Komodo open trip departures on Vinca: every date, month by month

Arrive in Labuan Bajo the day before you sail. The supplier advises this because flights into town are cancelled or delayed often enough to make a same-morning arrival a gamble, and turning up late for the 09:30 pickup puts your sailing at risk. Book a hotel for the night before; the hotels page groups them by area, with drive times to the harbour.

On the last day the boat gets back to the harbour between 11:00 and 12:00, so book a flight that leaves after 14:00. Anything earlier leaves you rushing off the quay with wet bags and a boarding pass you might not get to use.

A Friday start gets back on Sunday, so you'll be flying out on a Sunday; a Monday start gets back on Wednesday. If your holiday has a fixed end date, count back from it, then add the night in town before you board.

The supplier hasn't released next year's dates yet. This year's pattern is Mondays and Fridays and we expect that to continue, but we won't print dates nobody has confirmed. Ask the desk about next year and we'll tell you what we know as soon as the schedule arrives.

If your dates aren't on the calendar at all, the answer is a private charter. The whole boat sails when you choose, on any of four routes from the day trip to the 4D3N. A 3D2N for the smallest band is IDR 100,000,000 (≈ USD 6,135), and the charter page works out the per-person cost for every group size.

If your dates are fixed, fall on neither a Monday nor a Friday, and you're two people on a budget, we're the wrong boat for that week. Better to say so now than after you've paid.

A deposit of 50 percent holds your cabin, and the balance is due 30 days before departure. If you book within 30 days, you pay in full when the desk confirms.

Switching to another departure is free if you ask 30 days or more ahead. Between 14 and 29 days it costs IDR 500,000, and within 14 days it counts as a cancellation. If you cancel, you get 50 percent back at 60 days or more, 25 percent between 30 and 59 days, and nothing within 30 days.

Children under 3 travel free with a parent or guardian, and from 3 they pay the full rate. VAT at 11 percent is already in the price. Park entry isn't, and the open trip doesn't change that: it's paid separately, per person, for each day in the park.

Said before the deposit: the schedule can change if the supplier or the park changes it, and a date on this page only becomes a booking once the desk has confirmed it in writing.