The city is on the eastern shore of Bima Bay. Bima is on the Sumbawa road. Sape harbor is to the east and Dompu to the southwest. Historically, Bima was a port city that connected to other port cities in Eastern Indonesia such as Makassar and Ternate, and to ports in Lombok, Bali, and East Java. Bus services from Bima go to neighboring cities in Sumbawa and as far as Mataram in Lombok.