Some of the most beautiful Ikat (woven cloth) is produced in Flores and the surrounding islands.
Flores Coffee is addictive, it has a rich, fragrant taste with just the faintest hint of chocolate lingering somewhere on your taste buds, once tried, never forgotten. 

Places
Kelimutu  It is believed that the souls of the dead go to the 3 coloured lakes of the Volcano Kelimutu, the young go to the green lake, the old to the red one and of course the evil to the black lake.  Spectacular views tempt people to the top, after rising early to catch the sunset at 4 am, leave your guest house in Moni for the short drive to the summit, from the drop off point it's a15 minute hike up to the best vantage point, where you can watch the sun rise slowly over the horizon to eventually spill colour into the lakes, no one is quite sure why the lakes are different colours or why they keep changing colour, some scientists put it down to the effect of the sulphurous activity underneath or different algae and reactions to metal ores, but maybe it's really just the amount of souls that keep filling up the lakes, who knows, but it's spectacular whatever the reason and should not be missed.

Ruteng
The business centre of Flores, this is more about the views on the way of the spectacular rice paddies and waterfalls.  Ruteng itself has tree shaded streets and very photogenic churches, the town is high at 1,100 metres and definitely gets cold on a night.

The Bajawa Highlands
One of the most traditional areas of Flores, Bajawa is a small town nestled in the hills and  is the centre for the Ngada people of this plateau area, you'll see coming into the town from Ruteng the volcano Gunung Inerie, not so far away is Gunung Wolobobor an extinct volcano with it's top shaved off, the effects of it's final eruption.
The traditional villages of Bena, Langa. Boawae, Wogo and Ogi can be visited from Bajawa with a Thursday market at Soa.
The area is mostly covered in reed like alang-alang grass used in making roofs.  Coconut, lontar palms, tamarind, bamboo, citrus trees, bananas, breadfruit and mangoes grow wild here, the land is so fertile. 

Ende
This is the Capital of Flores, to which the Dutch exiled the first President of Indonesia, Soekarno to, in the 1930s, you can still visit the house he lived in. The area is dominated by the Volcanoes Gunung Meja and Gunung Iya.

Moni
A small town at the base of Keli Mutu,  on the Ende to Maumere road.  It is cooler than the lowlands and a good base for walks, the monday market is a highlight and major local event, with dance performances in the evening.

Wolowaru 
An oversized village, with access to the tiny weaving villages of Nggela, Jopu and Wolonjita.  Intricately woven sarongs and shawls can be bought here, a beautiful and interesting walk brings you to these villages, but try to avoid the heat of midday.  From the cliff top views of the village of Nggela, a daunting sight of extinct, dormant and still active volcanoes can be seen. 

Maumere 
This port town on the north eastern coast has an airfield which is serviced by Merpati.  Ikat weaving traditions are very strong here.  Maumere was totally devastated by an earthquake in December 1992, causing a 20 metre high tsunami, which killed thousands of people, the town has now been completely rebuilt and the some of the surrounding reefs are back to a healthy condition. 

Riung
A couple of hours bumpy bus or Truck ride from Ruteng brings you to the quaint town of Riung on the northern coast, with a group of tiny islands just off the coast, they give beautiful snorkeling, big monitor lizards can be seen in the area, but they are nowhere near the size of the Komodo Dragons.

The Ngada people
Although the Ngada people are now Christian, they still keep many of their ancient rituals and customs from their days of animism, Wooden poles carved with faces of buffalos, stone totem figures and megaliths can still be seen.  They practise ironsmithing, pottery and dye cloth to make traditional sarungs with beautiful yellow embroidery
The tradition of the Ngadhu basically these are carved poles supporting a round thatched roof, they are the male symbols used in ancestor worship and to guard against sickness and preserve fertility both human and agricultural,  they protect the fields from the spirits (polo) and honour the gods of clouds and mists (noca) the female counterpart is the bhaga a structure that looks like a miniature thatched house.

Traditional villages
The villages are made up of two rows of closely placed raised wooden houses facing a main square, some villages have stone walls surrounding them, with stone pillars, stone megaliths and ritual poles where buffalo were once sacrificed.