Red Sand Beach (Pantai Pasir Merah)

Most beaches in this part of Indonesia are white sand, and after three days of them you stop noticing. This one is reddish-orange, and you notice.

Pantai Pasir Merah sits on the Labengki side, in North Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi. It is one of the few genuinely unusual things on an itinerary already full of unusual things, and it is barely written about in English.

What it actually looks like

The sand is not scarlet. Expectations set by photographs with the saturation pushed up won't survive contact with the place.

What it is, is a distinct reddish-orange, strongest where the sand is wet at the waterline and paler as it dries. Against the greens and blues of shallow water and the grey-and-green of the karst behind it, the contrast is what makes the beach worth stopping at rather than the intensity of the colour on its own.

You'll read claims about pink sand beaches in Indonesia, usually about Komodo. This is not that, and it is not trying to be. It is its own colour.

The tree

A coconut palm leans out low over the water and appears in essentially every photograph taken here. Worth mentioning for a practical reason: if you're shooting, that tree is the composition everyone else already found, and the beach rewards walking further along it.

What is there

Nothing, and that is genuinely the appeal. No warung, no toilets, no shade, no vendors. The boat pulls in, you get off into the shallows, and that's the entire infrastructure.

Bring your own water. Take everything back out, including anything you find already there.

When to go

It is described locally as one of the better sunset spots on Labengki, and the reasoning holds up: warm low light on already-warm-coloured sand does something that midday overhead sun doesn't.

Whether your trip is anywhere near it at that hour depends on where the day started and what the sea is doing. Say it matters to you at the start of the trip rather than at the end, and on a longer trip the crew has more room to make it work.

Practical notes

• Wet landing, like almost everywhere on this route. No pier.
• No shade. If you're staying a while, bring cover.
• The sand stains. Wet reddish sand gets into light-coloured fabric and doesn't come out politely. Dark swimwear, or rinse things properly.
• Take your rubbish with you. There's no collection out here and no bin.

Practical summary

• Getting there: by boat, wet landing, on the Labengki side
• Difficulty: none. Step off and walk in
• Facilities: none at all
• Swimming: yes
• Tide dependent: no
• Best for: photography, a swim, and a break from white sand
• Best light: late afternoon

Common questions

Is the sand really red? Reddish-orange rather than red, and strongest when wet. It is distinctly different from the white sand beaches nearby, which is the point, but photographs online are frequently more saturated than the place.

Why is it that colour? We do not have a source we trust on this specific beach, so we are not going to invent one.

Is it the same as the pink beaches in Komodo? No, and it is a long way from them. Different island, different colour, different cause.

Are there facilities? None. No food, no water, no toilets, no shade. Bring what you need.

Is it on the shorter trips? It appears on the Labengki side of the route. Which stops fit depends on the day and the sea, and longer trips reach more of them. Ours are set out on our four-day Labengki Sombori tour, and the full stop list is on the beaches and lagoons of Labengki and Sombori.

Where exactly is it? On the Labengki side, in North Konawe. The island group as a whole is covered on Labengki Besar and Labengki Kecil.