North Kalimantan · Indonesia
Tarakan travel guide
Tarakan is a city in North Kalimantan, Indonesia, home to about 202,000 people.
- Nearest airport
- TRK8 km · Juwata International Airport / Suharnoko Harbani AFB
- Currency
- IDRrupiah
- Time zone
- Asia/Makassar
- Language
- Indonesian
About
About Tarakan
Tarakan is an island and co-extensively the sole city within the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is the largest urban area in North Kalimantan population-wise and is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province.
Tarakan is 100km south of Nunukan, and also serves as a visa-free border-crossing between Indonesia and the Malaysian town of Tawau in Sabah. Although Tarakan is the only independent city (kota) of the province of North Kalimantan, and the most populous city by far (population about 220,000), it is not the capital. The provincial capital is Tanjung Selor.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
When to go
The best time to visit Tarakan
Tarakan has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. August is the warmest month, with average highs of 33 °C; December is the wettest, with about 331 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 Tarakan: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Juwata International Airport / Suharnoko Harbani AFB (TRK), about 8.2 km from the city centre in a straight line; Tawau Airport (TWU, 125 km) and Kalimarau Airport (BEJ, 130 km) are also within reach.
TRK · Juwata International Airport / Suharnoko Harbani AFB
TWU · Tawau Airport
BEJ · Kalimarau Airport
Questions
Tarakan: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Tarakan?
Tarakan has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. August is the warmest month, with average highs of 33 °C; December is the wettest, with about 331 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Tarakan?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Juwata International Airport / Suharnoko Harbani AFB (TRK), about 8.2 km from the city centre in a straight line; Tawau Airport (TWU, 125 km) and Kalimarau Airport (BEJ, 130 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Tarakan?
rupiah (IDR).
Nearby
Destinations near Tarakan
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.