Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Can I arrive to Papau from Borneo?

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea

Is this just craaaazy?!??! But is it at all possible to get from Kuching, Borneo to Papua New Guinea, via Indonesia, without getting on a plane? And, IF I only had two months to travel and had to cut out one region, is cutting out Papua New Guinea too sad too bear? Thanks for anyone who writes.

Definitely possible, but certainly takes time.
In fact probably too much time to squeeze into 2 months!
If still keen, you should cross from Kuching to Pontianak in indonesian Borneo, then get on a Pelni ship To Jakarta, then another one to Jayapura in west Papua, from where you could cross to PNG by land. Just the travel and necewssary transit stops could easily eat up 2 weeks.

PNG is very different from Borneo, but then you can't see everything.
You could also consider Indonesian Papua as a slightly nearer alternative, but it is still a long way out without flying.

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I did the exact same route, but I took the detour from Kuching back to KL, then Australia (Brisbane) to PNG. It´s gonna be more expensive, but a lot quicker. I loved Borneo, but it would be a crying shame to cut out PNG. This place is so unique and amazing, I am still dreaming of going back there.

What are you doing in Kuching? I worked there for a few months and am always curious to find out about people going there.

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