I think Buton is probably one of the most interesting places to visit in Indonesia, together with its neighboring island Muna.
We just spent almost two weeks in Buton and Muna, and still didn’t see everything. This island in Sulawesi has great waterfalls and exotic beaches, and with a bit of trekking you can see creepy caves full of bats and pythons.
That’s not all, though. Buton is also famously home to a group of blue-eyed people from the Kaimbulawa tribe, and I met and photographed two of them during our trip.
This travel guide will explain how to get to Buton, where to stay, and what to see and do on the island!
Cliff view at Napang Sangia
Buton island is located off the coast of southeast Sulawesi.
The best way to get there is by flying to the main city of Baubau (BUW), or you can take a ferry from one of the neighboring places, such as Muna, Kendari, or Wakatobi.
If you’re flying from Bali or Jakarta, you’ll need to transit in Makassar (UPG) on the way to Buton. You can shop for flights at Skyscanner.
The flight from Makassar to Baubau takes a little over 1 hour and the prices are reasonable, although there aren’t a lot of airline options yet.
The other main way to get to Buton is the fast ferry from Kendari to Baubau, which departs twice daily and takes 6 hours.
Buton has some really exotic scenery
Buton is a big island, but a lot of the best sights and activities are concentrated in the southern part of the island, so that helps with transportation.
As with other places in Indonesia, you can get around in Buton by renting a car or motorbike and driving yourself, or hiring a driver with a car. You’ll also need a boat to see some of the smaller islands and secluded beaches on the southern coast of Buton.
I’ll share some contacts for good tour guides later in the article. They can help arrange drivers, boats, and other things for you.
If you choose to drive yourself, the roads are in pretty good condition and there isn’t much traffic outside of town, so it’s not a hard place to drive by Indonesian standards.
For hotel transfers, there are plenty of taxis available at the airport when you arrive in Baubau. You can also use the Grab app for short trips in the city, although Maxim has more drivers here.
Napang Sangia beach
This boat trip was one of the first things I did in Buton.
My guide and I hired a boat in Batuaga, about 30 minutes south of town, and then we set off to see two little islands near Buton: Liwutonkidi and Siompu.
The first stop was Liwutonkidi, which is a deserted island with a white sand beach that wraps around most of the island.
The water here was super calm and nice for swimming, and my guide climbed a tree to get us some fresh coconuts to drink.
Approaching the first island
Drone pic of Liwutonkidi
My guide getting coconuts
The next stop was Siompu island. We went to a beach called Napang Sangia, at the foot of the limestone cliffs.
Surprisingly, there’s a short path from the beach that leads up to the top of the cliff. You can reach the top in 15 minutes, and it’s plenty safe as long as you’re careful.
There’s one wooden ladder you’ll need to climb, but it’s pretty tame. The path to the top is actually pretty ingenious.
The scenery at the top of the cliffs is so dramatic it reminded me of Nusa Penida in Bali, or Krabi in Thailand.
The main difference is that in Buton, you have the place all to yourself! We didn’t see any other tourists, foreign or local, the whole time we were there.
If you walk for 5 or 10 minutes to the opposite side of the cliff, you can get another view that’s a bit different, but just as impressive.
The view from the opposite side of the cliff at Napang Sangia
When we were done at Napang Sangia, there was another spot I wanted to check out called Buata beach. I had seen it on Google satellite view, and it looked nice, so we decided to check it out.
Unfortunately, the beach had a lot of trash, but the water was pristine and perfect for swimming. It was bright turquoise water.
There were also several smaller beaches nearby with exotic boulders that reminded me of Uluwatu in Bali. They should be really nice when the tide is lower, but when I was there they were submerged.
Once again, there’s a path from Buata beach to the top of the cliffs if you don’t mind a bit of hiking, although the view didn’t look quite as stunning as the cliff at Napang Sangia.
Leaving Napang Sangia to go look for more beaches
Drone pic of Buata beach
Unusual rocks along the coast
After we spent hours relaxing, swimming, and flying my drone at the beaches, we took our boat to the main harbor on Siompu island, where we had scheduled a meeting to photograph one of the blue-eyed people from the Kaimbulawa tribe.
He’s an old guy, and he didn’t seem so friendly at first, but I can understand that, because it’s probably not fun to have total strangers showing up to take your picture.
After I gave him a big tip for his time, he warmed up and the mood changed. He even wanted to take a selfie with me!
Overall, it was a productive trip to Siompu. We had lots of fun and I took lots of pictures.
The steep cliffs of Siompu island
The other must do boat trip in Buton takes you to some secluded beaches in the southern part of the island.
This one starts at the little harbor in Jaya Bakti, about 1 hour drive from Baubau, and you get to see four places in mainland Buton that can only be reached by boat.
The first place we went is the Sampolawa river, which meets the ocean near where we hired the boat. We only traveled up the river for about 15 minutes, and then came back the way we came, but it was nice to see.
The river is lined with palm trees, and the water is so colorful it’s almost teal. It’s a beautiful spot, but I’d be too scared of crocodiles to try swimming there.
Sampolawa River
For our next stop, we traveled around the corner of the peninsula to a hidden spot called Lasoka beach, which is surrounded by huge cliffs.
There’s a little metal shack perched on a rock, where apparently an elderly couple was living, and the beach was highlighted by a super long palm tree stretching out over the shore.
My boat guy climbed one of the very tall palm trees and got coconuts for us to drink, and then we tried snorkeling at the reef.
The fish and coral here looked nice, but it was pretty far from the shore and the water was too deep to be convenient for snorkeling. It might be easier when the tide is down.
Lasoka Beach
Looking for a good palm tree to climb
From Lasoka, we continued a short distance to the Karamba resto, a fish trap and floating restaurant where the locals like to hang out.
It was crowded and noisy when I was there, but on a weekday it would probably be better. The karamba is floating on calm waters near the cliffs, and I have to say it’s a cool place for a restaurant.
I flew the drone a little bit and then decided to move on.
Kids jumping into the water at the Karamba resto
Drone pic of the floating restaurant
Our last stop of the day was at Lakadao beach, which is another secluded beach surrounded by steep cliffs, on the far southeast tip of Buton island.
It’s a white sand beach that has a tiny shack perched on a rock, except this one is nicer than at Lasoka. You can use the rock for jumping into the ocean, which some local kids were doing.
Apparently it’s also possible to trek to Lakadao beach by land, but I can’t say what the path would be like, because the cliffs are absolutely massive.
Going by boat was a lot easier, and the waves weren’t too bad when I went, although your experience may vary. I did get soaked on the return journey, and I got so much salt water in my eyes I had to rinse them out later. But the trip never felt dangerous, so I’d rate it a success. ?
Along the way, we passed a lighthouse on the cape that would’ve been neat to stop and see as well, if I had more time. Overall, it was a good trip and we got to see a bunch of places.
Lakadao Beach
Unique little shack on the rock
View inside the shack
This is a super short and easy boat trip you can do at Pondok Daeng or Lakeba Beach, just outside of Baubau town.
It’s a 15 minute drive from Baubau, followed by a 2 minute ride in a little fishing boat to a flat rock, where you can get off the boat and take pictures or swim.
There’s no shade at all on the rock, so you might get scorched if you sit there too long, but the water here is gorgeous and it’s so nice for swimming.
Morning is the best time to go for calm waves, although the best lighting for photos is a bit later. I’d say around 10 AM is perfect.
If I went back to Buton, this is the very first place I’d go, because the water is so nice and it’s easy to reach from town. It’s wonderful!
The beach where we hired the boat
Batu Buti rock
This trek in the jungle lets you see two big waterfalls and a cave full of bats and pythons.
It starts about a 30 minute drive from Baubau, and the hike takes almost 2.5 hours in each direction if your pace is moderate. I’d highly recommend doing it if you’re able, because it’s such a cool experience.
You can reach the first waterfall (Kantongara) after about 1 hour of hiking, followed by the second waterfall (Samparona) after 1 more hour. It’s then 30 more minutes of steep hiking to reach the bat cave.
Kantongara Waterfall — the first waterfall on the trek
Samparona Waterfall
I’d say the difficulty of this hike is moderate. There are lots of ups and downs, and awkward, rocky paths. The final ascent to the bat cave is very steep and could be dangerous if you’re not careful.
The cave has swarms of bats flying in all directions. There are thousands of them. It’s crazy, like something from a movie! The pythons come to the cave to feed on bats, and we counted three of them in just a short distance.
The heat and humidity on this hike is almost overpowering at times, so it’s a great idea to go for a swim at the main waterfall. It has a nice turquoise pool that felt great for cooling off after seeing the bat cave.
Entrance to the bat cave
Our jungle guide helped catch a python
The Wameo traditional market in Baubau is one of the best markets I’ve seen in Indonesia.
It’s not quite as crazy as the one in Tomohon, in North Sulawesi, but you can see a little bit of everything in it. The fish market has all kinds of creatures, including some things I had never seen before.
The fruit market didn’t have as much variety as we’ve seen at some other markets in Sulawesi, but there’s still enough to be interesting.
All the vendors were friendly and happy to let us take photos, and they even let me hold one of the 20 kilogram tuna fish for a picture. Very impressive!
Fish seller at the market
All kinds of fish for sale
Banana-mobile loaded to the top
This is a small beach in south Buton, about 1.5 hours drive from Baubau.
The beach has shallow, beautiful water, and exotic jungle-covered rocks. It looks like a place you’d find in Raja Ampat.
We spent hours swimming there, and I was even able to take our 1 year old baby for a swim with me too. It was great!
Bahari Beach
This is a historical palace that belonged to the Sultan of Buton XXXVII. It’s a four-story building that was made entirely of wood, and they apparently didn’t even use metal nails.
It’s free to photograph from outside, but you might have to pay a fee to go inside. We chatted with one of the owners a bit, but didn’t have time to go inside.
Malige palace is located in the center of Baubau town, near the harbor, so it’s super easy to visit.
Malige Palace
This is a 16th century fort built by the Sultan of Buton III, and it’s free to wander. It sits on a hill and has great views of Baubau town.
I’ve seen some claims that this fortress was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest fortress in the world, but I can’t confirm that. It’s definitely big, though.
We only visited a couple of the main ramparts, but there are other walls and gates spread out across the hill if you want to do some exploring.
Buton Sultunate Fortress
The fortress covers a big area
There are lots of great waterfalls and other things to see in Buton.
We planned to go to some of these ourselves, but unfortunately we had to shorten our trip because it was just too dry for seeing waterfalls when we went in late April.
Here are some extra places I hope to visit in Buton next time I’m there:
Secluded shack near Buata Beach
People usually visit Buton in conjunction with its neighboring island, Muna, which is slightly smaller, but still a pretty good sized island with some great things to see and do.
Muna has spectacular caves, and you can swim in blue water sinkholes like the cenotes of Mexico, except without the crowds. There’s even a lake where you can swim with thousands of stingless jellyfish!
Buton and Muna are well connected by a short 30 minute ferry ride that can bring cars and motorbikes, so it’s easy to go back and forth between the two islands.
Don’t miss Muna! I’m working on a separate article for it that should be ready soon.
Here’s an interactive map of the main sights on Buton and Muna islands. You can use this to plan your trip.
The blue icons on the map are things you can see by driving, and the purple icons are things to see by boat.
Here’s a sample 9-day itinerary you can use for your trip to Buton and Muna.
This matches our own itinerary pretty closely, with a few tweaks and improvements based on our experience:
Butonese girl with beautiful eyes
Here are some useful contacts for your trip to Buton and Muna. I can recommend all of these people from my own personal experience:
PHPTRAVELS v8