Sumbawa Besar, West Nusa Tenggara

Sumbawa Besar is one of the most populated towns beside Bima and Dompu in the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. It is the capital city of the island and of the Sumbawa Regency of the province of West Nusa Tenggara.

The slogan of the town is BESAR which can mean big in Indonesian. However, this slogan has been used an acronym for:

* B Bersih (Clean),
* E Elok (Beautiful),
* S Sehat (Healthy),
* A Aman (Safe),
* R Rapi (Proper).

Languages

Indonesian is widely spoken in Sumbawa BESAR with some local languages such as Samawa and Balinese (spoken by Balinese people that moved to Sumbawa BESAR).

Transportation

Public transportation in Sumbawa BESAR may include bemo, dokar, and becak.

There are two lines of bemo there, Blue bemo and Yellow bemo. Each serves different routes around the city but both pass the most crowded street in the city, Jalan Kartini. Jalan Kartini may be considered as the centre of the city since local merchants are concentrated in this area and youngsters usually hang out around the water fountain in the middle of the street.

There is one small airport named Bandar Udara Brangbiji that serves some small flights to and from Mataram. However, due to the limited number of passengers using these flight services, the flight schedules have been limited to once or twice a week. Mainly, the flights are served by Trigana.

Tourism

Tourism in Sumbawa BESAR or Sumbawa has not been promoted by the government. However, thanks to that, Sumbawa has really nice untouched beaches that many tourists, local, national or international, have enjoyed.

There are several small hotels / motels in Sumbawa BESAR. They may include Hotel Tambora, Hotel Suci, etc

Sumbawa Surf

This island, much like neighboring Lombok, is much drier than Bali and other parts of Indo. The land is mostly barren with many steep cliffs dropping straight into sea. The two main surfing areas are West Sumbawa and the Lakey area.

West Sumbawa is mostly made up of hollow lefts that are best accessed by boat charter. The charters will pull up and anchor at the best breaks for easy access to the surf. This area has many steep cliffs that offer scenic backdrops to the epic surf.

The Lakey area can be accessed by charter, as well as by ferry and overland transfers, or flights from Bali. Here there some hotels and surf camps located right in front of the main breaks of Lakey Peak and Lakey Pipe, with other waves within walking distance. Most waves are a long paddle or walk across the reef depending on the tide, reef booties are recommended.

During the dry season (May – October), the tradewinds blow from the southeast offering offshore winds to the lefts of West Sumbawa. Alternately, the winds in the wet season (November – April), blow from the southwest which results in more right breaks with offshore conditions like Yo-Yo’s. Water temperatures are in the mid 70’s, but a vest or springsuit can come in handy on windy days. The sun is directly overhead this close to the equator so lots of sunscreen and rashguards are highly recommended.

 

Related resources

• Bima City
• Dompu Regency