Places to visit:
· Makassar
· Islands near Makassar
· Bira

· Majene / Pambusuang

 

Places to stay:
In South Sulawesi air-conditioned hotels with modern facilities are only found in Makassar and Tana Toraja. Non-classified hotels ("penginapan", "losmen", or "wisma") are available in all the largest towns of each district.

Near Makassar Dolphin Resort offers simple but attractive cottages on the tiny island Kodengareng Keke. 

 

Places to eat:
Besides the big restaurants and hotels in Makassar, you will find many small cafes and street vendors selling food in South Sulawesi. The road along the shoreline in the centre of Makassar used to be famous for its kilometre-long row of food stalls that are set up in the late afternoon and stay open until after midnight. This scene now moved to the triangle near the dam that connects the old part of town with the new housing developments in "Tunjung Bunga".

Food Stalls that used to be at this part of  Losari Beach some

years ago moved to the area near the Aryaduta Hotel

(foto : Makhfudz)

Transportation:
South Sulawesi has a reasonably well organised transport system for travelling between the bigger towns. The further you move away from the main roads, the simpler and slower the means of transport become.

There are several daily flights to Makassar from Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar and the bigger towns of Eastern Indonesia with among others Lion Air, Garuda and Merpati.

Twelve liners of the PELNI company link Makassar with most of the bigger harbours in Indonesia.

From Bone (east coast) there is a daily ferry to Kolaka in South-East Sulawesi. The voyage will take 5-7 hours.

Buses run between Makassar and all bigger towns in South Sulawesi. For shorter distances you find all over the province minibuses (pete-pete), bicycle-three-wheelers (becak) or motorbike-taxis (ojek).

For busses to the north you have top go to "Terminal Daya", about 12 km north of the centre of Makassar. Busses to the south, including to the island Selayar, leave from "Terminal Mallengkeri", which is located near the border of Makassar and Goa.


Becak

In Makassar you can go around by becak, pete-pete (mini-bus) and meter taxi.
For distances up to 2 km becak fares vary between Rp 3.000 - Rp 5.000 (bargain before getting in).
Late 2007 the fares for pete-pete (mini busses) in Makassar were Rp 2,000 -. These are fixed prices.
Taximeters start at Rp 4.500 at departure. For a trip of five kilometres you will pay about Rp 20.000.

Tour Operators:
Most tour operators are located in Makassar. Most of the offices only help with tickets for buses, flights and PELNI ships. A few tour operators offer package tours.
For people who like to dive, the islands near Makassar offer good opportunities. Depending on the season there are several diving operators active in the Makassar area. Please go the the boats and diving section for more details

Climate
The climate is wet-tropical with two seasons. For most of the province the dry season starts in April and ends in October. The rainy season starts in October and ends in April. On the east coast of the province the pattern is in some places the other way round. Temperatures range from 25 °C to 32 °C at sea level and from 20 °C to 25 °C in the highlands. See the section rainfall for maps with detailed information.

The current weather:




Currency
Like other parts of Indonesia the currency is the Indonesian Rupiah (Rp). There are Rp 1,000, Rp 500, Rp 200 and Rp 100 coins. Lower value coins are no longer common. Bank notes are printed with values of Rp 100,000, Rp 50,000, Rp 10,000, Rp 5,000 and Rp 1,000.
US Dollars and Euros are easily exchangeable in Makassar and Tana Toraja. Other currencies should be changed in Makassar. Make sure you bring undamaged new banknotes as old notes are often rejected. Credit Cards are acceptable in the bigger hotels in Makassar and the Tana Toraja area. In the first four months of 2008 the interbank rates for 1 US$ floated between Rp 9,000 and Rp 9,600. In the same period the Euro floated between Rp 13,400 and 14,700. For actual rates of foreign currency please visit www.xe.com/ucc
Many cash dispensers (ATM) at banks in Makassar give access to foreign accounts. You will recognise them by a "MasterCard" or "Cirrus" logo. Ask your bank for details about costs of withdrawals abroad.

Time
South Sulawesi belongs to the Central Indonesia Standard time zone (WITA) which is 8 hours ahead of GMT, and one hour ahead of Jakarta. There is no time difference between South Sulawesi, Bali and Singapore.

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