Location: Ruteng
Top Things to do in Ruteng
The 10 Best Things to Do in Ruteng, Indonesia
Ruteng is a small town towards the western end of Flores Island, Indonesia. It is the capital of Manggarai Regency, serviced by the Frans Sales Lega Airport or Ruteng Airport. The population is predominantly Roman Catholic, but still preserve the ancient Manggarai custom of caci (whip fighting), which is usually practiced at weddings, and serves as a tourist attraction.
Restaurants in Ruteng
1. Wae Rebo Village
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 232 reviews
Reviewed By Tetiariawan - Jakarta, Indonesia
Waerebo Village - Manggarai Regency
Beautiful and clean village on the mountain
This is one of the villages that must be visited if you are to Flores
To reach this village, there are some preparation to be done before traveling such as:
1. Trekking shoes or similar.
2. raincoat.
3. drinking water.
4. cash.
5. sweaters, change of clothes and towels
6. Personal medicines
7. Biscuits to be driven during the trip.
Travel from Labuan Bajo to Wae Rebo
We have to drive a car through the most mountainous mountain road for approximately 7 hours. For a relaxing trip, we recommend departing from Labuan Bajo max 7 am.
During the journey we will see the beauty of the layered mountain. Pass through Denge town the road wiil be quite up and oh yes, its a zig zag road.
For those who like to get drunk, prepare antimo or plastic for preparation if you get thrown up.
Tips on avoiding motion sickness:
1. Breakfast is nessesary, because on the way there is no restaurant or cafe.
2. Avoid drinking tea, coffee, milk and eating butter or diaries
3. Try to eat one or two pieces of biscuits every hour and drink only enough water (not drinking too much water)
4. Open the window and let the fresh air in when you feel sick
After passing the beautiful scenery and arriving at the Wae Rebo information center, can have lunch (@ 35k rupiah) and to the rest room, while preparing for a climbing trip.
Prepare fees for entrance to Wae Rebo village:
1. Stay @ 325k rupiah per person including meals
2. Visits only @ 200k rupiah per person.
3. Porter fee if necessary @ 200k rupiah
4. Ojek costs @ 25k rupiah per once jalandari information center to the post 1
Starting from post 1, we will climb the mountain along the 5km and reached by samtai road within 3 hours through the dirt road and the rock. During the journey we will pass through the forest with very beautiful scenery. Do not run in a hurry if we do not exercise regularly. Do not be forced, rest if necessary. Drink enough. Set your breath during the trip.
Arriving at Wae Rebo you will be pleased with scenery. The pain (if you feel so) are worthed. It is not enought word to say its beauty. we were greeted by the residents and can see the cheerful kids play in the village.
For those who stay later we will sleep together inside the traditional house. The showers and toilets are clean enough and adequate.
We will be greeted with a reception ceremony by the people there.
After nightfall you may see the sky so bright and stars oh tere were millions of stars diamond the sky.
Dinner : dinner with local menu which is vegetable sauce, tofu tempe and chicken curry and closed with local coffee or tea. They are the best .
2. Lingko Spider Web Rice Fields - Walking Tours
Overall Ratings
4 based on 91 reviews
In Manggarai you will certainly notice the impressive lingko fields. The most amazing view over a number of these fields is offered at Cara Village situated on a small hill 17km west of Ruteng in Cancar. With their round, spider-web structure, these pieces of land are unique eye-catchers in Manggarai.
Reviewed By morgan k - Switzerland
Good view available without the service of a guide ! Just take a motorcycle and drive to Cancar. People there are gonna tell you where the spiderweb is located.
Be careful the entrance fees are variable depending on the entrance you take. Do not pay more than 10K per person! As we arrived at the top we asked some others tourists and some of them had paid between 50K and 100K for the entrance ! So please be strict on 10K and don't let the locals fixing price like that!
3. Filan Travel
Overall Ratings
5 based on 32 reviews
My name is filan kut and i come from Flores,East Nusa Tenggara . I’m independent tour guide in flores without corporate attachement to the big travel agent but i can organize your trip in flores island and also komodo national park area (solo,couple,or group). I had studied anthropology at one of the universities in bali because i love the culture and tradition. Thats why sometimes the journey with my client i will invite them to join with local communities that are outside of tourist destination just to see the real life of them. Other things is i live in Ruteng,Flores NTT and i can also arrange a daily trip in Ruteng and surrounding areas, bike trip,trekking,or join with local.
Reviewed By TreynaZ - Singapore, Singapore
Since the day I contacted Filan a couple of months before my trip till the day we said goodbye in Ruteng, he has been so helpful, earnest, kind and hospitable.
We travelled together on his bike from Labuan Bajo to Ruteng where I stayed at his place for a night before heading off to Wae Rebo early next morning. Filan has a big family and the loveliest siblings and little cousins whom I'll always remember.
As a solo female traveler, I was treated with most respect yet with the warmest hospitality that I will never forget. Filan was also a very generous and a wonderful host and made sure i always have enough to eat and treated me to some really good sopi to drink! ;)
I enjoyed his and his family's company so much that i stayed another night with them.
Besides being a wonderful host, he was always ready to share traveling tips and advices, and point out interesting stuff along the way and always offered to stop the bike so I could take photos. He was always checking in to ensure I'm ok and has wide knowledge about the place and culture.
Thank you for everything Filan, and for treating me as a friend and leaving a very warm spot in my heart.
4. Irwan Flores Tour
Overall Ratings
5 based on 7 reviews
My name is Yulianus Irwan. I'm an official tour guide in Indonesia based in Ruteng. I organize tours on Komodo and Flores. I also take people to villages for authentic experiences. I graduated from Tourism high school and English study program from a university in Ruteng. I have been doing this since 2015.
Reviewed By thompsl - Manchester, United Kingdom
We wanted to visit the mysterious and historical village of Wae Rebo. We travel a lot and we enjoy adventures rather than the typical taxi ride/ tour bus to particular places- and this was one of them. Thus was a place where we really wanted to experience ourselves, not in a group. As I usually do, I began to google ways of reaching the village to gain an understanding of options. I came across the general Trip Advisor reviews for Wae Rebo, and a local guide called Irwan was mentioned numerous times with consistently excellent ratings. We contacted Irwan in hope and were lucky enough that he was available to take us for our requested dates. We chose to do a two night and three day trip, although it is possible to do only one night.
From first contact Irwan was friendly and professional. His English is fantastic as he studied the language in university and so communication before and during the trip was great. Irwan called me and explained our options of transport to and from the village. We decided to get a AC four hour bus to Ruteng from Labuan bajo, (which he kindly booked and arranged hotel pick up). The bus picked us up 9am and we arrived just in time for lunch at an inexpensive and very tasty local restaurant recommended by Irwan. This food was delicious!
During lunch, we learnt more about the Komodo dragons as Irwan has been a guide in the national park. We also found out information about our itinerary and Irwan was kind enough to give us an information pack on Wae Rebo village and it's history. We then set off on our 2-3 hour motorbike ride to Wae Rebo Lodge. I would highly recommend this is you can ride scooter/ motorbike. If not I am sure Irwan could arrange for you to sit on the back of bikes.
The lodge itself I would highly recommend as it is at the base of where the trek to the village starts and it is in a beautiful setting with panoramic views of the rice paddies and the ocean. We had dinner and breakfast there included in the price to stay and spent some time getting to know Irwan and his culture. The rooms were basic but very clean and perfect to get a good nights sleep before waking up early to start the trek to Wae Rebo Village.
We have been travelling for almost a year now and we have never booked a guide during our time away. We just felt it was the right thing to do in booking Irwan and we are so so happy that we did. A few tourists did go up without, but we were grateful that we could walk around the village freely, meet the families and even be invited into their homes to have tea and home grown coffee with the family- the others didn’t get this opportunity. Irwan translated any questions and we really feel that we gained so much and a much more immersive experience in having him with us.
Unfortunately we could not stay longer in Flores but we plan to come back and do a two week motorbike trip around the country. Irwan has invited us to visit his village and a local school when we come back which we look forward to!
I would highly recommend visiting the village and even more so in contacting Irwan. If you can ride a motorbike or scooter, the roads from Ruteng were beautiful, a few pot holes but not that bad! Being on a bike makes the whole thing better and it was stress free as we just followed Irwan! Otherwise, he can organise a car to the lodge!
Thank you so much Irwan! See you soon! Laura and Natalie
5. Ruteng Pu'u Village
Overall Ratings
3 based on 51 reviews
Reviewed By TriggerKnows
Small village which includes 3 traditional buildings. Pay 20k per person but no attempt at information or history given. In all, was like pulling up outside someone's house, giving them a few quid, then driving off again. People were friendly enough (smiling, saying hello) but it's not worth going out of your way for unless you just fancy a wander from town or have never seen anything or the sort before.
6. Golo Lantar
Overall Ratings
5 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By GreenSigner - Bali, Indonesia
Pemandangan alam desa yang luar biasa indah dan tempat yang sejuk, dan juga tempat untuk wisata religi.
Semoga para pengunjung dapat tetap menjaga kebersihan di tempat ini
7. Flores Bird Watching Tour
Overall Ratings
3 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Gaelyn - Raleigh, North Carolina
We booked a two day birding trip from Labuan Bajo to the Ruteng area. Our guide and driver were both really nice guys, and we had a lot of fun talking to them as we traveled. I got the impression from our conversation that the guide assigned to me doesn't go out with customers all that often, although he was very interested in bird photography and has been involved in group competitions to photograph the most bird species in a single day. As the trip progressed, and I realized our guide was not as knowledgeable as most guides I've hired in the past, I began to wonder if we were assigned this guide because our trip was shorter than the standard trips that this company offers, so we were low priority. If that was the case, though, they should have discounted the price based on the guide's level of knowledge.
On the tour, our guide's focus seemed to be on finding the more rare and endemic birds, and trying to photograph them. I let him know I was more of a lister, but I think the photography focus probably fit better with his expertise. We saw a surprising number of birds that our guide could not identify. For some others, he could not tell us the name in English, but only in Indonesian. He also seemed to only know a few calls, which is unusual compared to most bird guides I have hired in the past. Fortunately, I had a camera and took as many photos as I could, because I had to do a lot of the identification later by photo. Ironically, I got some help with this from a bird guide I later hired in Bali. That guide had taken clients to Flores a few times and knew most of the species when I showed him the photos.
I only managed to identify 28 species in two days of birding and ended up with only 21 new species for my lifelist. By contrast, we went birding in Bali a couple of days later on a one day trip and saw 35 species of which 22 were new. Still, I might have been satisfied if the price had been lower, but the cost was a bit higher than I would normally pay for a much more experienced guide. I know that Flores Birdwatching does longer tours that cover much of the island, and I suspect that they have some guides who know their birds a lot better than our guide did, but I would recommend asking a lot of questions and getting some guarantees about the quality of the guide before agreeing to travel with them.
Some of the birds we did see include: Collared Kingfisher, Dollarbird, Blue Tailed Bee-eater, Blyth's Paradise Flycatcher, Dark Crowned White Eye, Yellow Spectacled White Eye, Flame Breasted Sunbird, Spotted Kestrel, Golden Bellied Gerygone, Rusty Breasted Whistler, Gray Headed Canary Flycatcher, Black Fronted Flowerpecker, Little Pied Flycatcher, Pacific Black Duck, Little Grebe (Tricolor variant), Flores Minivet, Bare Throated Whistler, Wallacean Drongo, Brown Capped Fantail, Cinereous Tit, Sunda Woodpecker, Oriental White Eye, Purple Heron, and Black Shouldered Kite.
8. Flores Cycling Tours
Overall Ratings
5 based on 5 reviews
Flores Cycling Tours Enjoying cycling and experience the exotic Flores
Reviewed By SteveNoakes - Gold Coast
We were very appreciative of the service level and professionalism of Leonardus Nyoman and his team when they provided a great morning of mountain bike riding around the hills of Ruteng last week. This is the standard of experience now offered to visitors which will...MoreDear Pak Steve Thank you so much for joining our cycling program, it was our great pleasure to meet you and showed you, Ruteng and surrounding by bike. Many regards from Ruteng Leo and Team of Flores Cycling Tours.
9. Ranamese Lake Walking Tour
Overall Ratings
2.5 based on 20 reviews
Ranamese, a mountainous natural reserve (Taman Wisata Alam), impresses with its dense Forests and a 21-meter-deep crater lake at an altitude of 1220m. Ranamese is ideal for those who want to explore the Florinese highlands by trekking. It is also a perfect place for bird watchers.
Reviewed By Peter P - Kortemark, Belgium
The pathway to the lake is as unviting as the ruins of some wooden huts and of a half burned-down viewpoint. The place looks a bit dreary. While we were walking to and from the lake, leeches dropped down of the overhanging trees and bushes. A scary experience to remove one off you feet or legs! This made us decide not to have a walk around the lake. The gruesome history of some locals who fell into the water (muddy bottom) and were never found (even by searchparties), made us leave this place after a quick glimpse.
10. Komodo Colossal Tours
KOMODO COLOSSAL TOUR is an Indonesian Tours and travel Agency. It’s realible local Tours and Travel Company to provide and arrange your tour packages to Komodo and Flores island ( Ready made and Tailor made tour ). Komodo Colossal Tours lies in Ruteng town, west part of Flores island ( Indonesia ). It’s specialized to organizing private tours to Komodo island and Flores island. Komodo adventure t
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