---
node: spot_komodo_padar_island
type: spot
slug: padar_island
destination: dest_komodo
title: "Padar Island"
lead: "Padar is the island between Komodo and Rinca whose ridge looks down on three curved bays, each with sand of a different colour. The climb from the jetty takes about forty minutes on cut steps."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_komodo_padar_island.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padar_beach.jpg"
image_author: "Irdan nofriza nasution"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

The view is the island's whole purpose for visitors: from the ridge the land falls away into bays facing three directions, one with white sand, one grey and one pink, the pink coming from red coral fragments ground into the beach. Padar had dragons within living memory but they are effectively gone from it, so this is the one major island in the park where the walk is not accompanied. The slope is bare savannah grass with no shade anywhere on it.

## Highlights

Boats leave Labuan Bajo before dawn to put people on the ridge at sunrise, which is both the coolest and the best light. Carry water and take the steps slowly; the heat after eight is the real difficulty rather than the gradient. The pink beach on the south side is a separate landing, usually combined with the climb.