Getting to Palu
There is a daily flights from Ujung Pandang (1 in the morning). Be careful for cancellations. There used to be 2 flights a day from Manado, but Bouraq has suspended their flights, and Merpati are resuming now 3 or 4 flights every week, but cancellations are still frequent.
There are buses from Tentena over Poso to Palu. The road is good, except between Tiboli to Tawaeli (this is from the east to the westcoast). There is restricted traffic on this part of the road: from west to east you can go in the morning around 9 am, in the other direction it's in the afternoon around 4 pm. It's muddy when raining and dusty when dry, and there are plenty of potholes. There are spectacular views, but it's still a dangerous road.
Accommodation
Palu
Best place to stay is the Hotel Golden at 135.000 Rp including breakfast and taxes. Rooms have warm water, AC and TV. Their restaurant is not really cosy, but the food is good.
Donggala (guesthouses are 6 km from town)
Prince John Dive resort used to get positive comments, but that has changed a bit, especially amoung budget travellers. It's beautiful and well maintained, and snorkelling and diving are good, but it's also pretty expensive at 30 US$ a day. You can either take a taxi from Palu or go to Milano's ice cream parlour in Palu where they will bring you to Prince John's. They also have a diving center. They have their own website with plenty of pictures, no info on rates though (3/2001).
Second possibility is the Natural Cottages. They get good reports but are more basic. There's no electricity, and 1 traveller reported a rat problem. The food also got mixed reports.
What to do
Main reason to come here is diving and snorkelling. The diving school at Prince John's got good reports. One traveller said the snorkelling is not as good as at Bunaken.
It's also possible to arrange trips to Lore Lindu from here, but forget this during rainy season. |
