sulawesi

Central Sulawesi is home to absolutely stunning islands that feel like paradise. But, it’s also a large region where a majority of your time will be spent on long transport days just crossing the region. The most famous places to visit in Central Sulawesi are the Togean and Banggai Islands. The Togeans are known for being a tropical paradise and a great place for diving, while the Banggais are known to be an island hopping adventure with far fewer travelers. We visited the Togeans and while we loved our time here in paradise, it was definitely more visited and on the typical tourist path, and we wished we had had more time to also visit the off-the-beaten path Banggai Islands.

Aside from these islands, the rest of the time spent in Central Sulawesi is mainly to cross the region. If you have limitless time and your own means of transportation, there is so much to explore in this region. From the bus, we crossed so much beautiful countryside, mountains, and small villages that looked lovely to explore. But if you’re limited by time and public transit, there’s unfortunately only one main route through this region that most travelers follow. If you have the luxury of crossing south to north by land, definitely take your time to enjoy these gems of Central Sulawesi.

North Sulawesi

North Sulawesi is a region full of beautiful nature, from mountains and countryside, to beautiful islands teeming with marine life. More travelers frequent North Sulawesi compared to South, so there’s more developed tourism infrastructure which makes traveling easier, but also makes for being around more travelers. We enjoyed our time in the north a lot and found some very unique, off-the-beaten path experiences, but also reminisced our time in the south when we saw no other tourists.