Transparency

What we know, and how well we know it

Fees, schedules and services around Kanawa, with the confidence level attached to each. Some of these figures are ours. Some are reported by others and we say so rather than adopting them.

Last checked: August 2026
From: Labuan Bajo, 15 km
Corrections: Welcomed

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The short version

Kanawa is about 15 km from Labuan Bajo, in West Manggarai, on the edge of Komodo National Park.
An island fee is reported for Kanawa; park fees for routes entering the park are separate and set by the authority.
Shuttle boats commonly leave Labuan Bajo around 08:00, but there is no fixed public timetable.
Dry season runs roughly April to December; January to March is the wettest and the choppiest.

Where a figure below is drawn from third-party reporting rather than from a tariff we hold, it is labelled as reported. That distinction is the point of this page.

On this page

Location and access
Fees, and who sets them
Accommodation and services
Climate
How we handle being wrong

Location and access

The geography that everything else follows from.

15 km: from Labuan Bajo
~60 min: by local wooden boat
20–35 min: by speedboat
Outskirts: of Komodo National Park

Fees, and who sets them

The most common source of confusion, and worth separating carefully.

Island fee — reported
Reported by third parties, and quoted per boat or tour group in some accounts and per person in others when visiting Kanawa exclusively. Confirm with the desk for your booking rather than budgeting from a figure found online.
Park fees — set by the authority
Komodo National Park entrance and activity fees apply to routes entering the park. They are set by the park authority, change from time to time, and are charged at the rate current on the date of your quote.
Transport — set by operators
Shared seats and private charters are priced by the operators running them. Indicative bands are published on the transfer and charter pages.
Your quote — the only binding number
Everything above is planning information. The figure you approve in writing is the figure you pay.

Island fee — reported
Reported by third parties, and quoted per boat or tour group in some accounts and per person in others when visiting Kanawa exclusively. Confirm with the desk for your booking rather than budgeting from a figure found online.
Park fees — set by the authority
Komodo National Park entrance and activity fees apply to routes entering the park. They are set by the park authority, change from time to time, and are charged at the rate current on the date of your quote.
Transport — set by operators
Shared seats and private charters are priced by the operators running them. Indicative bands are published on the transfer and charter pages.
Your quote — the only binding number
Everything above is planning information. The figure you approve in writing is the figure you pay.

Accommodation and services

Kanawa offers rustic beach bungalows for overnight stays. Third-party sources quote a range of nightly rates, and they do not agree with each other.

Those are reported figures rather than a tariff we hold, and the island’s accommodation has operated on and off over the years. Anything you plan around should be confirmed for your dates rather than taken from this page or any other.

Daily shuttle boats commonly depart Labuan Bajo around 08:00, though schedules vary. Guests staying on the island have at times had complimentary transfers arranged by management, typically out around noon and back mid-afternoon.

Climate

A tropical monsoon climate: the wettest months are January to March, with the dry season running roughly April to December. The dry season brings calmer seas and better underwater visibility, which is why almost every recommendation on this site points at it.

The fuller seasonal breakdown, including manta season and the crowd patterns that matter more than rainfall, is on the best-time guide.

How we handle being wrong

A transparency page is worth nothing without a correction mechanism behind it.

Every page that quotes figures carries the date it was last checked.
Figures we did not source ourselves are labelled as reported.
Core content is formally reviewed quarterly; park fee changes are applied as they are announced.
Corrections are made to the page rather than argued about.

Send a correction to the desk with what you saw and when. Pages carry the date they were last checked, and that date moves when a correction lands.

Found something we have wrong?

Tell the desk what you saw and when. Out-of-date figures are the most likely error on a site like this, and the easiest to fix once someone points at one.

Send a correction Read the editorial standards