Hotel Monika

It looks like a small villa among lots of other tourist cottages, and it would actually be more of a homestay than a hotel. The garden is lively and kind of colorful. Parking is available, but the lot is very narrow.

The room for two is quite large, with two single beds, a TV, a table and two chairs. The bathroom is spacious too, and has a bathtub. There’s hot water for bathing, and a water dispenser outside the room to refill our bottles. The food and drinks are quite good.

The staff are really friendly and try to help whenever they can, and breakfast is lovely: toast, pancakes, Tamarello juice, which I miss, and of course rice. You can buy fruit or food at the market and ask them to prepare it for breakfast. The only drawback was the WiFi, which didn’t always work, mostly during storms. Just buy a SimCard and you’ll be fine. Two other girls and I stayed at Wisma Monika for two weeks. We booked one air conditioned room for the three of us at a very reasonable price. The guesthouse is right in the middle of Rantepao, so you can easily walk around the city. There are several terraces where you can sit and read, and it’s really calm. Sometimes you hear motorbikes and chickens, but that’s everywhere. There’s a local market and some shops selling design t-shirts next door, and the Mambo restaurant is beside it too, handy for a quick dinner before bed. If I ever go back to Toraja, I’d definitely stay at Wisma Monika again!

That night in Sulawesi was a nightmare. I woke up to bugs crawling all over the mattress and pillow, and I was nearly eaten alive. When I checked, the pillow didn’t look like it had been washed in the last few uses. I stayed at Monika Hotel In Toraja in Sulawesi for one night, Oct 29-30, 2019. Avoid it unless you want to spend your holiday in Indonesia scratching all over.