Kanawa Island
Kanawa Island
4
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Top ways to experience Kanawa Island
The area
Address
J, Labuan Bajo, Flores 86554 Indonesia
See what travelers are saying
  • Susan W
    Kiama, Australia29 contributions
    Kanawa just a stop for snorkelling on 2-3 day trip. Basic snorkelling at that
    Kananwa maybe OK for quiet 1-2 night stay if you aren't on tight schedule. But didn't impress us much with basic snorkelling - which we know is subject to your previous experiences. Some may think it's fantastic, others may think it terrible. There is a little to see and some fish but I wouldn't go there if it wan't on our 3 day trip itinerary. Tides affect snorkelling and it should have been good when we were there - but just OK. Probably good for beginner (kid) snorkelling. Quiet and not over developed for sure
    Visited July 2019
    Written February 11, 2020
  • Natasa J
    Ljubljana, Slovenia87 contributions
    Combine the trip with watching of flying foxes
    Beautiful place for snorkling and amazing beach - all shades of blue and green. We did a private trip by Kharisma tour and we had all the flexibility with the program for good price. We went also to another great snorkling place - Manjerite. I saw sea snake (black and white) there. The highlight came after sunset - flying foxes! This is incredible and it happens every evening: felt like shooting of BBC documentary. Don’t miss this!
    Visited July 2022
    Traveled with family
    Written July 26, 2022
  • Tim, California
    Mammoth Lakes, California7 contributions
    Finding Nemo! Short fun stop!
    Cute little beach, snorkeling area. Have to pay for beach and lounge chairs to support the locals. Snorkel to the left side of pier from the beach. Watch out for poisonous sea urchins. Lots of Blue Starfish and others, plenty of sea eanemones, finding Nemo!
    Visited May 2022
    Traveled with friends
    Written May 10, 2022
  • UncleTravellingRich
    Sydney, Australia149 contributions
    Not worth stopping at
    Last stop on Komodo island tour. Place is run down, heard it was much better kept under prior owners. Coral mostly dead. Snorkelling much better in national park. Don’t know why the tours come here other than to kill time.
    Visited December 2019
    Traveled with family
    Written December 30, 2019
  • samo c
    4 contributions
    Beautiful sea, but only that
    guessing pandemic hit the island, because it's beautiful as nature,but everything is deserted. All building's are mostly destroyed or damaged and there is nothing but sea, you can not rest and sit down, to get some tea or drinks. There is no added value but the sea. So better bring water, some snacks.
    Visited July 2022
    Traveled with family
    Written July 10, 2022
  • Maciej B
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands39 contributions
    Go for snorkling
    Great place to see corals and fishes. Perfect beach with tiny sand. Nice stopover on the way to Komodo National Park. Be careful with swimming far into the ocean since there are strong water streams.
    Visited April 2015
    Traveled with family
    Written April 13, 2015
  • jekkp
    36 contributions
    Sadness.....
    Kanawa island resort in Komodo national park was a little gem for snorkekers and Robinsons. New owners almost destroyed it. Now it's only a place where you want to spend some hours for snorkeling during day time, amongst many other islets here. No well-kept tents, bale or bungalows anymore, only expensive bungalows in poor condition, with no water most of the time, missing electric bulbs, broken showers (when you have water). The food in the only restaurant is quite bad, half of the short menu is missing and it's 2 to 3 times the price in neighboring LabuanBajo; also we shared it with many flies when we were there. Icing on the cake: there is plastic trash all over the island - I saw only tourists cleaning part of it from time to time. This place which was thriving with all kinds of people is almost empty now. They ask you to pay in advance in their office in Labuanbajo, as you may run away after one night there. If you really still want to spend some time there, my advice would be to book it for one night only, and to bring your own drinks (they are nice enough to let you store them in one of their empty fridges) and snacks. A new management should take over soon. We'll see if it gets better or worse, and then I'll update this review.
    Visited September 2017
    Traveled with friends
    Written October 11, 2017
  • Juliesomuchtravel
    Austin, Texas206 contributions
    Go for snorkeling- dont stay on island
    Went snorkeling here as part of a two day/one night Komodo trip at 650,000 per person (after bargaining). Had wanted to stay here too, but the only place on the island was 700,000IDR per night and the bungalows looked really shabby. Snorkeling was phenomenal though - say blue spotted ray, baby shark, tons of fish - big, little, bright colors, wonderful coral. Check out of blog for pics: https://somuchtravel.wordpress.com/
    Visited April 2015
    Traveled as a couple
    Written April 28, 2015
  • Cindyramitha
    Jakarta, Indonesia77 contributions
    Just Out of Curiosity..
    One of many reasons I finally visit Flores, is Kanawa island. Some friends have been telling me that it serves you great feelings and really pleasant experience when you visit the island. Well, it's different with me.. Visited this place after trekking and sightseeing in Padar island, I found that Kanawa is not that interesting. Yes, it shows you beautiful white sands and great view (if you decide to have a little trekking to the hill). However, it is crowded place. If you want to stay in the island, you really need to book and ensure that you are informed enough about the accommodation there (Because i heard it was already booked for a year?! Hopefully it was only a hoax, I didn't bother to look for more info, though). After all, surely I suggest you to visit this place. But just for out of curiosity. There are so many places around Labuan Bajo that are more virgin, quiet, and beautiful.
    Visited August 2014
    Traveled with friends
    Written March 19, 2015
  • bruno l
    Paris, France793 contributions
    Avoid this place
    Certainly our worst experience in Komodo National Park. The place seems lovely, a very small island with a nice beach, good place for snorkeling, etc... But they set up a resort a few years back, and now they are trying to charge for EVERYTHING. So make sure u don't use any of their installations if u don't want to get scammed. We were on a boat tour and were supposed to spend the night in front of Kanawa - our tourist suggested to go and see the sunset from the top of the small hill - we were welcome by security staff when we arrived and reached the perfect spot after a few mns walk - sunset was good. Then we came back and wanted to reach our boat, we were verbally assaulted by the same security guards, asking us to pay 100.000 IDR each for it !!! they justified their demand by showing us a little poster with all prices indicated, among which the sunset walk (with a bottle of water - lol) for 100.000 IDR. It took a long time but we finally left without paying any ruppiah... what a scandal ! And if you think about spending a night there, please think it twice - the bungalows look absolutely not engaging and they would require quite a high level of refurbishing just to make them acceptable...
    Visited October 2016
    Traveled with family
    Written November 12, 2016
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions

4.0
705 reviews
Excellent
343
Very good
225
Average
76
Poor
31
Terrible
30

Susan W
Kiama, Australia29 contributions
Jul 2019
Kananwa maybe OK for quiet 1-2 night stay if you aren't on tight schedule. But didn't impress us much with basic snorkelling - which we know is subject to your previous experiences. Some may think it's fantastic, others may think it terrible. There is a little to see and some fish but I wouldn't go there if it wan't on our 3 day trip itinerary.

Tides affect snorkelling and it should have been good when we were there - but just OK. Probably good for beginner (kid) snorkelling.

Quiet and not over developed for sure
Written February 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Natasa J
Ljubljana, Slovenia87 contributions
Jul 2022 • Family
Beautiful place for snorkling and amazing beach - all shades of blue and green. We did a private trip by Kharisma tour and we had all the flexibility with the program for good price. We went also to another great snorkling place - Manjerite. I saw sea snake (black and white) there. The highlight came after sunset - flying foxes! This is incredible and it happens every evening: felt like shooting of BBC documentary. Don’t miss this!
Written July 26, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tim, California
Mammoth Lakes, CA7 contributions
May 2022 • Friends
Cute little beach, snorkeling area. Have to pay for beach and lounge chairs to support the locals. Snorkel to the left side of pier from the beach. Watch out for poisonous sea urchins. Lots of Blue Starfish and others, plenty of sea eanemones, finding Nemo!
Written May 11, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

UncleTravellingRich
Sydney, Australia149 contributions
Dec 2019 • Family
Last stop on Komodo island tour. Place is run down, heard it was much better kept under prior owners. Coral mostly dead. Snorkelling much better in national park. Don’t know why the tours come here other than to kill time.
Written December 31, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

samo c
4 contributions
Jul 2022 • Family
guessing pandemic hit the island, because it's beautiful as nature,but everything is deserted.
All building's are mostly destroyed or damaged and there is nothing but sea, you can not rest and sit down, to get some tea or drinks.
There is no added value but the sea. So better bring water, some snacks.
Written July 11, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Maciej B
Eindhoven, The Netherlands39 contributions
Apr 2015 • Family
Great place to see corals and fishes. Perfect beach with tiny sand. Nice stopover on the way to Komodo National Park. Be careful with swimming far into the ocean since there are strong water streams.
Written April 14, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jekkp
36 contributions
Sep 2017 • Friends
Kanawa island resort in Komodo national park was a little gem for snorkekers and Robinsons. New owners almost destroyed it. Now it's only a place where you want to spend some hours for snorkeling during day time, amongst many other islets here.

No well-kept tents, bale or bungalows anymore, only expensive bungalows in poor condition, with no water most of the time, missing electric bulbs, broken showers (when you have water).

The food in the only restaurant is quite bad, half of the short menu is missing and it's 2 to 3 times the price in neighboring LabuanBajo; also we shared it with many flies when we were there.

Icing on the cake: there is plastic trash all over the island - I saw only tourists cleaning part of it from time to time.

This place which was thriving with all kinds of people is almost empty now.

They ask you to pay in advance in their office in Labuanbajo, as you may run away after one night there.

If you really still want to spend some time there, my advice would be to book it for one night only, and to bring your own drinks (they are nice enough to let you store them in one of their empty fridges) and snacks.

A new management should take over soon. We'll see if it gets better or worse, and then I'll update this review.
Written October 11, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Juliesomuchtravel
Austin, TX206 contributions
Apr 2015 • Couples
Went snorkeling here as part of a two day/one night Komodo trip at 650,000 per person (after bargaining). Had wanted to stay here too, but the only place on the island was 700,000IDR per night and the bungalows looked really shabby. Snorkeling was phenomenal though - say blue spotted ray, baby shark, tons of fish - big, little, bright colors, wonderful coral. Check out of blog for pics: https://somuchtravel.wordpress.com/
Written April 28, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Cindyramitha
Jakarta, Indonesia77 contributions
Aug 2014 • Friends
One of many reasons I finally visit Flores, is Kanawa island. Some friends have been telling me that it serves you great feelings and really pleasant experience when you visit the island. Well, it's different with me..

Visited this place after trekking and sightseeing in Padar island, I found that Kanawa is not that interesting. Yes, it shows you beautiful white sands and great view (if you decide to have a little trekking to the hill). However, it is crowded place. If you want to stay in the island, you really need to book and ensure that you are informed enough about the accommodation there (Because i heard it was already booked for a year?! Hopefully it was only a hoax, I didn't bother to look for more info, though).

After all, surely I suggest you to visit this place. But just for out of curiosity. There are so many places around Labuan Bajo that are more virgin, quiet, and beautiful.
Written March 19, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

bruno l
Paris, France793 contributions
Oct 2016 • Family
Certainly our worst experience in Komodo National Park.
The place seems lovely, a very small island with a nice beach, good place for snorkeling, etc... But they set up a resort a few years back, and now they are trying to charge for EVERYTHING. So make sure u don't use any of their installations if u don't want to get scammed.
We were on a boat tour and were supposed to spend the night in front of Kanawa - our tourist suggested to go and see the sunset from the top of the small hill - we were welcome by security staff when we arrived and reached the perfect spot after a few mns walk - sunset was good. Then we came back and wanted to reach our boat, we were verbally assaulted by the same security guards, asking us to pay 100.000 IDR each for it !!! they justified their demand by showing us a little poster with all prices indicated, among which the sunset walk (with a bottle of water - lol) for 100.000 IDR. It took a long time but we finally left without paying any ruppiah... what a scandal !
And if you think about spending a night there, please think it twice - the bungalows look absolutely not engaging and they would require quite a high level of refurbishing just to make them acceptable...
Written November 12, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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