How to Get to the Derawan Islands

Updated: August 2026

Reaching the Derawan Islands takes one domestic flight into East Kalimantan followed by one road-and-speedboat transfer: fly to Kalimarau Airport (BEJ) in Berau, drive roughly two hours to Tanjung Batu port, then cross to Derawan Island by speedboat in about 30 minutes. The alternative is flying into Tarakan (TRK) in North Kalimantan and running a longer three-to-four-hour speedboat down the coast, a route that makes sense mainly for travellers already in Tarakan or crossing from Sabah.

There is no international airport anywhere in the archipelago and no ferry service from Bali or Java, so every itinerary is built the same way: get yourself to an East Kalimantan gateway, then hand the sea leg to a boat operator who runs it daily. This page sets out each route, the realistic timings, what the transfer chain costs as part of a private trip, and how to sequence flights so you do not lose a day sitting in a departure hall. Everything here sits inside the wider plan your trip resource for the archipelago.

The main gateway is Berau, and Kalimarau Airport (BEJ) is where a Derawan trip starts

Kalimarau Airport in Tanjung Redeb, Berau Regency, East Kalimantan is the meeting point for private Derawan trips run by Indonesia Juara, and it is the gateway most visitors use. Berau is the administrative home of the archipelago, which means the road network, the boat crews, the fuel supply and the accommodation bookings all run through it. Land at BEJ and you are already inside the logistics chain rather than at its edge.

From the terminal the sequence is short and predictable. A road transfer takes you north-east from Tanjung Redeb to Tanjung Batu, the small port village that faces the islands, on a drive of roughly two hours depending on road conditions. At Tanjung Batu you board a speedboat for the crossing to Derawan Island, which normally takes about 30 minutes in calm water. Boats also run directly from Tanjung Batu to Maratua and to the day-trip islands, so where you sleep on night one determines which boat you take, not whether the route exists.

If you want the Berau approach broken down leg by leg, including the port logistics and the car charter options, the dedicated guide to Derawan via Berau covers that single route in detail.

Direct flights to East Kalimantan from Jakarta decide how long your travel day is

Jakarta to Balikpapan (BPN) is the most reliable direct flight into East Kalimantan and takes roughly two hours and fifteen minutes. From Balikpapan you connect onward to Berau (BEJ) on a short hop of about one hour. Some carriers also schedule direct Jakarta–Berau services, and when one is operating on your dates it removes a connection and a couple of hours of waiting — but schedules on this route change season to season, so treat a direct BEJ flight as a bonus to confirm rather than a fixed assumption when you plan.

Two practical rules save travellers the most time. First, aim to land at BEJ before early afternoon, because the road-and-boat chain to the islands is not something you want to start after dark. Second, if the only workable connection lands you in Balikpapan late, sleep in Balikpapan and fly to Berau the next morning rather than forcing a night arrival at the port. Travellers coming from Bali, Surabaya or Singapore follow the same logic, usually routing through Balikpapan or Jakarta; if you are combining islands on one holiday, the Bali to Derawan combined trip page shows how the two ends of Indonesia stitch together.

Every route to the Derawan Islands, compared

Timings above are indicative. Sea state, tide, boat size and how many passengers are being collected all move the numbers, and your operator confirms the actual departure plan the day before you travel.

Berau to Derawan is a two-hour drive plus a thirty-minute crossing

The Berau to Derawan transfer is one continuous chain, not two separate bookings, when it is arranged properly. A vehicle meets you at Kalimarau Airport, drives to Tanjung Batu, and a speedboat is already waiting at the jetty because the boat crew has been told your flight number. That coordination is the whole value of the leg: independently arranged, the same journey becomes a negotiation at the port with whichever boat happens to be there.

Expect an open speedboat with a canopy rather than a ferry. Bring a dry bag for anything that must not get wet, keep a light rain shell accessible, and put camera gear in something sealed — spray over the bow is normal, not a sign that something is wrong. Travellers who get seasick should take medication before leaving Tanjung Batu, not after boarding.

Derawan via Tarakan is the alternative when you are coming from the north

Tarakan sits in North Kalimantan and connects to the archipelago by a speedboat run of roughly three to four hours. It is the sensible choice if you are already in Tarakan, if you are crossing from Tawau in Sabah, or if flight availability into Berau collapses on your dates. It is not the choice to make for its own sake: the sea leg is considerably longer, more exposed, and more weather-sensitive than the short hop out of Tanjung Batu.

Because the Tarakan crossing depends more heavily on conditions, departures are usually planned for the morning and boats do not run at night. Build a buffer day into any itinerary that uses this route, and read the route-specific guide to Derawan via Tarakan before committing to it.

Maratua Airport shortens the journey for resort guests

Maratua has its own airstrip, which makes it the only island in the archipelago you can reach without a long boat transfer. Services into Maratua Airport are limited and change with demand and charter arrangements, so it works best when a resort or trip operator books the flight as part of your package rather than as a separate purchase. Guests heading straight to a water villa often use it; travellers who want to island-hop widely usually do not, because Maratua sits at the outer edge of the group and you end up boating back inward anyway.

If Maratua is your priority — the outer reef, the lagoon, the resorts — the full island brief sits on the Maratua Island page, and accommodation options across the archipelago are compared in the guide to where to stay in the Derawan Islands.

Once you arrive, the islands are linked by short boat hops

Nothing in the Derawan Archipelago is more than about ninety minutes from anything else by speedboat, which is why a three or four day trip can cover the headline sites without feeling rushed. A standard private itinerary moves through nine stops: Talisayan for whale sharks, Maratua, Kakaban and its jellyfish lake, Sangalaki, Goa Halo Tabung, Manta Point, the Pasir Gusung Sanggalau sandbar, Laguna Kehe Daing and Labuan Cermin.

Two mainland stops sit outside this pattern. Talisayan whale shark trips leave the coast before dawn to meet the fishing platforms at first light, so they are timed around sunrise rather than around your boat schedule — the details are on the Talisayan whale shark tour page. Labuan Cermin, the two-layer mirror lake at Biduk-Biduk, is a long mainland drive south of Berau and realistically needs the better part of a day; see the Labuan Cermin guide before you slide it into a short itinerary.

For what happens underwater once the transfers are done, the Kakaban Island and jellyfish lake and Derawan dive sites pages cover the snorkelling and diving side. At Kakaban you stay in the top few metres of a landlocked lake, so it is a snorkelling site rather than a dive site.

April to November is the season the transfer chain is built around

Private Derawan trips operate from April to November, the calmer stretch of the year in this part of the Sulawesi Sea. That window matters for logistics as much as for visibility: the same speedboat crossing that takes 30 minutes in calm April water becomes slower, wetter and less predictable when the wind picks up outside the season. Booking inside April to November is the single easiest thing you can do to protect your schedule.

Within the season, plan around your priorities rather than chasing a perfect month. Manta encounters at Sangalaki, turtle activity around Derawan and whale shark mornings at Talisayan each have their own rhythm, and your operator will tell you honestly which of the three is strongest on your dates instead of promising all three.

What the journey costs once you land at Kalimarau

Private trip pricing starts at Kalimarau Airport and covers the ground transfer, the boat legs, accommodation and the island itinerary from that point onward. Prices are quoted per person and drop as the group grows, because the boat and vehicle costs are shared. The figures below are starting points from Indonesia Juara for the 3D2N and 4D3N private Derawan trip, with a minimum of two travellers.

What this does and does not include. Because the quotation starts at Kalimarau Airport, your flights into and out of Berau are not part of it — those you book yourself, and they are the largest variable in the whole trip budget. Personal spending, travel insurance and anything outside the confirmed itinerary also sit outside the price. Accommodation is drawn from a working list that includes Reza Derawan Resort, Alfit VIP Borneo Cottage, Sienna Resort, Maratua Paradise Resort, Arasatu Villa, Pratasaba Resort and Seheku Paradise, and which property you get depends on the tier you choose and on availability for your dates. Ask for the written inclusion list with your quotation rather than assuming a fixed sheet, because group size and accommodation tier genuinely change what is bundled. Full package formats are laid out on the Derawan Island tour and Derawan island hopping tour pages.

Allow four days if you want the archipelago rather than a postcard

Three days and two nights is enough to reach the islands, snorkel the headline sites and get back to Berau without panic. Four days and three nights is the format that actually breathes: it absorbs one weather delay, gives Maratua a proper day instead of a drive-by, and leaves room for either the Talisayan sunrise or the long southern run to Labuan Cermin without sacrificing the reef. Anything shorter than three days spends a disproportionate share of your holiday in transit, given that the flights alone consume most of a travel day at each end.

Divers should add a day beyond whatever a snorkeller would book, because dive days are slower by design and because you cannot fly within 24 hours of your last dive. Build that no-fly gap into the end of your itinerary before you buy the return ticket, not after. Multi-day options that keep you on the water are covered on the Derawan liveaboard page.

Book the transfer chain as one arrangement, not five separate ones

The most common way travellers lose time on this route is by booking the flight, the car, the boat and the room from four different places and hoping the timings meet. They usually do not. A single operator holding the whole chain can move the boat when your connection slips, reassign a vehicle when a flight lands early, and tell you the night before exactly what time you leave the hotel.

Indonesia Juara has run this arrangement as part of Juara Holding Group since 2015, meeting travellers at Kalimarau Airport and handling the sequence through to the islands. To plan dates, confirm what is included for your group size, or ask which route suits your arrival, email sales@indonesiajuara.asia with your travel dates, group size and which islands matter most to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get to the Derawan Islands from Jakarta?

From Jakarta you fly to East Kalimantan first, most reliably to Balikpapan (BPN) in about two hours and fifteen minutes, then connect to Kalimarau Airport (BEJ) in Berau on a hop of roughly one hour. Direct Jakarta–Berau services appear on some schedules and remove the connection, but they change seasonally and should be confirmed rather than assumed. From BEJ it is about two hours by road to Tanjung Batu and around 30 minutes by speedboat to Derawan Island.

How long does the Berau to Derawan transfer take?

Plan on roughly three hours from the door of Kalimarau Airport to Derawan Island. That splits into about two hours of road transfer from Tanjung Redeb to Tanjung Batu port and about 30 minutes of speedboat crossing to the island. Sea conditions, tide and how many passengers are being collected all shift the boat time, so the operator confirms the actual departure plan the day before you travel rather than quoting a fixed clock.

Can I fly directly to the Derawan Islands?

Maratua Island has an airstrip, so Maratua is the only island in the archipelago reachable by air rather than by boat transfer. Services into Maratua Airport are limited and often arranged as part of a resort or trip booking rather than sold as an ordinary scheduled ticket. Derawan Island itself has no airport, and neither do Kakaban or Sangalaki, so those are always reached by speedboat from Tanjung Batu or from a neighbouring island.

Is Tarakan or Berau the better route to the Derawan Islands?

Berau is the better route for the large majority of travellers because the sea leg is only about 30 minutes compared with three to four hours from Tarakan. Berau is also the operating base for transfers, boats and accommodation bookings across the archipelago. Tarakan earns its place when you are already in North Kalimantan, when you are crossing from Tawau in Sabah, or when flight availability into Berau does not work on your dates.

What is the best time of year to travel to the Derawan Islands?

Private Derawan trips operate from April to November, which is the calmer part of the year in this stretch of the Sulawesi Sea. Travelling inside that window protects the boat schedule as much as the visibility, because the same crossing becomes slower and less predictable in rougher conditions. Within the season, manta activity at Sangalaki, turtle activity around Derawan and whale shark mornings at Talisayan each run on their own rhythm, so ask which is strongest on your dates.

How much does a Derawan trip cost once I land in Berau?

Private trip pricing starts from USD 580 per person for two travellers on the standard tier and falls to around USD 281 per person for a group of nine, because boat and vehicle costs are shared across the group. Premium tier accommodation raises those figures. The quotation begins at Kalimarau Airport, so your flights to and from Berau are separate and represent the biggest variable in your budget. Minimum group size is two people.