We recently spent a few days in Muna, an island in Sulawesi that has some great caves, lakes, and natural sinkholes.
Most people visit Muna in conjunction with Buton, its neighboring island. They’re well connected by a short ferry ride, so it’s easy to go back and forth between the two islands.
The blue water sinkholes in Muna are kind of like the cenotes in Mexico, except without the crowds. There’s even a lagoon where you can swim with thousands of stingless jellyfish!
Another thing you can see in Muna is the prehistoric cave art, which is currently the oldest known human art in the world. It’s exceptional.
This travel guide will explain how to get to Muna, where to stay, and what to see and do on the island!
How To Get To Muna
Muna island is located off the coast of southeast Sulawesi, and there are a few different ways to get there.
There’s an airport in the main city of Raha (RAQ) with flights from Makassar (UPG), but it only has one flight per day, as of 2026. The flight time is a little under 1 hour.
The other main option is to fly to Baubau (BUW) in Buton from Makassar, and then take the ferry from Baubau to the Wamengkoli harbor on the south end of Muna.
That’s what we did. The ferry ride only takes 30 minutes, and it can bring cars and motorbikes. You can buy tickets on the spot.
The third option is to take a fast ferry from Kendari to Raha, which is basically a big speedboat. It departs twice daily and the journey takes about 3 hours.
Either way, if you’re flying from Bali or Jakarta, you’ll need to transit in Makassar on the way to Muna. You can shop for flights at Skyscanner.
How To Get Around
Once you arrive in Muna, the next question is how to get around.
You can rent a car or motorbike and drive yourself, or hire a driver with a car. We came to Muna from Buton on the ferry, and brought our driver and his SUV with us. It was pretty smooth and painless.
I’ll share some contacts for good tour guides later in the article. They can help arrange drivers, boats, and other things for you.
If you choose to drive yourself, the roads in Muna are in pretty good condition now. They used to be terrible, but most of the main roads were reworked recently.
There isn’t much traffic outside of town, so it’s not a hard place to drive by Indonesian standards.
Best Things To Do In Muna
• Moko Lakes
The Moko lakes are a group of blue water sinkholes in central Muna.
There are five lakes in total, all within a 1.5 kilometer stretch, but only three of them are good for swimming.
These are kind of like the cenotes in Mexico, except you might have them all to yourself!
The first Moko lake is the biggest, and the easiest to reach. It’s just 5 minutes off the main road, and you can park right by the lake.
It’s a really nice place to swim, with bright blue water that’s great for cooling off on a hot day. There are some ladders for getting in and out of the lake.
There’s even a resident sea turtle you can swim with! He was apparently brought to the lake when he was young, which I don’t condone, but he has adapted and he’s semi-domesticated now.
He’s not afraid of humans, and he lives a fairly comfortable life in the lake. The locals said he’s lived there for a long time. Many years, in fact.
Unfortunately, the ease of access to the first lake has also made it popular with the local young people, and a lot of them have thrown their trash carelessly on the ground around the lake.
We saw an annoying amount of bottles, wrappers, and other plastic trash around the lake, and even a little bit inside the lake. This should never be happening in such a nice place.
The good news is that the second Moko lake is a bit more secluded, and it’s a lot more natural.
It’s just a 300 meter drive from the first lake, but we didn’t see any people there, and almost no trash either.
There weren’t any ladders into the water, but there’s a rocky path that gives easy access if you want to go for a swim.
Aside from that, it was almost totally undeveloped, which is great.
The third Moko lake is similar to the second one, but bigger. It’s secluded and surrounded by jungle.
You can reach it in just 5 minutes of driving from the first lake.
Again, we didn’t see any people at this lake and it was pristine. The water is so blue!
There’s a rocky path that leads to the water’s edge if you want to swim.
