**Boats leave Labuan Bajo on different days and times depending on class: the public local boat to Komodo Village runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10:00 and 12:00; one-day speedboat tours depart at dawn around 05:30–06:30; multi-day liveaboards board midday for a midday departure; and Labuan Bajo–Lombok crossings sail on Sundays. There is no single fixed timetable across all of them.**
That last line is the whole reason people get confused. The harbor at Labuan Bajo — the coastal gateway town on the western edge of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, that feeds Komodo National Park — has no central departure board. A public ferry, a dawn speedboat, and a luxury phinisi can all leave “today,” but on completely different clocks. Below is the schedule pulled apart by class so you can match your plan to the calendar. All times and prices are as of 2026 and subject to change; always confirm with the operator before you book flights around them.
Which boat classes leave on which days?
Here is the fast-reference grid. Read down the “Departure days” column first — that is what usually breaks a travel plan, not the time of day.
| Boat class | Departure days | Departure time | Duration | Indicative price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public local boat (to Komodo Village) | Mon / Wed / Fri | 10:00–12:00 | ~4 hours each way | IDR 50,000 per person |
| One-day speedboat tour | Daily (dry season) | ~05:30–06:30 | Full day, back by sunset | From USD 50–80 per person (shared) |
| Multi-day liveaboard / phinisi | Most days (fixed open-trip dates) | Board 11:00–12:30, sail midday | 3-day / 2-night typical | From ~IDR 3,334,000 (USD 205) shared; luxury from IDR 8,800,000+ (USD 545+) |
| Private charter | Flexible — you choose | Flexible | Per day | IDR 12,000,000–25,000,000 per boat/day (USD 750–1,550) |
| Labuan Bajo → Lombok crossing | Departs Sundays | Multi-day sailing | Several days | USD 250–400 per person by cabin |
The pattern to internalize: public transport and long crossings run on fixed weekly days, tours run daily in season, and private charters ignore the calendar entirely because you are renting the whole boat. If you want the always-current version of this grid on one page, our neutral directory keeps the live [boat departure days](/labuan-bajo-boat-schedule/) mapped against seasonal changes so you are not stitching it together from five operator sites.
When does the public local boat leave?
This is the cheapest way onto the water and the most rigid. The public local boat from Labuan Bajo harbor to Komodo Village departs Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10:00 and 12:00, takes roughly four hours each way, and costs IDR 50,000 per person, bought on the spot at the harbor. The return leg — Komodo Village back to Labuan Bajo — runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, also 10:00–12:00.
Notice the asymmetry: you cannot do a same-day round trip. If you sail out Monday, the earliest scheduled public return is Tuesday. This is transport for locals and budget travelers staying in the village, not a sightseeing loop. There is no online booking and no reserved seat; you show up, pay, and board.
What time do one-day speedboat tours depart?
Early. One-day speedboat tours depart around 05:30 to 06:30, before the heat and the crowds, and return by late afternoon or sunset. A typical day visits four to six stops — Padar Island for the ridgeline viewpoint, Pink Beach, Komodo or Rinca Island for the dragons, Manta Point for snorkeling, and the sandbar at Taka Makassar. Shared tours start around USD 50–80 per person.
Two things that trip people up on timing:
- Park fees are separate and paid on the day. A commercial 1-day island-hopping tour lists Komodo National Park and Padar Island entrance fees at about IDR 450,000 (USD 33) per person, collected separately. A 2026 guide confirms that quoted tour prices exclude park entrance fees, which must be paid directly to the park authorities — budget cash for this at boarding.
- Dawn departures mean pre-dawn pickups. If your hotel transfer is included, expect a knock around 05:00. Komodo Airport (LBJ) sits about 10 minutes by car from the harbor, so an early flight in the day before is the safe play rather than same-morning arrival.
When do multi-day liveaboards and phinisi board?
Liveaboards do not “depart at dawn” — they board around midday and sail once everyone is aboard. Neptune Liveaboards’ own boarding example has drivers bringing guests to the jetty between 11:00 and 12:30; the crew then checks names and passports, handles luggage, assigns cabins, serves lunch, runs a safety briefing, and departs. Trips are commonly 3-day / 2-night.
Open trips run on fixed departure dates — the boat leaves on set days whether or not it fills, and you buy a berth. Pricing is per person: a basic shared liveaboard is about IDR 3,334,000 per person (roughly USD 205), while a luxury phinisi with AC cabins starts from IDR 8,800,000+ per person (about USD 545+).
If the fixed dates do not suit you, that is where private charter comes in. A charter is priced per boat, not per person, and departs whenever you choose — a standard phinisi for 8–12 guests runs IDR 12,000,000–25,000,000 per day (about USD 750–1,550), with higher-end boats from IDR 19,000,000–53,500,000+ per day (USD 1,200–3,300+). Flexible dates are the whole point of chartering.
Which days do Labuan Bajo–Lombok crossings sail?
These are the long-haul departures, and they are the most fixed of all. Multi-day crossings depart Labuan Bajo on Sundays and depart Lombok in the other direction on Thursdays, priced at USD 250–400 per person depending on cabin. Because these are multi-day sailings on a weekly rhythm, missing the Sunday means waiting a full week — plan hard around this one.
How does the season change these times?
The calendar above assumes the dry season, which one guide puts at April–December and another at April–November, when seas are calm and visibility is excellent. From January to March, wind, heavy rain and big waves can cancel or shift speedboat and liveaboard departures and close hiking trails, so “departs daily” quietly becomes “departs when the captain judges it safe.”
A quick seasonal cheat sheet, as of 2026:
- Best overall (calm seas, reliable departures): dry season, roughly April onward.
- Best diving: March–October, with good visibility carrying into November–January.
- Best manta-ray sightings: the rainy season, December–February — though many operators skip the choppy January–March seas, so departures thin out exactly when the mantas peak.
- Highest cancellation risk: January–March.
How do I get from the airport to my boat in time?
The logistics are short but easy to underestimate. A taxi from Komodo Airport (LBJ) to the ferry harbor takes about 15–20 minutes and costs around IDR 100,000; a motorbike ojek is about IDR 20,000 with light luggage. The liveaboard mooring is about 10 minutes by car from the airport.
For flights in, Denpasar (DPS) to LBJ economy one-way runs about IDR 1.2–2.5M on Garuda or Batik and IDR 700,000–1.5M on Lion or Wings, and busy dates can roughly double those fares. Given dawn speedboat pickups and midday liveaboard boarding, arriving the day before departure removes almost all the timing risk.
Bajo Harborline is the neutral directory for exactly this — which boat leaves when, for whom, and at what price — operated by Komodo Luxury, a real operator founded in 2015 in Labuan Bajo, with bookings handled directly by its reservations team. Remember that the park is a protected UNESCO World Heritage area: skip the littering, do not feed wildlife or touch coral, and expect an on-board safety briefing before every liveaboard sails. To confirm today’s exact departure days and times for the class you want, message the reservations team on WhatsApp at 628113823875 or email sales@komodoluxury.com.