How much does it cost to explore Timor-Leste?

How much does it cost to explore Timor-Leste in 2025? This episodes covers flights and visa, accommodation, transport, food and drink, snorkeling and diving, attractions and tours, internet tipping and money tips.

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Transcript

Jonty: 0:06

Bondi. Welcome to exploring Tim Este, the podcast that talks about Southeast Asia's best kept travel secret. I'm your host Jte, and I'll share firsthand insights, expert interviews and practical travel tips. Whether you're a traveler, a cultural lover, or just curious about places rarely covered in the mainstream. You're in the right place. Let's explore two more. Less day.

0:31

Timor Lesse isn't exactly a budget backpacker's paradise. Primarily because it uses the US dollar as its currency. Timay is a small remote country far from major transport hubs, and it relies heavily on imports. The only real locally grown products widely available are food, stables and coffee. But while some things can be pricey, many activities and attractions are surprisingly affordable or even free. In this episode, I'm gonna give you a snapshot of typical costs you can expect when visiting Timor Less Estate in 2025. I'm gonna cover eight areas, flights and visa, accommodation, transport, food and drink, snorkeling and diving, attractions and tours, internet tipping and money tips. Start with flights and visa. So flights to dili typically start at around 500 US dollars return. The two main hubs are Bali and Darwin with daily flights, and they've also have less regular flights from Singapore and recently from Kuala Lumpur. So those obviously cost a bit more expensive as a bit further, Darwin and Bali are about an hour and a half flight time. When you arrive, you will need 30 US dollars in cash to get your 30 day tourist visa. There aren't any money facilities on the air side of the airport, so you need to make sure you bring that 30 US dollars with you to get into the country. And then getting from the airport to town, your options are you can catch a taxi, which start from around$15. They are fixed prices, there's a big board when you leave the terminal, which has the prices of different parts of dili, but primarily if you're going kind of downtown, it's gonna be around 15 US dollars. Or if you're on a budget, you can catch a Mette, which is a local bus, which costs just 25 cents, although that's 25 cents in the local team, Marie Currency. So you may have some challenges, should be able to get some change. If you have$1 or maybe even if you're lucky, a$5 US note. You can catch that from the PTE lau Lobato roundabout. If you walk about five minutes outside of the airport, you'll get to the roundabout, which is just outside the entrance to the airport. And you'll see Mik lets there you want to be going to your left, which will take you into town. And it depends where you're going. If you look online, there are some maps for the Mik route in Dili to help you get to your accommodation. They're very frequent. They're very frequent, but they don't have a lot of space. So this is only really suitable if you've only got a small backpack or carry on if you've got large bits of luggage. Be best off getting a taxi. Number two in terms of accommodation. So in Dili budget, travelers should expect to pay a minimum of 30 US dollars per night for a basic guest house or hostel. Mid-tier hotels run at about a hundred dollars per night. While there are some high-end options, which are$200 or more. Outside of delete prices drop slightly, but not by much. So budget rooms typically go for around 25 to 40 US dollars per night. That will often include breakfast, but it may not include towels. So bring your own travel towel. May not include toilet paper, so bring your own toilet paper. Depends again where you're visiting, but options are pretty. Limited. When you start getting outside of dili, most towns will have one or two guest houses to stay in. But there isn't a huge market for tourists or visitors. So correspondingly, there's not a huge amount of infrastructure. Have some nice uh, sada, which are, portuguese colonial buildings that would be turned into accommodation. They have quite a lot of character, but they tend to be a bit more expensive, number three around transport. So as I mentioned, MTS in Dili only cost 25 cents per ride, making them a very cheap way to get around taxis. You're negotiate with a taxi driver. It's a little bit of a large barge sometimes, but you're normally gonna pay 10 to$15 depending where you want to get around town. And the taxis, you've got the yellow ones, which are the most frequent ones you'll see. They're generally not the best maintained vehicles. And then you've got the blue taxis, which are. Better vehicles, but they are a bit more expensive and you have to phone them to book them. And for longer distances traveling from dili to the main towns around Timor-Leste, there are local buses. These tend to be pretty crowded, pretty noisy. They tend to leave early in the morning, like to some places they might leave at 4:00 AM early. And once they're full they leave, they go out to the towns they're gonna cost somewhere between about. Five and$12. So they're relatively cheap. Maybe$5 to bau, maybe$12 out to em. But they don't have a schedule and they're definitely not the most comfortable way to get around. There are domestic flights through Mission Aviation, fellowship Math, and they cost around$80 one way. And they're a good way of seeing the country from the air, which is very beautiful. And they can also arrange a car rental service when you arrive at your destination, which I think is about a hundred dollars off the top of my head to get you where you need to get to.'cause often these airstrips can be quite remote. There are ferries between Dili and Aru Island, which are between four and$12, and there are ferries out to Kui, which are about$15 or flights to kui around$20. You can also get private chartered boats between Dili and uh, roo Island. Often through the accommodation providers. Somebody like Compass Diving, they have a boat. They tend to be, I think 50, 60, 70,$80. So they're not particularly cheap option. The ferries are a lot more cost effective, but the other ones can work around your schedule potentially. If you look at Barry's Place on his website, he has a very good section about getting to uh, to Island, which has full details of the options available. And finally on transport, there's also hiring a car with a local driver. And that I would recommend if you're trying to get outside of Dili and you have the money to allow you to do so. It is a lot safer and more convenient than taking the public transport. But you're probably gonna pay somewhere between about 120 and 150 US dollars per day, which will be car hire plus driver. Number four, food and drink. So if you eat where the locals eat meals cost typically between two and four US dollars. If you're eating at an international star restaurant, they're gonna charge you probably$10 or more for a meal. Tap water isn't safe to drink anywhere in two more less days. So plan to buy bottled water or potentially use a water filter. Terms of bottled water, standard is one and a half liter bottles. They cost 50 cents and they're available almost everywhere. So they're cost effective. If you're staying longer, you can get 19 liter water bottles, which are$10 for the bottle and$1 for each refill. They're not that useful if you're a tourist, but if you're gonna stay here, that's the best way of getting clean water. Number five, snorkeling and diving. So a standard scuba dive. Expect to pay between 50 and 60 US dollars per dive to get a open water certification. Those courses cost around$400. Snorkeling from the mainland is free as far as I've seen. So if you go into$1 Beach or some of the beaches like Bat Beach and Tassie Tolu and Crito Ray Beach in Dili, those are all free. If you are snorkeling in a protected marine reserve, and there are a number of those around at Island, for example, the main one in Beloit, just from where most people will stay, that is a protected marine reserve and you pay$2 entry fee to go into the reserve. And then again on Roo Island, if you're gonna rent a boat for snorkeling, which is recommended to get to the best reefs around Beloit, they typically cost about$12 per hour. But you can split that amongst your group. So if there's three of you that's$4 per person Most of the reefs in Leste, you can just access from the beach. Certainly the ones on the mainland typically like that, but the ones in ARU Island a little bit further out and worth getting a boat out to. It's a long swim. It's a very short boat ride. Number six in terms of attractions and tours. Now, almost all attractions in Timor are free to visit. The exceptions would be places like the Mangroves in Hira, and there's also mangroves in TBAR. So that's to the east and the west of Central Dili. There's the Dock Marley waterfall in Narro. And then mentioned those snorkeling reserves around, but the fees are typically one,$2. They're, They're pretty cheap for those kind of things. The most expensive tourist attraction that I've come across in my travels around Timor is the rock art site at ili, which is near Jaco Island, and that costs tenuous dollars per person, but that money's going to the local community. But that's probably the most expensive attraction. But it is definitely worth visiting. The guided tours, they're gonna range anywhere from$25 to$200 per day, and that really depends on the transport, the group size and the location. Often tour prices are based on three people sharing a vehicle.'cause you've got a four wheel drive, you can get three people reasonably comfortable in there. You should always agree on the price, the itinerary, and any inclusions and exclusions in advance. So there's no surprises. And remember to factor in that you'll typically pay for the driver and guides food and accommodation if your tour is overnight. So those costs, they might. Say this is the daily rate, but then you've gotta factor in, you might need to put$30 towards their accommodation and food to stay overnight. There's no official accreditation scheme for guides in Timor, so anybody can call themselves a guide or a tour company. So that's just something to be aware of and I'd recommend that you get some reviews or some recommendations from people before you make your choices. If you look on the Exploring Timor website, there is information and the tours about some of the more well established tour operators in Timor. And those prices vary because if you are looking for a half day walking tour somewhere or a guys up a mountain, that will be at the lower end. If you're looking for a fully supported hike in a remote location, that will be at the higher end. Number seven, the internet. Free wifi is very rare outside of high-end hotels, so you will need mobile data to stay connected. There are three providers in Timor. There's Timor Telecom, there's tele more, and there's. Tele more cell they have unlimited internet plans that cost between 20 and 30 US dollars per month. But those plans, although they're unlimited, they have a data cap, so they tend to work really well for two or three days, and then they drop to accrual where the internet is basically unusable. So I would recommend buying a certain amount of data because you know the speed then is gonna be consistent during your stay. And it depends on the duration and the amount of data you want. If you're gonna be in Timor for a week, you're probably gonna spend 10 or$20 on data. Number eight, tipping and Money tip. So tipping isn't part of Timor less day's culture, but as a visitor, your contributions are appreciated. Cash is king. Credit cards are very rarely accepted anywhere in two more, less day, some of the high-end. Tour operators or accommodation. Few restaurants will accept credit cards and they'll only accept Visa. MasterCard is only accepted in B News's ATM machines. So cash is king. Ideally bring it with you is probably the simplest option. There are ATMs in Timor. In Dili. There's a reasonable number. They may not always have cash in them, but if you go to a few you should be fine when you start getting outside of Dili. So when you read the major cities might have a couple of ATMs. So your best to bring all the money that you need for your entire trip uS Dollar Bank notes are accepted anywhere. The best notes to have are 10 and$20 bills,$50 bills. You can probably get away within a supermarket, but anything bigger than that is probably gonna be difficult.$1 notes are generally but not always accepted. And then you have local timor's coins for from$1 downwards basically. Now, I would suggest you always try and hoard your change. It can be quite hard to get change sometimes, and particularly if you're using public transport, like the Ts, you want to keep your small coins for those I finished with a couple of bonus trips If you're planning to travel outside of Dili, it's best to prearrange your transport and accommodation as options can be limited and it really helps to learn a few basic tetin phrases. It will go a long way with the locals and it may save you money. So that's giving you a bit of an overview of what things cost in Timor Less estate in 2025.

Jonty: 12:44

Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor Less Day. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving a rating or review. It really helps more people discover the show. If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an email at exploring Timor lessDay@gmail.com. Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.