Located in the Tomini Bay, the 120 km long archipelago counts 56 islands, formed like a bow and making the perfect stop on your trip from central to north sulawesi. The tropical Togian Islands are situated only 40 km south of the equator, offer beautiful landscapes above and under water, wonderful people and the perfect place to disconnect from the rest of the world. Let us give you a short introduction to the islands and a handy list of all accomodation at Togian Islands with links to their websites, sorted by the different islands.
You will only find a few plasterd roads on the island. Transport is only sufficient by boat and phone signal is rare. Most of the land is untouched - the Togians seem like stuck in time and far away from the rest of the world.
Looking at the map, the Togian islands seem small. Howerver, distances should not be underestimated since transportation between the islands is usually slow. Let us give you an idea of distances and time needed to travel between the mainland, and between different islands:
Ampana- Togian islands (Bomba): 40 km, 1 hour with speed boat (3 hours with slow boat)
Ampana- Wakai: 60 km, 2 hours with speed boat (4 hours with slow boat)
Ampana- Malenge: 90 km, 4 hours with speed boat
Bomba- Wakai/ Kadidiri: 20 km, 1 hour with speed boat, 2 hours with charter boat
Bomba- Malenge: 50 km, 3 1/2 hours with charter boat
Bomba- Una Una: 40 km, 2 1/2 hours with a charter boat
Wakai- Gorontalo: 170 km, 12 hours by night ferry
If you want to know how to get to and around the islands: have a look at our Togian boat schedule.
The islands can be seperated in eight larger island formations: Batudaka, Togean, Kadidiri, Talatakoh, Malenge, Walea Kodi, Waleabahi and Una Una where Batudaka is the largest island of the archipelago. Most accommodation are scettered on the north-west of the archipelago, which might have to do with the characteristics of the coastline and weather conditions throughout the year.
The biggest village on the island is Wakai, located at the northtip of Batudaka, near the island Kadidiri. The total of about 40.000 inhabitant of the islands are from different ethnical backgrounds like the Bugis (from South Sulwesi) or the BAJAU people (a general term for different see gypsie tribes) and many more. Mostly fisherman, the people of Togians also make their living of selling cobra (dried coconuts) or palmsuger. Nearly every small village has a primery school, the larger villages also have a secondary school. Most of the villages also have a nurse and a midwif, Wakai also has a small hospital.
Most of the villages and accomodation are still without internet or phone connection. The perfect place to disconnect from the rest of the world, a digital detox and recharging the battteries. In case you need connection: you will find a signal around Wakai, Popolii, and some other areas and villages (e.g. around Pulau Papan or Kulinkinari). More and more resorts also offer satelite internet connection in the evenings, which is slow and expensive but offers the chance to send out a short word to the family or get important things done.
The island of Batudaka.
Batudaka Island, located in the south of the Togians, is closest to the city of Ampana on the southern mainland of Sulawesi. Coming with the speed boat from Ampana you first pass the small beautiful island Taupan, before you can see the southtip of Batudaka. The speed boat first stops in Bomba (sometimes before Kulinkinari) continuing its trip to Wakai, the largest village on the archipelago. From Ampana to Bomba it takes about one hour with the speed boat, to Wakai around two hours. On the island itself there is no proper road which could make the travelling by land interesting. Therefore, even if you are moving around the island of Batudak only, the way of transport will be the boat. Located about 30 minutes from Bomba you can find the village of Tumbulawa which is worth a visit due to the dozens of Hornbills which come to rest in the high trees around the village in the late afternoon.
Snorkel and Dive Sites:
Many of the most beautiful snorkel and diving spots of the south of Togian Islands are located around the island of Taupan. The underwater landscape with its steep walls full of coral is simply amazing. The second large snorkel and diving area is the large barrier reef, protecting the north side of Togian Island. Around 5 km, heading north of Batudaka, you will find the reef in the middle of the blue. This barrier reef goes from Batudaka till Malenge, around Malenge they gave the barrier reef different numbers (e.g. reef Nr. 4 or reef Nr. 6) to mark the different snorkelling spots. Additionally you can dive in Goa Goa or Bomba Wall or inside the mystic, sunken boat next to Araya Dive Resort.
Resorts in Batudaka
POKI POKI
ARAYA DIVE RESORT:
POYA LISA
ISLAND RETREAT
Kadidiri island.
The smaller island Kadidiri is about 15 boat minutes away from the main hub Wakai and was one of the pioneer islands first offering accomodation for guests from around the world. Three resorts are located on the west side of Kadidiri, sharing one long beach. Looking at the beach - from right to the left: Kadidiri Lestari, Black Marlin Dive Resort and Kadidiri Paradise. On the south tip oft he island you can find Barracuda Beach which is a nice snorkel sport and next to it the bay from the accomodation Harmony Bay. Just minutes from Kadidiri you will find the accomodation Sunset Beach.
Snorkel and Dive Sites are: Taipi, the very special WWII plane-wreck ‘Consolidated B-24 LIBERATOR’ and many more.
Resorts in and around Kadidiri island
SUNSET BEACH: http://www.sunsetbeach-togean.com/
HARMONY BAY: https://www.hb-resort.com/
KADIDIRI PARADISE: http://www.kadidiriparadise.com/
KADIDIRI LESTARI: http://pondoklestari-togianisland.blogspot.com/
BLACK MARLIN: http://www.blackmarlindiving.com/
The island of Togean.
It´s a bit confusing but one of the islands of the archipelago is called TOGEAN. This island is seperated from the island Batudaka by a narrow water channel. If you want to be precise, there is only one accomodation, Sunset Beach (listed above, in the section Kadidiri) located on this islands. However, you can find two hotels located on small islands close to the village of Katupat: Fadhilla Cottages and Bolilanga Resort. On the island Togean you also find the famous Jellyfish Lake and Carina beach which is a nice whit-sandy beach with a small, diverse house reef. Maybe the only chance in life to swim with hundreds of jellyfishes without getting hurt.
Snorkel and Dive Sites:
Located on the south side of the island you can find the B-24 LIBERATOR wreck from the second world war. It crashed, but could safely be landed, nobody got hurt. The legend saying the people from the village pulled it with boats closer to the land so it would not be sunk to deep. Nowadays especially divers are happy about that: the wrack is to be found only around 22 meters deep, which gives divers of most skills the chance to inspect this rare find.
Resorts in or next to the island Togean
FADHILA COTTAGES: https://www.fadhilacottage.com/
BOLILANGA: https://bolilangaresort.com/
SUNSET BEACH: http://www.sunsetbeach-togean.com/ (listed also above)
Malenge island.
The north-west side of Malenge, with its small bays, was discovered for tourism around 10 years ago. The famous village of Pulau Papan is settled on a small rocky island, connected with a long wooden bridge to the island of Malenge.
Snorkel and Dive sites:
The barrier reef which protects the north of the archipelago is namely divided in different spots. The names counts numbers from south to north.
Resorts in or next to Malenge
ALE BEACH: https://www.alebeach.com/
SANDY BAY: http://www.sandybay-resort.com/
SERA BEACH: https://seramalengesulawesi.com/
SIFA COTTAGES: https://www.malenge.eu/
BAHIA TOMINI ECORESORT: https://bahiatomini.com/
MALENGE INDAH: https://malengeindah.weebly.com/
MALENGE LESTARI: https://lestari-cottages.com/
TOGIAN BOAT TRIP: https://www.togianboattrip.com/
Waleakodi.
This far away island is a little bit further out then the others but worth a visit regarding the white sandy beaches and beautiful hous reefes. If you want to visit this island, you should aim the villages Dolong or Popoli.
Snorkel and dive spots:
The house reefs of the hotels are very nice and hotels offer trips to barrier reef in he north (e.g. reef number 6).
Resorts in Waleakodi
LIA BEACH: https://www.pae-lia-beach.com/
PULAU TIGA RESORT: http://togeanpulotigaresort.com/
The island of Una Una.
The island of Una Una with its active vulcano "Como" is located north-west of the rest of the archipelago. Una Una offers nice diving and a beautiful hike to the vulcano.
Diving sites:
Jack Point, Menara, The Pinnacle with big schools of Barracuda, Apollo and more.
Resorts in Una Una
PRISTINE PARADISE DIVE RESORT: http://www.pristine-paradise.com/
SANCTUM DIVE RESORT: https://www.sanctumdiveindonesia.com/