Soe is the main town of the interior highlands, about 110 kilometres east of Kupang. It functions as a market hub for the surrounding traditional villages and is the best base for exploring the traditional Timorese interior. The morning market is one of the most vivid in Nusa Tenggara — vendors come from scattered villages to trade ikat textiles, betel nut, local vegetables, and livestock.
The area around Soe is known for its honai — traditional beehive-shaped thatched houses — and for some of the finest ikat weaving in Indonesia. Villages within an hour's drive practice weaving using natural dyes, and it is possible to watch the process and buy directly from weavers. The road from Kupang through Soe and onward to Kefamenanu and the East Timor border is the main artery of West Timor and passes through dramatically varied landscape.