Buton Island Travel Guide For Sulawesi, Indonesia

I think Buton is probably one of the most interesting places to visit in Indonesia, along with its neighboring island Muna.

We just spent 10 days in Buton and Muna, and still didn’t see everything. This island in Sulawesi has great waterfalls, caves, and exotic beaches, and none of the crowds of foreign tourists you might see in Bali or other parts of Indonesia.

That’s not all, though. Buton is also home to a group of blue-eyed people from the Kaimbulawa tribe, famous for their amazing eyes. 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!

Table of Contents  show 

Cliff view at Napang Sangia

How To Get To Buton

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

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How To Get Around

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

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Best Things To Do In Buton

• Siompu Island Trip

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.

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The steep cliffs of Siompu island

• South Buton Boat Trip

The other must do boat trip in Buton takes you to some secluded beaches in the southern part of the island.

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.