Reaching Flores is not difficult today and there are actually a variety of different methods that allow flexibility with your travel plans and budget. Whether you intend to travel to Flores as part of a back packing trip from another area in Indonesia or Asia or you have chosen Flores as the destination for a relaxing or action packed holiday there are plenty of options available.

Firstly flying into Labuan Bajo is the main and most convenient method for most travelers to West Flores then boating to Komodo Island. Labuan Bajo is highly accessible from all major Indonesian airports including the likes of Bali Denpasar Airport, Kupang airport and connections from Java. Airlines offering this service tend to fly and once a day and include Air Travel Indonesia, Trans Nusa Airlines and Merpati Airlines all o which also offer return flights to the respective airports. Prices for these services vary from $80 to $100 depending on which airline and airport you travel from. Although this is a considerable cheap airfare, there are however other even cheaper methods that are particularly useful if you are traveling from closer by. 

There are a number of ferry and boat crossings available from as far as Benoa Harbor in Bali. These connections area very cheap indeed and may be particularly useful if you plan to travel from Sulawesi via Makassar harbor or Sumba from Pelabuhan Waekelo. The Sumba journey is short although it changes in Sape of Sumbawa Island where there is another short, cheap and convenient sea carriage directly to Labuan Bajo. This 8 hour trip departs from Sape at 0800hrs and arrives at 1600hrs in Labuan Bajo, Flores costing only $8.50. Business class seating is available on most journeys and is usually only a matter of one or two extra dollars and is definitely well worth it for any journey in terms of increased comfort and better seating. Wherever you are traveling from be sure to include a generous travel time to reach the port of departure, for instance form Mataram Lombok to Labuan Lombok the journey is 3 to 4 hours by car although driving in inconveniences and set backs can be common on any of the islands of Indonesia.

Travel by road to Flores is possible throughout Indonesia with public services across the whole route from Bali right over to the east of Flores. This is not a recommended way to travel for long distances as it will be uncomfortable and very long traveling if you set out from Bali using this method. However these services may be useful to those on a backpacking or round the world trip for smaller journeys and for those who will be utilizing the ferry services. Public services are available and run on fixed schedules offering both public and express journeys taking the shortest west to east route possible across all the southern islands. The only area where there is not any kind of public service is the very east side of Sumbawa leading up to Sape. Here it is possible to hire private services at a very low price.