Maluku Travel Information - Itineraries

Maluku: Itineraries

One week Two weeks One Month Two Months



ONE WEEK

1. North (comfortably)
Stick to visiting Ternate and Tidore, the two most historic islands in Maluku. Spend about 4 days on Ternate, visiting the city, making a round-island tour, climbing Gamalama, and making day-trips to Hiri and Maitara for snorkelling. Then move to Tidore and spend a night or two there to visit the sights of Soasio and then either do some hiking by climbing Kiematubu or visiting Telaga, or spend some time checking out Tidore's beaches and reefs. Do a day-trip to see the potterers of Mare.

2. North (in a rush)
You could spend a day seeing the main sight of Ternate, another on a day-trip to Tidore. Move on to Halmahera, heading straight for Tobelo. Spend a day doing a boat-trip to the off-shore islands there, another by visiting Galela. Another day could be spent on the beaches of the mainland near Tobelo, and visiting Telaga Paca. Back to Ternate then.

3. Central
Spend 2-3 days touring Ambon, checking out the museum, the beaches and mountains of Leitimur, and the north coast of Leihitu. Spend another making a day-trip to Haruku.Then hop over to Saparua to spend another 2-3 days there.

4. Ambon & Kei
Spend 2-3 days seeing Ambon, then fly to Tual to spend a few days on one of Kei Kecil's gorgeous beaches. While there, you could spend a day seeing the island's few sights, then fly back to Ambon to leave.

    
  TWO WEEKS

1. North & Central
You could combine two of the one week itineraries described above, but do check flight or shipping connections between Ternate and Ambon!

2. North
By devoting 2 weeks for North Maluku, there would be no need to rush any more. You could see Ternate, Tidore and North Halmahera easily, and add either Morotai or the Jailolo-Sahu area of West Halmahera, too.

3. Central
Spend a week around Ambon and the Lease Islands, maybe spending a bit longer in Saparua. You could also hop over to Seram or Nusalaut for a few days, or if shipping schedules work out well, could go to Banda for 2-3 days.

4. Ambon, Banda & Kei
If you plan your visit carefully, or are simply lucky with the timing, you should be able to spend a few days around Ambon, make a quick round-trip to Banda by Pelni ship, then fly to the Keis for a week around Kei Kecil. If you don't want to spend too long on beaches, you could also make a quick side-trip to Kei Besar.

                                                                     

                                                                                       ONE MONTH

1. North
If you are prepared to devote a month to North Maluku, you could easily see all the main attractions around there: Ternate, Tidore, West & North Halmahera, southern Morotai, Bacan and even Lelei & Guraici. Of course you could also drop some of these to have a more leasurely time on the rest.

2. Central
By spending a full month in Central Maluku, you could easily check out Ambon and the Lease Islands, and either spend even 2 weeks in the Bandas, or spend longer exploring Seram, maybe doing the trek across the island through Manusela National Park. Or visit Buru, too.

3. Ambon & Southeast
After spending a few days on Ambon, you could fly or take a Pelni ship to the Keis, possibly with a stop in Banda if the schedules make it possible. You could spend a week or two around the Keis, and spend the rest of your time heading off the beaten track to the Tanimbars or the Arus for a week or two.

TWO MONTHS

1. North
By spending two months around North Maluku, you could also get well off the beaten track. In addition to visiting all the areas described in the one month itinerary, you could go to eastern or southern Halmahera, northern Morotai, Obi and even to the Sulas. You could also go to Gebe by Pelni ship, and take a flight back to Ternate from there.

2. Central & Kei
Two months would be plenty of time for Central Maluku. You could spend about two weeks around Ambon and Lease, another two in the Bandas, and then would still have one week each for exploring Seram and Buru, and two weeks to head down south to the Keis.

3. Southern
This is the one part of Maluku where even two months wouldn't be enough to "see it all", due to the poor shipping links within the region. After a few days on Ambon, you could go to the Keis, possibly after stopping in the Bandas for up to two weeks. This should still leave you with enough time to explore the Keis, the Tanimbars and Aru, but probably not really more. If you decided to skip the Bandas on the way and are prepared to skip Aru as well, you could try and visit the Southwest after Tanimbar, but you will have to plan that very carefully as you could easily get stuck on a remote island with your visa expiring in the meantime!

4. North to South by sea
Even without flying, you could see a good cross-section of Maluku in 2 months. Start with touring Ternate, Tidore, Northern Halmahera and maybe southern Morotai, then take one of the boats from Ternate to the Sulas. From Sanana, catch a boat to Buru, then from there another one to Ambon. Tour Ambon and the Lease Islands, maybe make a quick trip to Seram, then catch a Pelni ship to the Bandas and/or to Kei.