Timor-Leste isn’t a destination that shows up on many flight schedules, but I have an upcoming opportunity to visit and am wondering if it is worth the time and money for only one day.
Is One Day Enough In Dili, Timor-Leste?
I’m looking at a possible routing that would put me in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, for less than 24 hours: arriving in the afternoon and departing the next morning. That’s hardly enough time to “see” a city, let alone a country, but I’m wondering: would it still be worth it?
From what I’ve read, Dili seems small enough to explore in a few hours. There’s a coastal promenade with cafés, a handful of decent hotels, and the famous Cristo Rei statue overlooking the bay; it seems a short climb offers beautiful sunset views. Dinner on the beach, maybe a walk along the waterfront, and then a morning coffee before heading back to the airport?
The advantage is that I’d get to fly a new airline, Aero Dili, and visit a new country, Timor-Leste. The disadvantage is that the ticket is about $600 r/t (from Bali to Dili) and it would take away from my (short) time in Indonesia, though I would not stay in Bali either way.
It sounds manageable for an overnight stop. But is that really doing Dili justice? Would I be missing something essential by only spending one night there? It is not possible to spend a second night there…I simply do not have the time on this trip.
Should I save it and tack it on to a 2026 trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea?
CONCLUSION
So I’ll put it to you: have you been to Dili? Is one day enough to get a sense of the city and even the country? Or is this one of those destinations that only makes sense if you can slow down and stay awhile?
I’d love to hear from readers who have actually been. What would you do with just one afternoon and morning in Dili?
No, you should avoid drug indused liver infection.
Are you suggesting Matthew ( married to a nurse and our health guru Heidi ) has not been vaccinated for hepatitis ? Curious ?
I’d expect him to have the shots for A&B, but… less is know about C and beyond. Those of us who travel should keep up with everything (and pack some Imodium!!).
Woah, that is unique. Closest I’ve been is Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores in Indonesia, which was mainly to get to the Komodo National Park and the Padar Palau island hike. I mean, I don’t value ‘token’ trips to add a country to a list anymore, but if you have something meaningful to do there, then why not as part of a larger trip to the region. Be safe. Drink only bottled water. Hot food (see the steam rising.) Good luck!
If occasional commenter @Jacktheladd sees this, I believe he lives (or has lived) in Indonesia; maybe he’s been to Dili, too!
Was gonna say, I’ve been to Java and Bali, too; but, when I return to the region, I really want to see Raja Ampat before it’s developed.
It’s tight but do-able, the Christ area (with beach next to it) would be let’s say, 30 minutes drive each way plus a couple hours there climbing statue and beach views
Downtown walking promenade let’s say a couple hours, and if you have time there’s better beach cafes about 15-30 minutes outside town
So very tight but certainly possible specially if you wake up super early the next morning to go to Christ statue
I visited Dili last month with my wife and our 10-month-old on a 24 hour sightseeing trip from Bali. In truth, twenty-four hours is more than enough time to see the city. We stayed at the Timor Plaza Hotel, which appeared to be the best property in town. At $173.25 (usd) per night, it was certainly on the expensive side, but it included a good buffet breakfast for all guests, as well as airport pickup and drop-off.
Our flight arrived around 2 p.m., and we reached the hotel by about 315. Be prepared for quite a bit of paperwork at the airport. The visa on arrival costs $30 per person and requires its own line before you move on to passport control. You’ll also need to complete a customs declaration form. There’s no Wi-Fi in the terminal, and my T-Mobile phone had no service at all — which is rare these days. There’s a small bank of computers available for completing the forms, but once you’re done, you’ll still need to queue again for both body and baggage screening.
The hotel’s driver met us right after we cleared customs. The staff arranged a four-hour private tour for us at $90 total. Our guide/driver was billed as an English speaker, though his English was very limited. Still, he was friendly and easy to communicate with through gestures and basic phrases.
We started with the Tais Market — small but interesting — which took about twenty minutes to explore. Next, we visited the Cristo Rei statue. It was 90 plus that afternoon, but the short hike (around 20 minutes, even with me carrying our son) was manageable. The drive there offers a good view of Dili’s coastline, though the heat discouraged us from making additional stops. Unfortunately, the main Resistance Museum was closed for a public holiday, but we would have visited it otherwise. After about three hours, we returned to the hotel.
That evening, we discovered a night market in the hotel parking lot. It was full of food vendors. By sheer luck, we even met the president of Timor-Leste, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who was mingling with the crowd. We even got our picture with him.
The next morning, we strolled around the mall area before heading to the airport. The hotel advised us to leave earlier than I normally would have. Check-in and departures are in separate buildings and passengers have to wait for a shuttle van to travel between them. Once in the departures hall, there’s very little in the way of services or amenities, so we spent about an hour simply waiting.
Overall, Dili was an intriguing experience. It was very welcoming and but incredibly underdeveloped. It’s also surprisingly expensive for such an impoverished country. The U.S. dollar is the official currency, which likely contributes to the high price. Probably my most expensive country when factoring in airfare.
I should caution you — I wasn’t able to buy a plane ticket on Aero Dili using either my Amex Platinum or my Atmos card. I ran into the same issue with Citilink. I ended up flying Citilink only because their flights were available through the Capital One travel portal. I used my $300 Venture X credit to offset the nearly $900 round-trip ticket. Even a VPN didn’t work.
Sorry for the long-winded reply — but you should definitely go for it!
I guess the question I’d ask is, what were you hoping to do in Indonesia, and would a one-day detour negatively affect those plans? I’m all for heading somewhere new if the timing works out, but not at the expense of putting something aside that I really wanted to do.
Go for it!
It’s kind of short because any delay might cause an evening arrival.
Klint,
You must be some kind of special To travel so far East to Dili to spend just one day there.
At least check out Labuan Bajo or the Komodo island.
Do you still call yourself a “travel blogger”?
Agreed. Go see some Komodo dragons!
Skip Dili for now. Visit it when you go to PNG. Also, when you visit PNG make sure to visit Rajah Ampat in West Papua. It’s beautiful.
Combining PNG and Raja Ampat makes no sense; although they are close to each other on the map there is no direct flights between PNG and West Papua and foreigners can’t cross the land border there. So you’d need to fly via Sydney or Singapore + Jakarta and then backtrack to Sorong.
I’ve been to East Timor. 24h is enough in Dili. I wouldn’t try venturing any further than Cristo Rei as the rest of the country is undeveloped and nothing works very efficiently. Though honestly, the better way to visit is to fly in from Bali and fly out to Darwin on AirNorth.
This is the correct answer.
We spent a week in Timor Leste for bird watching and went to the interior which you won’t have time to do. In Dili, we also tried to visit the Resistance Museum but it was closed due to some VIP event. We went to the Arte Moris Cultural Centre where there is a nice gallery and a few artists at work and you can buy their work directly. There is also the Galeria Memoria Viva dedicated to the life of former president Jose Ramos Horta which is interesting and a nice place to shelter from the heat. You will need cash USD, only a very few places accept Visa credit cards, no Mastercard or Amex. There are a few beaches and restaurants nearby. Get a seat near the front of the plane, rush off the plane and run to the $30 visa counter, otherwise you wait forever for others to go through the visa and customs forms terminals in the airport.
I forgot to mention that you can use QF points or probably any OneWorld partner miles to book DRW DIL.A quick look shows 9200 QF points or 7.5k Atmos miles, Availability is good.
YES YES YES
I was in timor-leste for a 6d holiday last may. This country is extremely unspoilt. Driving from from dili are endless stretches of beautiful beaches that are without a single soul. Zako island has unique wildlife. The sea water there comes in several spell-binding shades of blue. You may try whale-watching in sep(?). With a low tourist count, timor-leste is quiet, pristine and relaxing. However, tourist accommodation is rather rudimentary, save for a new hotel in the capital. The pace of life is slow, belying its violent contemporary history. Timorese are a friendly people who speak bahasa indonesia, Portuguese and Tetum. Use your US$ here. Native coffee, vanilla and other products are unbeatable in quality. Daily flights link Bali (!) with dili. Trust me, Timor-leste is worth more than just a day’s visit!!
I’ve not been, nor even anywhere close. However some of my best travel memories have come from 24 hour or less quick visits. Were it me, I would do it without hesitation.
Haven’t been, but I’d recommend Tana Toraja in Sulawesi. Was there 20 years ago driving around a motorbike and drinking moonshine at local funerals. Incredible memories.