Raja Ampat is a regency in the western most territory of the Province of Papua Barat in the Republic of Indonesia. The main gate to enter Raja Ampat is Sorong city. Therefore, visitors who want to go to Raja Ampat need to fly to Sorong first. There are regular daily flights that connect Sorong with other big cities in Indonesia such as Jakarta, Makassar, Denpasar, Manado, Ambon, Jayapura and Manokwari. Almost all of the major airlines in Indonesia provide regular daily flights to Sorong city. Silk Air flies from Singapore to Manado several times a week. From Manado, visitors can fly to Sorong by one of the domestic airlines in Indonesia.
Sriwijaya Air - Boeing 737 of the airline leaves Sukarno Hatta Airport in Cengkareng area of Jakarta for Sorong city at 21.45 night time. First, the plane will fly to Makassar city. The airplane usually stops for around 2 hours 15 minutes at Hasanuddin airport. After that it will continue its flight to Sorong city and arrives the next morning at 06.25. There is also another flight that leaves at 22.20 and arrives in Sorong at 07.10 the next morning with the same flight route. As a matter of fact, Sriwijaya has got morning fly schedule from Makassar city at 09.35 and arrives in Sorong in the afternoon at 12.50. There are several airplanes that the company used to serve its flight to Papua. Some of them include Boeing 737-300 or Boeing 737-900 aircrafts.
Batik Air - This airline is the sister company of Lion air, it operates Airbus A320 to serve flights between Jakarta and Sorong city.
Usually tourists go directly to Raja Ampat by ferry boat after arriving in Domine Eduard Osok airport of Sorong city. However, some tourists who take long flights usually need one day of rest in the city. There are a lot of hotels which they can choose to stay such as Swissbel Hotel, Fave Hotel, Mariat Hotel, M Express, Mamberamo Hotel, Belagri Hotel, Kyriad M and etc. There are a lot of food stalls and restaurants which visitors can go to to have lunch or dinner. Bread Talk Cafe, and Solaria restaurant are located in Ramayana Mall of Sorong and very close to Mariat Hotel. Padang Restaurant Selera Baginda is within walking distance from M Express and Kyriad M. Restaurant. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut can be found in Mega Mall.
Also read: Getting to Raja Ampat
Birding at Sea and at the Beach of Raja Ampat