How to plan a trip to Papua, Indonesia?

What to see and do in Papua in 5 days? Check our travel itinerary: Jayapura, Wamena, Baliem Festival, Kurima, Baliem Valley trekking.

Going to Papua will be easier with our tips and suggestions.

The main reason we visited West Papua was Baliem Valley Festival, so the whole trip to Indonesia was planned around it.

We started with booking the flights from Denpasar (Bali) to Jayapura (Papua) and from Jayapura to Wamena (a town in Baliem Valley where the festival takes place).

Then we started to look for things to do in Jayapura where we had a day in transit. We thought it was going to be a dull and unattractive stopover. Oh, how wrong we were! Although Jayapura itself lacks any unique charm, its location rewards the ordinariness of the concrete lanes. And there are so many things to see and do near the city that we haven't even managed to visit all the places we put on the itinerary.

As Baliem Valley Festival lasts for 3 days, this is how long we planned to stay in Wamena. Well, we didn't realize how spectacular Baliem Valley was. So the third day, instead of going to the festival, we spent on trekking the hills.

New Guinea is definitely one of the most interesting islands in Oceania. And since the safety of a trip to Papua New Guinea is nothing less than disputable, Indonesia West Papua is a far better option for a lone traveler to soak in the culture and traditions of the Papuans.