Readers,
I would start to describe Manado for people outside Indonesia or Manado to know at glance about this beautiful city. Manado is a coastal city of 500,000 inhabitants, surrounded by mountains and seas. The average range of temperatures is 18-34 degrees celcius.
Manadonese people are friendly and they are famous of their smiles and warmth. Manado is the city of plurality and a city where people of different religions and etnicalities live in harmony. You can easily find churches, mosques, cathedrals, and chinese temples standing side-by-side in Manado.
Manado can be reached by all means of transportations and from both domestic and international cities. Many national air carriers fly to Manado from many main Indonesian cities such as Jakarta, Makassar, Surabaya, Bali, Yogyakarta, Sorong, Jayapura and other cities. For international travellers, it is an interesting development as AirAsia has just opened its Kuala Lumpur-Manado routes v.v. Singapore Airlines also flies to Manado from Singapore.
Manado can also be reached by sea through an international seaport of Bitung. Roads connecting cities in and outside Manado are normally well-maintained, yet some improvements on roads condition need to be done.
Manado provides more than 5,000 rooms of 5-star hotels to small hotels. Shopping in Manado is endless as you can get almost all goods and apparels in Jakarta and other main cities in Indonesia. Shopping malls and finest restaurants line up on the front city of Manado along the Malalayang boulevard.
Transportations in the city vary from motor-cycle taxis, mini buses and taxi meters. While inter city buses ply the routes Manado to Bitung, Kotamobagu, Tomohon, Gorontalo, Palu, Kendari and Makassar in the island of Sulawesi.
All kind of international and local cuisines are available in the city. International cuisines are served in hotels while some finest restaurants serve eaters with all sorts of choices of food and cuisines. You just name it. Yet, one food that is worth trying is the icon of Manadonese food locally named Bubur Manado or Manadonese porridge. This porridge is rich with many vegetables and served with hot chilly sauce known as dabu-dabu.
One thing that you must not miss if you visit Manado is Bunaken, the home of many rare fish and one of the best diving spots in the world. Bunaken offers visitors and divers with unforgettable experince.
