Often people will ask, “What is the most beautiful place you have ever been to!? It’s impossible to choose, but after visiting Padar Island, it’s safe to say this is the most beautiful island I have ever been to. The mountains, the beaches, the viewpoints-everything about this place is magical.

ARRIVING ON PADAR ISLAND

There are a couple of different places to beach your boat. Apparently we went the back way because there were too many dangerous currents around the other side to the main beach. Surprise! Another Pink Beach. This one was also beautiful but the beach wasn’t as the clean as the one we went to yesterday. Read more about that beach HERE.Padar Island is another island where Komodo Dragons live. Going up the “back way” I was a bit concerned we’d run into one. I asked Rosden if it was safe and he said, “Yes, but to follow close by.” Then we found this and he just gave me this face 😬. Well here we go!The view from half way up was already incredible so I couldn’t wait to get to the top! I know Padar Island can get busy but we were here on a Sunday afternoon and had it to ourselves. There was only one other boat that arrived but it was right when we were making it to the top.
Here is the type of path you will follow, it is very steep so you may struggle getting up to the top! I was out of breath most of the way up. When I was here in March it was almost 90 degrees, so bring plenty of water. You can see the large boat in this picture, this is the main “entrance” or beach. If you have a larger boat the strong currents shouldn’t be an issue. Rosden saw me take this picture and immediately asked what I did. I instantly said , “A panoramic!” Just assuming he knew what I meant. He was very intrigued and didn’t understand what I was doing and wanted to learn.We spent the next 30 minutes practicing until he got it down. The first one was my ultimate favorite just look at my legs 😂Then he got it down and we both got so excited! The perfect panoramic of Padar Island.Rosden also learned the word selfie that day! I wish I could remember it in Indonesian🤔. Even 30 minutes after the hike my face was still red…… After walking down from the viewpoint it sunk in we were heading back to Labuan Bajo.😔These two made the last three days so special for me! What an experience. The three of us crossing the Flores Sea and them showing me how beautiful Indonesia is. What a wonderful trip, but we were all ready to get home and Aldira just kept saying he wanted to get back so he could officially fix the boat.I took a short nap and woke up to this. I asked Rosden what he was thinking about and he said how happy he was thinking about Day 1 and being able to see his family for the first time in a month!The whole journey was great but Padar Island was the best. The three of us spoke about it the whole way home. If only we knew we were about to run out of gas in the middle of the Flores Sea…at night…but that’s a whole different story!