Timor Leste tourism - 6 reasons to visit the youngest country in Southeast Asia.
The number of tourists in Timor-Leste has increased manyfold year over year thanks to its beautiful and unspoiled landscape.
In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, East Timor separated from Indonesia to become an sovereign state and and officially established on 20 May 2002, fully named the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste.
Timor-Leste is a small country with an area of only 15,410 square kilometers located in the tropical zone. The country has a hot and humid climate with two distinct seasons, the wet season and the dry season. The capital, also the largest and the main port city of Timor-Leste is Dili, the second-largest city is Baucau located in the East. There is only one international airport still in operation in Dili, other smaller aiports in Baucau and Oecusse are used for dosmetic flights only.
Enjoy your own beach:
Jaco island is like a gem in western Timor-Leste. It takes 6 hours to drive from Dili through the windy green hills. Standing on the top, you could see the pristine coasline and the pure water of Jacao beach
Moreover, there are many other beautiful white sand beaches near the capital city, the most recommended are Areia Brandca, meaning “white sands” in Portuguese, and Dollar beach. At weekends, the beaches might become more crowded. If you want to find more deserted places, you could ask local people to show you other completely unspoiled beaches in the West and East of Dili.
Unspoiled landscape:
Much of the country is mountainous, the landscape here still remains its beautiful natural beauty. Ramelau mountain is the highest point of Timor Leste with the height of 2,963m. It takes 3 hours to reach the top and also take the same times to drive from Dili.
Or you could also drive from Dili to Baucau and spend a night there, then drive to the west to Com and Jaco island. The roads are quite dangerous with pot-holes as large as craters, the collapsed bridges and some sections you couldn’t move on in the rainy season from November to May.
Spectacular diving:
Diving in Timor is different from Thai Lan, that’s the comment Greg Duncan, a diving instructor and boat skipper at Dive Timor Lorosae. He had worked for 2 years in Koh Tao, a diving center in Southern Thailand. In 40 minutes diving here with Greg, you could see sharks, small turtles, tunas and and small barracudas - along with small undersea mountains near Tibar.
Another attractive diving site is Atauro Island, located 20km distant from Dili port by boat. On the way to the island, you could enjoy watching a school of dolphines swimming along your water taxi. In October and November, tourists could see humpback whales and somtimes sperm whales floating and swiming to the surface of the water. There are lots of other places to dive in west and east Dili, where the coral reefs never-been-touched waiting for you to explore.
Mountain cycling:
Driving in the sketchy road condition in Timor-Leste could be a hair-rasing experience with some tourists. Moreover, car rentals are not cheap, starting at around 70 USD/day. So you could rent a bike to travel but remember to keep control of the bike well because there are the steep climbs. With the cool climate all year around, cycling is a really worthy experience and you could leisurely admire the beauty of this place.
The state of roads in Timor-Leste is a challenge even when driving cars. It’s not surprising when Tour de Timor recenly became famour for being the world's toughest mountain bike race.
Enjoying coffee with only 1 USD
With indigenous coffee plants growing naturally on the mountainsides and in the shade of tall trees on the hills, Timor-Leste is slowly creating a niche in the global coffee market. A cup of coffee here costs less than 1 USD. If you want to enjoy the best coffee, come to the coffee-growing area of Ermera, 1-hour drive from Dili
Peaceful environment
Timor-Leste is a place that always make tourists feel completely comfortable. Taxi sometimes drive at 20km/h even though the street is empty.
Timor-Leste's petroleum wealth offers the potential for a more prosperous future. Coming to Timor-Leste soon to enjoy the quiet and peacful environment, especially in the countryside of Dili.