Around Dili

Lest we forget the mighty mikrolet

In Dili you have a few options when it comes to how you get around. Borrowing, renting or buying a bicycle, motorbike or car is one option. A large portion of the locals use Dili’s famous mikrolet service. Mikrolets are small minibus-type vehicles that look like oversized breadbins. You can’t miss Dili’s mikrolets; they always have about 10 people hanging off the outside of the vehicle as it trundles around.

A mikrolet is the best way to get around Dili

You can travel almost anywhere around Dili in a mikrolet for 25 cents or 10 cents for a short trip. It’s best to ask someone for assistance if you don’t know which mikrolet to get on for your destination.

There’s usually not much room on the mikrolets, but you hop on, find your space to crouch and enjoy the ride. When you want to get off just tap on the roof or side of the vehicle. You pay the guy in charge of the money when you disembark.

Mikrolets are all over Dili, but they don’t all go to the same place and are organized by a number, 1 through 10. Each number does a circuit before ending up where it started. There’s a mikrolet stop on the opposite side of the roundabout to the stadium where numbers 1 and 2 can be caught. Mikrolets 3 to 8 start and finish in the south of Dili at Taibessi, while 9 and 10 serve Tasitolu, taking passengers out past the airport.

Mikrolets don’t run at night and there’s no real schedule during the day, but if there’s daylight and you’re outside, chances are you be able to find one in a matter of seconds. The mikrolet service in Dili is much cheaper than using taxis, but is less convenient in many ways.

If you want to travel around Dili by taxi, expect to pay between $1 and $3 depending on how far you go and how good your haggling skills are.