West Papua or Papua New Guinea

I think it is good to see both sides of the island.
And if deciding to visit Papua, I'd also add the Raja Ampat Islands and maybe the Arfak Mts to get a more complete picture.
Everyday life around the Baliem Valley tends to be more traditional than in the PNG highlands, though the latter has much more colorful festivals.
More on this:
http://www.east-indonesia.info/faq/papua-travel-information-faq.html#10

Hi Laszlo,

Many thanks for the response and now planning to visit both sides of the island.

One issue that poses a real problem is the need to show an onward ticket when entering PNG from Papua.

As per your site advise planning to get a cheap Air Asia exit ticket ( which we can discard ) to allow for our initial entry into Indonesia but do you have any suggestions for when we cross the land border into PNG.

Ultimately will be heading onwards to the Solomon Islands but want to keep that date open if at all possible so don't want to waste what could be an expensive flight booking if not used on a fixed date.

Have not been able to identify any cheap onward flights to other destinations from PNG to get round the formal entry requirement so would appreciate any suggestions you may have to get round this problem.

Assume buying a second cheap Air Asia ticket that routes out of Jakarta post our entry into PNG would not count even if we implied we would be crossing back over the land border into Papua from PNG to
get that phantom flight.

Thanks again,

John R

In the past tickets out of Indonesia were accepted as many people visited PNG as a side-trip from Papua.
However, actual requirements to get a PNG visa from the consulate in Jayapura have kept changing all the time, and you will only find out once there.
If planning to fly to the Solomons, you could see if your ticket there allows date changes.

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