SUMBAWA BESAR 's open streets are lined with crumbling white plaster buildings, bright-blue wooden doors adorning its many shopfronts. It is now the largest town on the island, and visitors looking to break up the bus-run across the island could do worse than stop here. It's a sprawling place with no particular centre and, apart from a small cluster of losmen on Jalan Hasanuddin near the river, accommodation is also spread across town.

Most buses from the west arrive at Barang Barat bus terminal on the east side of town, a fifteen-minute walk south from the centre, but they may drop you at the more central old bus station on Jalan Yos Sudarso. Early-morning buses going east to Bima (Rp12,500), Dompu (Rp7500) and Sape (Rp15,000) leave from the Barang Barat terminal from 5.30am until 3.30pm. For Taliwang (Rp3000) and night buses running both east and west, use the Karang Dima terminal , 6km northwest of town, reachable by bemo from the town centre. The yellow bemos , bemo kota, do round-trips of the town and can be flagged down on the street or picked up at the Seketeng market terminal on Jalan Setiabudi; they charge a flat rate of Rp400. The airport is a short dokar ride into town and a five-minute walk to the Tambora Hotel; the Merpati office is on Jalan Yos Sudarso by the post office, and the Tambora Hotel is also an agent. The nearest Pelni port is at Badas , to the north of the city.

The BNI bank at Jl Kartini 10 (Mon-Fri 8.15am-4.15pm) has an ATM. If you're heading east and have currency other than US dollars, then change enough here to see you through. The post office is located on Jalan Yos Sudarso, and the Telkom opposite has international telephone and fax. The best source of information in Sumbawa is a guide called Abdul Muis, who can be contacted through the Tirtasari Cottages (tel 0371/21987), about 5km west of town at Seliperate. He is the only real choice for a guide to climb Gunung Tambora or visit Sumbawa's only practising animist peoples at Tepal. The PHPA parks office is on Jalan Garuda (Mon-Sat 8am-3pm; tel 0371/21358), and can provide information about Pulau Moyo.