Any chance to get from Palau to Indonesia?

Hey travellers,

I'm just planning a trip from December to March next year. After spending some time in the Philippines, I'll fly to Palau with Continental and I want to head to Indonesia afterwards. Now my question: Is there any possibility to get to Indonesia directly (via Sonsorol & Tobi Island?) or do I have to head back to Manila and then fly to Indonesia?

Apart from that, being in Palau for 5 days, planning to dive for 2 days, kayaking in Rock Islands for 1 day: What would you recommend for the remaining two days? Where would you get a hotel? I heard that Koror itself is not the nicest place at all?

Thanks a lot in advance,

Andreas

You have to head back to Manila.
Or you could fly to Bali via Guam on Continental, but it would cost you more.

And the terribly annoying thing about the Gaum trip, unless it has been changed, is that you leave Palau in the middle of the night, sit in Guam for a while, only to turn around, gas up in Palau at an awful hour, and then fly to Bali. Really annoying trip. Same for the return if I remember.

Uh- Koror is the ONLY place. 5 days- one day flying in, one out. that leaves 3. Have a drink and some taro leaf soup at sunset at the Palau Pacific Resort. See the museum.

Just read more carefully. sonosoral and Tobi are reachable only by ship- and only by field ship at that. they aren't big enough to land a helicopter on. You need to get some real idea of this place. It is very hard to get to those places- by plane? Hmph-although I am impressed that you have heard of them.

Koror is not a bad place at all. You can have a hookah at the Indian Restaurant.

Are you kidding me? Hookah bars have kit Koror? Yikes!

not exactly a hookah bar -- but you can have one on the balcony of that indian restaurant on main street.

Koror is dull, very, very dull. There's a lack of attractive outdoor space. Most restaurants don't have outdoor seating. There is lots of traffic and congestion. There are no natural beaches, only two articfical beaches at resorts.

Might consider heading to Babeldaob to see the capitol. Or take a Rock Island tour - can't get enough of the Rock Islands. Walking over the causeway and over the hill to the PPR is a very nice walk. Can take the bus that runs in the evenings back to your hotel.

I would consider outdoor space a very important factor in choosing where to stay. I can't image staying in a place without an outdoor sitting area.

Even that is amazing0 a hookah in Palau.

As far as outdoor space, that is one thing about the Palau Pacific Resort- the outdoor space is wonderful. But we are spoiled.

I think the reason that there is not a lot of attractive outdoor space is because Palauans mostly live outdoors so when they go someplace they look to be inside. I find when I've been there for a while I get back to the states and cannot tolerate being in the house- which is fine unless it is mid winter.

Thanks a lot for all your thoughts and ideas.. Very good idea to fly to Bali from Guam, but after talking to Continental on the phone they told me they don't serve that flight no more. But still, doing some Island hopping after staying in Palau sounds great. But again, after talking for hours on the phone with continental I was told they don't offer this Visit Micronesia Air pass any more. Flight Manila - Koror - Yap - Guam - Manila would cost 938 Euro. Does anybody have more information on that Visit Micronesia Air Pass? I read many posts about it, but has anybody actually purchased it recently? I will try Guam Continental Office next.
So thanks for the ideas what to do. I'll definetly have a drink at PPR, although a little expensive to actually stay there. I kind of favor Peleliu, once for diving and seems to be a lot more beautiful than Koror. Anybody ever stayed there?
The more you get into those islands, the more you wanna go, can't wait.

That Bali flight ended last October and it was very sad, as that was a very easy connection from the US to Indonesia. The CO Micronesia flights are notoriously expensive -- You know you can fly Philippines Air between Guam and Manila? Probably cheaper than CO. As far as the visit-micro pass---There is a travel forum on wetpixel.com geared towards dive photographers. It's better than LP for these kinds of destinations. Try it -- if anyone knows anything, those people will. A lot of them live there.

The Rock Islands will be one of the most beautiful places you'll ever seen in your life.

... don't forget Jellyfish lake -- it will blow your mind!

The Bali flight is no more- sad. I didn't realize that there was a Phil Air flight now to Guam- that won't last long if Air Mike has anything to do with it! And the other website is a good idea- in the past there have been diving packages that are wonderful in price- decent airfare plus diving, often for little more than the cost of the airfare.

Micronesia is wonderful and I sometimes think that it stays that way in part because it is so hard to get to. Mixed blessing.

actually, I think Phil Air also flies between Palau and Manila non-stop now.

waldos, i was mistaken! -- it's CO that flies to Palau, I think twice a week.

Phils Air definitely flies to Guam tho...has been for a while now.

If you're coming from the states, it's usually a lot cheaper to fly to Manila on CO (with a plane change in Guam), than to buy a ticket to Guam alone. (Just got ABQ - MNL for $737 r/t).
But a ticket only from Guam to Manila will cost almost the same. go figure.

Hello

Last week the german air conti office offered me such a micronesia air pass without problems
- 5 destinations WITHIN micronesia, valid 30days - quite expensice though !!
Have sent you a private mail...........

#12 couldnt find any other airline apart from air conti which is serving koror from manila now - phil air doesnt !!

chavala- based on years of watching these things come and go I would be willing to bet that if they go to Palau it will not for long I could be wrong but I it will be interesting to see.

damn waldo!!!

here'e another -- it was much cheaper for me to fly from ABQ with a change in Houston, than to originate in houston. once you learn they're tricks you can beat them at their own game. that's until they catch on to you!

anyway looking forward to my Phils visit!

It is true that the ticket is cheaper but they have gotten wise to this. I used to fly into Palau on a US-Manila ticket with a stop in Palau. Then use the Palau- Manila return ticket when I wanted to fly over to the PI. They finally called me in and told me I really had to stop this. Now you have to go to Manila first and only then can you stop on the return in Palau or Yap. Sorry if I messed it up for everyone.

yeah they don't want you using the competition!

And they are good at figuring the angles. I am sorry but did save many thousands of dollars for a while there. And they will block you or cancel the second half of your ticket if they catch you. Happily I knew everyone in Palau so when the airline started to track me the agents on island gave me a heads up. The difference in price was often huge- $800 US to Manila with a stop in Palau vs $1300 US to Palau. And I often had to run over to the PI for one reason or another- another $400 rt fare. So I did very well there. But those days are gone.

There is a small airline that flies into Palau from Taiwan- don't remember the name of the airline, and its website was in Chinese. And sometimes it is possible to save a bit if you can find a really good fair to Taiwan. The problem with flying someone else to Guam is that then AirMike hits you up on getting around from there.

Are you talking about [http://www.china-airlines.com/en/index.htm] ??

Are you talking about [http://www.china-airlines.com/en/index.htm] ??

No- it wasn't china airlines- something like Asiana, although I don't thing that was the name. We moved and I lost their card.

The issue is that some of the very wealthy in Palau especially are involved with Air Mike so there is underground strong opposition to having competition. One of the big players in Palau started a small airline that flew to....Austrailia I think. Or was supposed to. I think it flew for a month or two before something happened. Micronesia mostly belongs to AirMike, although there have been some inroads to Guam. It must be a huge moneymaker for Continental.

Pls dont confuse CHINA AIRLINE with Air China - the former is an airline based in Taipeh/ Taiwan -they have two flights per
week Taipeh to Koror - whereas Air China is a chinese airline based in Peking.
China Airline offered me a quite interesting fare germany -manila - palau - twice via taipeh - yeah - but you have to call them, not
possible to book such a trip on their website.

Oops- well, it still wasn't China Airline that I knew about, unless they changed their name. Things do change in the islands
But slowly and not always permanently.

Well there is a flight Koror - Taipei with China Airlines, just booked it a couple days ago for my girlfriend. Good option, because you can connect to everywhere in Taiwan.

What kind of prices? You can often get decent fairs to Taipei from the states- this may be the new cheap route to Palau.

You can get decent fares too. Oops.

Dont know the fares from the states but here in europe/ germany China Airline is launching many special offers
to anywhere in asia now - online booking without problems,i.e. the leg europe/ usa - asia/ taiwan you can book online.
BUT its not possible yet to book the flight europe/ usa - palau online,i.e. the leg asia/ taiwan - palau you have to book
seperately and so its better to call them for a reliable price. And at least here in germany they are quite obliging
in my experience - compared to AirConti I mean.

What sort of prices are you being quoted for the Taipai-Koror leg? I don't think that china Air flies from the US- although I could be wrong and don't have time to look it up at this point.

Again, don't confuse Air China and China Airlines.. China Airlines is the one flying to Koror, don't know about the prices for the single leg though, because I booked it in combination with a flight to Frankfurt

The price tapei - koror is pretty much the same as the AirConti fare from manila I guess.
BUT the combination europe/usa - palau sounds pretty interesting AND ChinaAirlines IS flying
from USA to Taiwan (from LAX / JFK / SFO / CHI and from many other cities ) BUT you are not able to book such
a combination online - at least not from germany.

Hm- will have to check it out. The fares to Taiwan might be good. But maybe I cannot do it this month. Thanks for letting us know about this.

Pls dont mention it, it was a pleasure

Around oct 15th I will be in Palau for two weeks.......and after that FSM/ Yap waits for me.......... I cant wait

Green with jealousy. Pure unadulterated greeen. Have a wonderful time.