Mata Jitu Waterfall
Limestone terraces and pools you can swim in, a short walk or ride inland.
- Effort
- Easy walk, some steps
- Best
- Morning, before the day boats
An Island, Reached by Boat
Jungle to the waterline, reef off the sand, and a waterfall you swim in. No roads, no town, no way to arrive casually.
What a Moyo Island stay is
Less a branded hotel than an idea: remote, boat-access eco-luxury on a jungle-fringed island off Sumbawa Besar.
Days split between reef, forest and doing very little. Most of the island is protected, and almost none of it is built on.
You commit to the property and its activities. There is no second restaurant, and no walking somewhere else for dinner.
- Position
- North of Sumbawa Besar, ringed by reef, mostly national-park forest.
- Access
- Boat only. One to two hours from Sumbawa Besar, or charter from Bali and Lombok.
- Stays
- A handful of low-density properties. Tented camps and pavilion suites.
- Water
- House reef off the beach, Mata Jitu waterfall inland, dive sites on the fringes.
- Signal
- Patchy to none. Treat it as off-grid and tell people before you go.
Getting there
Two Legs, Both Weather-Dependent
-
Reach Sumbawa Besar
Fly from Bali or Lombok to SWQ, or come overland from Lombok via the Poto Tano ferry. Schedules thin out and change; we build a buffer day in either direction.
-
Cross to Moyo
One to two hours by boat from the mainland, or a private charter straight from Bali. Sea state decides the hour of departure more than the timetable does.
What There Is To Do
Four things, and the fourth is the one people remember.
Mata Jitu Waterfall
Limestone terraces and pools you can swim in, a short walk or ride inland.
- Effort
- Easy walk, some steps
- Best
- Morning, before the day boats
Reef Off the Beach
Hard coral and reef fish straight off the sand at several points around the island.
- Effort
- Swim from shore
- Gear
- House masks and fins
Jungle Walks
Dry tropical woodland, birdlife, macaques, and a canopy that closes over the track.
- Effort
- One to three hours
- Guide
- Arranged by the property
Kayaks and Nothing
The real programme. Flat water in the mornings, a book, and the sea going quiet.
- Effort
- None at all
- Best
- Every day you are there
Amanwana defined what people expect from Moyo — canvas under canopy, a low key count, the sea as the programme. We reference that era as context, not as an affiliation.
Moyo or the Mainland
The island is not automatically the better half of a Sumbawa trip. It is the quieter one, at a cost.
Stay on Moyo
Wake to reef and forest, with nothing to organise and nowhere to drive.
- Reef and waterfall on your doorstep
- Very few other people
- Full or half board, no alternative
- Weather can move your boat, both ways
- Stay
- 3–5 nights
- Access
- Boat only
Stay on the mainland
Easier logistics, a pharmacy, and Moyo as a long day trip instead.
- Scheduled flights and shops
- Day boats to Moyo and Saleh Bay
- More choice of food and rooms
- You see the island, you do not wake on it
- Stay
- 4–7 nights
- Access
- Road and air
Do both
The version most people should book. Island first, coast second, buffer between.
- Moyo while you are fresh
- Surf or Saleh Bay afterwards
- One transfer day between
- Buffer before any onward flight
- Stay
- 8–12 nights
- Shape
- Two bases
Before you write
Answered Plainly
Send Us Your Dates
We will tell you whether Moyo suits the trip you are describing, what the boat day costs, and what to pair it with.
Free, no obligation. We curate and arrange via a vetted partner — we do not own or operate the resorts.