Marivela

Sumba · Indonesia

Sumba: Coral and Ritual

Twelve days on an island that has almost no visitors

The shape of it

The west coast beaches and the clan villages inland, visited with a Sumbanese guide and on the island's own terms.

Sumba is an hour east of Bali and a world away: large, dry, poor and extraordinary, with a coastline among the most beautiful we have stood on and a ritual year that is real rather than performed.

Clara has worked here since 2019 with a guide from Kodi, and is careful about which villages we visit and how often. Some things are not for photographing, and you will be told which before you arrive rather than after.

Two bases in twelve days, both on the west coast, with the inland days run as long excursions. Distances here are measured in hours, not kilometres, and this itinerary is built accordingly.

Length
12 days, 11 nights
From
€6,800 per person
Best months
May to October
Season
Spring, Summer, Autumn
Format
Private departure
Party
Two to six travellers
Pace
Two bases, two things a day at most, long drives on rough road
Travel styles
Coast and islands, Culture and craft

Per person sharing, for two travellers in the dry season. The beach house is charged whole, so four travellers cost less each. Dates and prices shown are indicative demo content. Confirm everything with your own operations before publishing.

Start an enquiry

Day by day

The itinerary

Written as it would actually run. Select a day to see where you are, what you are doing and where you sleep.

A high-peaked thatch clan house on timber posts behind a megalithic stone tomb on coral-sand paving

Day 1

Bali, one night

Almost every international flight arrives in Bali at an unhelpful hour. One night near the airport, and on east in the morning.

  • Transfer and check in
  • An early night
Night
Bali, near the airport

What is included

  • Eleven nights including two in Bali on either side
  • All internal flights and road transfers with a private driver
  • A Sumbanese guide for every village visit
  • The reef morning and the weaving day
  • Staff, cook and driver at the beach house

What is not

  • International flights
  • Indonesian visa on arrival
  • Travel insurance
  • Cloth, which you will want to buy
Steam columns rising at the El Tatio geyser field before sunrise

Who plans this journey

Clara Benitez

South America and Indonesia · planning since 2018

Clara read geology at Concepcion and spent four years on fieldwork in the Andes before she ever booked a hotel for anyone. The acclimatisation schedule on our altiplano journeys is hers and she does not bend it.

She has worked in Sumba since 2019 with a guide from Kodi, and is careful about which villages we visit and how often.

Known for: Checking the moon phase before she proposes your Atacama dates, without being asked.