Things to do in Banjarmasin
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Banjarmasin
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Driest months and the best window, when dawn markets, Bakut, Loksado rafting and the roads all work as planned.
Shoulder months on the dry season edges, fewer visitors with occasional heavy showers.
Wet season, peaking December to February, with flooding most likely and Loksado's river high and road slow.
What's on
- Festival Budaya Pasar Terapung Late September, around 24 September
The flagship floating market culture festival on the Siring for the city anniversary, with massed boats and river parades.
- Festival Pasar Terapung Lok Baintan Late July
The regency floating market festival at Lok Baintan itself, when the dawn market is at its fullest.
- Jukung Hias Tanglong Festival End of Ramadan, dates move yearly
Illuminated decorated boats on the Martapura at the Siring, a Ramadan tradition formalised as a festival since 2006.
- Pasar Wadai Ramadan Throughout Ramadan, dates move yearly
The Ramadan cake fair running since 1985, dozens of stalls of Banjar wadai cakes near the Siring at dusk.
- Haul Guru Sekumpul 5 Rajab, recent editions late December and January
A gathering of millions of pilgrims at Sekumpul, Martapura, which fills every hotel and road across the Banjarmasin corridor.
- Banjarmasin Sasirangan Festival Early in the year, dates vary
The city's sasirangan cloth festival of exhibitions and workshops, worth confirming in the city calendar before booking around it.
Best things to do in Banjarmasin
Pasar Terapung Lok Baintan
The authentic dawn floating market up the Martapura River, where women traders sell produce and breakfasts canoe to canoe.
Pasar Terapung Muara Kuin
The historic floating market inside the city, much shrunk today, so pair the dawn visit with a canal or island boat trip.
Taman Siring 0 Kilometer
The Martapura riverfront promenade with the Bekantan statue and viewing tower, liveliest at dusk when food stalls set up.
Masjid Raya Sabilal Muhtadin - Banjarmasin
South Kalimantan's grand mosque, a vast domed complex by the river and the centre of the city's religious life.
Masjid Sultan Suriansyah
The oldest mosque in South Kalimantan, founded in 1526, an ironwood stilt building with a layered pre Islamic style roof.
Museum WASAKA
South Kalimantan's independence struggle told in a traditional Banjar high house on the Martapura riverbank.
Kampung Sasirangan
Workshops making sasirangan, the bright hand dyed Banjar cloth, where you can watch the process and buy direct from makers.
Masjid Jami Banjarmasin
The city's historic Jami mosque, best paired with the Sasirangan village and the old commercial streets around Pasar Lama.
Where to stay in Banjarmasin
Siring, Banjarmasin Tengah
first trip, dawn boats and the old town
Walk to the floating market piers, the Siring promenade and Sabilal Muhtadin, and feel the river city instead of commuting to it.
Jl. Ahmad Yani corridor and Duta Mall
families, business and hotel comfort
The biggest and best run full service hotels and the mall, at the cost of a Grab ride to the river and a later dawn start.
Think twice about
- Banjarbaru and the airport strip
Not unsafe, but 40 plus minutes from the river, markets and restaurants, in a newer city that closes early. Stay only for a very early flight.
- Lowest riverside kampungs along Kuin and Alalak and the Banjarmasin Selatan lowlands
Residential, flood and tide prone neighbourhoods with little visitor accommodation of any quality and a wet season reason to avoid basing there.
- Trisakti port area at night
A working port zone, poorly lit with nothing for a visitor after dark. Pass through by day if your boat uses it.
Best restaurants in Banjarmasin
Soto Bang Amat - Banjarmasin
The most famous soto Banjar in South Kalimantan, served in a riverbank pavilion with chicken satay and live panting music.
RM Lontong Orari
A central institution for flat triangular lontong with full Banjar accompaniments, the in town alternative to Bang Amat.
Depot Sari Patin
The city's best supported river fish feast, grilled patin and eggplant with sambal and notably fresh crunchy vegetables.
Pondok Patin Bakar Restaurant
Patin grilled over charcoal with spices, sweet soy and sambal in banana leaf, in an open pavilion built for group lunches.
Rumah Makan Lezat Baru
Banjarmasin's old school Chinese institution, famous for juan lo steamboat soup, sapo tofu and butter fried pork.
Waroeng Pondok Bahari
A warung near the Siring whose low priced menu covers the whole Banjar canon, starting with ketupat Kandangan for breakfast.
Warung NOVI - Nasi Sop & Soto Banjar
A long hours central soto and nasi sop warung where office workers eat, ordinary in the best local sense.
Restaurant Lima Rasa
The Ahmad Yani corridor's big group friendly Chinese Indonesian restaurant, the easy air conditioned dinner near the hotels.
Outdoor things to do in Banjarmasin
Kelotok Wisata Susur Sungai
A klotok cruise through the Martapura canals past stilt houses and riverbank mosques, best at dawn or in late afternoon light.
Pulau Bakut
A mangrove island under the Barito Bridge with boardwalks and wild proboscis monkeys you watch quietly from a distance.
Pulau Kembang
A river island of bold long tailed macaques that will climb on you and your bag, an adventure rather than a gentle encounter.
Bamboo Rafting Loksado
A three hour descent of the Amandit River on a lashed bamboo raft through rainforest, the signature South Kalimantan adventure.
Loksado
Meratus foothill trekking over bamboo bridges and past waterfalls to Dayak longhouse villages, the second essential Loksado day.
Pertokoan Cahaya Bumi Selamat
Martapura's gem trading centre, paired with the Cempaka digging fields where miners still pan for rough diamonds by hand.
Swargaloka Golf Club
The only real round near Banjarmasin, a well used local club course in Banjarbaru best played early before heat and rain.
Pandak Daun
A stilt swamp village where water buffalo swim home at sunset, a long specialist outing for repeat visitors and photographers.
Best hotels in Banjarmasin
Swiss-Belhotel Borneo Banjarmasin
The best located full service hotel in the centre, with a pool and the pier access a first Banjarmasin trip needs.
Hotel Victoria River View
A mid range hotel in the walkable centre where high rooms facing the Martapura give you the river view in the name.
POP! Hotel Banjarmasin
The smart budget base in the centre, small clean rooms and a good entrance cafe a short ride from the Siring piers.
Rattan Inn Banjarmasin
The city's most loved full service hotel, a garden resort style four star with a large pool on the Ahmad Yani corridor.
FUGO Hotel Banjarmasin
The newer upscale option on the Ahmad Yani corridor, a contemporary high rise alternative to Rattan Inn's resort sprawl.
G'Sign Hotel Banjarmasin
A modern business hotel on the corridor whose concierge arranges the Martapura gem market and proboscis monkey trips.
favehotel Ahmad Yani Banjarmasin
The corridor's value chain pick next to Duta Mall, colourful functional rooms with a 24 hour restaurant.
Zuri Express Banjarmasin
A compact, very clean budget hotel out the Yani road, praised for local breakfasts and an English speaking manager.
Is Banjarmasin expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | IDR 350,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | IDR 750,000 a person |
| Splurge | IDR 1,600,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Pasar Terapung Lok Baintan: a few days ahead
- Kelotok Wisata Susur Sungai: a few days ahead
- Bamboo Rafting Loksado: weeks ahead
- Loksado: weeks ahead
- Pertokoan Cahaya Bumi Selamat: a few days ahead
- Swargaloka Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Pandak Daun: weeks ahead
- Rumah Makan Lezat Baru: a few days ahead
- Fix a private Lok Baintan klotok a day ahead through your hotel for a fair price and a 5am start.
- Loksado needs at least 2 days and an established operator, booked days to weeks ahead in the dry season.
- Hotels only sell out corridor wide during Haul Guru Sekumpul, when you should book as early as possible or avoid the dates.
Is Banjarmasin safe?
- Banjarmasin floods: tidal flooding hits the lowest riverside streets and wet season rain can close streets and cancel river plans.
- Hold phones, cameras and bags tight on Pulau Kembang, where habituated macaques snatch loose items.
- Dress modestly at mosques and in kampung neighbourhoods, and note alcohol is scarce and not publicly consumed.
Banjarmasin travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Muara Kuin sold as the floating market, when Lok Baintan is the real dawn trip and Kuin is much reduced.
- Gemstones in Martapura bought as investments without independent certification.
- Loksado or the swimming buffalo sold as a relaxed day trip, which the drive times do not allow.
Getting around Banjarmasin: public transport and more
- Hire klotok by the boat at the Siring Tendean piers or Benua Anyar and agree route, duration and total price in cash before boarding.
- Grab and Gojek cars and motorbikes cover the city well and are the visitor default on land.
- Syamsudin Noor Airport is in Banjarbaru, roughly 45 minutes to an hour from central hotels, and Banjarmasin runs on WITA, one hour ahead of Jakarta.
Who Banjarmasin suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Banjarmasin your trip
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