Your guesthouse
The most reliable. Owners know who else is in town and who has already taken a boat for tomorrow.
Bena, near Bajawa. Photo: Serenade / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Open trip
A seat exists only when somebody else has already booked the boat.
There is no scheduled open-trip fleet at Riung. Here is how the seat price actually comes about, and how to find one.
In short
Open trips at Riung are not scheduled departures — they are private charters that a second party joined, which is why a seat carries a premium over the plain split and why it may not exist on your date.
- No fixed departures, no booking platform.
- Your guesthouse is the matching service.
- Peak season makes seats easier to find, not harder.
Finding one
Three ways a seat appears
All three are conversations, not bookings.
The waterfront
Walk it around 16.00–17.00. Captains know which boats are half full for the morning.
Photo: MANSURKOI / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other travellers
Two pairs make a four. In a town this small you will meet them at dinner.
Photo: Komodo Luxury.
The arithmetic
Why the seat price is what it is
One boat split four ways costs each of you a quarter of the charter. Quoted as a seat it costs more, and the difference is the margin for arranging it.
If you are already four, charter the whole boat. The seat price only makes sense for ones and twos.
Frequently asked questions
Ready to put dates on it?
Riung boats are arranged locally, at the pier. For the Komodo leg or a full Flores itinerary, the reservations desk answers on WhatsApp.