South Sulawesi · Indonesia
Tana Toraja travel guide
Tana Toraja is a city in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, home to about 279,000 people.
- Nearest airport
- TRT19 km · Toraja Airport
- Currency
- IDRrupiah
- Time zone
- Asia/Makassar
- Language
- Indonesian
About
About Tana Toraja
Tana Toraja Regency (indonesian Kabupaten tana toraja toraja language tondok toraya) is a landlocked regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group.
In the land of the Toraja people, many people are notionally Christian, but most are, in practice, animist. They are above all famed for their spectacular (and rather gruesome) burial rites. After a person's death, the body is kept — often for several months or even years — while money is saved to pay for the actual funeral ceremony, known as tomate. During the festival, which may last up to a week, ritual dances and buffalo fights are held, and buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered to ferry the soul of the deceased to the afterlife (puya).
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Tana Toraja
See
Although it can be expensive if you are on a budget, a guide can provide a lot of insight into the local practices and customs. A problem is that most guides are not certified, and will not explain more to you than the Wikipedia page on Tana Toraja. If you still want to hire a guide, the usual base price for one day is 375,000 Rp (as of 2016), plus the motorbike (about 80,000 Rp) if you don't drive yourself. Of course, the prices quoted first may be much higher. A price of 400,000 Rp for one day and one person that doesn't drive (and hence that will share the guide motorbike) is considered as a reasonably good price, as of 2016.
Do
If you come to Tana Toraja during the funeral season (peak is in July and August), attending a funeral is certainly a must-do. Funerals (entrance fee 20,000 Rp) are public events and served by public transport. Avoid offers by guides, telling you that they are private or difficult to access! Your hotel probably will not help you to locate the funeral, claiming it is hard to find by yourself (it is not). In summer, (fake) guides might tell you that you are a lucky person because there is a funeral exactly the day you came. In fact, during the funeral season (July and August), there are funerals virtually every day except perhaps Sunday.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Which part of Tana Toraja to stay in
Besides Makassar, Tana Toraja is the only area in the Province of South Sulawesi which owns several star hotels. Some widely known star hotels in Tana Toraja are Toraja Heritage Hotel, Toraja Misiliana Hotel, Toraja Prince Hotel and Toraja Sahid Hotel and Tongkonan Layuk Lion. There are also a number of non-star hotels, home-stays and local residences available for accommodation. Most of the hotels provide standard facilities such as single and double bed, hot and cold water, telephone, entertainment, meals while some provide additional ones like sports facility, spa and massage, laundry and others.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Hotels in Tana Toraja
2 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel Sahid Toraja | 1992 | 12.5 km |
| RedDoorz @ Makale Tana Toraja. RedDoorz | 13.1 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Tana Toraja
Tana Toraja has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. October is the warmest month, with average highs of 29 °C; December is the wettest, with about 421 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Tana Toraja: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Toraja Airport (TRT), about 19 km from the city centre in a straight line.
Getting in
From the Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, you can fly to Toraja Airport (TRT, aka Buntukunik Airport), 1 hr/35 km south of Rantepao. The flight takes about 55 minutes. Tana Toraja is a solid 300-km, 8-to-10-hour drive from Makassar with various stops between the route to take some rest. Most companies run both a morning and an overnight bus, with various degrees of comfort. Frequent mikrolets/bemos leave from Makassar to the Daya Bus Terminal and take about 40 minutes. The buses from Makassar to Tana Toraja come with various levels of comfort.
Getting around
The best way to go around is by motorbike (about 80,000 Rp per day, as of 2016). This said, using public transportation is possible for most sites too. Most of the spots can be visited without a guide (despite what your hotel will try to make you believe), though a guide may be useful for some of the more distant villages. Bemo/mikrolet rides run from 2,000 Rp for short rides of a few kilometers up to 10,000 Rp. Bolu Bus Terminal 2 km north east from Rantepao is a good place to find public transportation towards the north of Rantepao.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
TRT · Toraja Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Tana Toraja
Eat
There are some restaurants in Rantepao and Makale. They serve menus of Indonesian, Chinese and Western food. Torajan specialties, such as pa'piong (chicken/pork or fish cooked with vegetables in bamboo tubes), are also available and usually must be ordered in advance (usually at least 2 hours). See the Rantepao page for restaurants in Rantepao.
Drink
Local Torajan palm wine, Ballo', is easily found. Buy it on the street. The darker, the stronger but be warned, it can be very strong. The Tana Toraja region is famed for its coffee. In your local coffee house it will cost a small fortune. Drink the real thing here for a fraction of the cost. There are many places to drink coffee (see the Rantepao listings).
Stay safe
Do not get fooled by the relatively more comfortable temperatures than in Makassar (the temperature hardly goes above 28°, and nights tend to be cool): the sun is dangerous here, and you will use a lot of sun screen. Also bring a pullover for outdoor evenings or nights. It often rains in Tana Toraja, even during the "dry season", and much more than, e.g., in Makassar. As a rule of thumb, it tends to rain more often in the afternoon or evening than in the morning. There is a low risk of malaria in Tana Toraja. Contact your favorite tropical doctor before departure to decide whether you need a treatment. In any case, try to avoid mosquito bites, as the region is also infected by dengue.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Tana Toraja: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Tana Toraja?
Tana Toraja has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. October is the warmest month, with average highs of 29 °C; December is the wettest, with about 421 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Tana Toraja?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Toraja Airport (TRT), about 19 km from the city centre in a straight line.
What currency is used in Tana Toraja?
rupiah (IDR).
Nearby
Destinations near Tana Toraja
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.