With 17,000 islands stretching 5,100 kilometres along the equator, crossing two tectonic plates, deep sea trenches and volcanic mountain chains, Indonesia offers up a lifetime’s worth of exploration. There’s the capital city, Jakarta, with its honking traffic, Dutch heritage buildings and ever-increasing number of glittering high-rises. And the ancient city of Yogyakarta, home to enormous Buddhist temple complexes, Borobudur and Prambanan, built in the 8th and 9th centuries respectively. Beaches of every shade — white, gold, silver, pink, black — shimmying the length of the country. Volcanoes seem to be puffing almost everywhere you look, including some that have changed the course of history (the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, one of the largest in recorded history, darkened the world for a year and is said to have partially inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein). And that’s without even mentioning the wealth of cultures, languages, wildlife, food and art.
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Main photo: Ulun Danu Bratan Temple in Bali (Getty Images)
What to do
Where to begin with the largest country in Southeast Asia? Unless you’ve got a few months to spare you’ll need to hone your itinerary to the absolute highlights, which for most includes Bali. The teardrop-shaped island has been luring writers, artists and musicians to its shores for over a century — and who could fail to be inspired by its luscious landscape of blackened volcanoes, ruffled rice fields, pewter beaches and stone-walled villages?
From here, you can find an easy change of scene by hopping on the ferry to Lombok, Nusa Penida* or the Gili Islands triplets — Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air — where you’ll find less-visited white sand beaches, bales of sea turtles and a vibe so laid back it’s almost horizontal. A one-hour flight from Bali’s Denpansar airport will deliver you to the wonders of Nusa Tenggara, home to a 500-strong chain of volcanic, coral ringed islands, so beautiful you’ll wonder if they’re real. The main attraction here is Komodo National Park*, and its genuinely fearsome Komodo dragons; but nearby Flores is a destination in its own right, with an astonishing array of flora and fauna, brilliant snorkelling straight off the beach and dozens of dive sites filled with manta rays, whale sharks and creaking shipwrecks. Sweep this whole magical region up, along with jewel-like islands of Raja Ampat and Indonesian Papua, with a cruise on a traditional Indonesian phinisi.
For all this, you still haven’t really experienced Indonesia until you’ve visited the island of Java*, where you’ll find the sprawling capital Jakarta, cultural big hitter Yogyakarta, and Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park with its spine of volcanoes, including the magnificent Mount Bromo.
Where to stay
Indonesia’s accommodation options run the full gamut, from cosy homestays (known as penginapan) offering a taste of village life, to buzzy backpacker hostels, trendsetting boutique hotels, beachside wellness retreats, palatial five-star resorts with butlers, golf buggies and pool villas.
With millions of visitors descending each year, Bali* has, unsurprisingly, the widest range of places to stay, including a galaxy of honeymoon-worthy resorts. Lombok and the Gilis offer a more thoughtful range of small but stylish hotels. Jakarta is well-catered, too; escape the chaos of the city with a stay in a haute high-rise hotel, such as Raffles*, which towers above the financial district, or the Langham*, which has a city view swimming pool on the 63rd floor.
If you’re planning to strike out further afield, you might find yourself bedding down in a jungle long-house, a riverside lodge with orangutan for neighbours, a thatched cottage opening onto miles of surf beach or an eco-resort stilted above a marine reserve in the Pacific Ocean.
Don’t miss
The island of Sumba is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a truly enigmatic landscape of rolling hills, golden prairies, emerald rainforest, fairytale lakes, towering waterfalls, coastal cliffs and blonde-bombshell beaches studded with boulders as big as houses. But, for all the majesty of the landscape the culture is arguably just as fascinating, combining a 19th-century conversion to Christianity with ancient animist beliefs and a 1,200-year history of horse-breeding. Visit a local village and you’ll find massive monolithic stone tombs, stilted houses shaped like witches’ hats with cattle sleeping underneath the floorboards, wooden churches painted with images of Jesus on a the back of stallion, and sweet little Sandalwood ponies ready to be exported for children to ride in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
It is amazing that so few tourists make it here but that’s partly been due to a lack of accommodation, with the only options the credit card-busting Nihi Sumba* resort and a handful of surf shacks. However, that looks set to change with the arrival of a handful of eco-friendly boutique hotels which have sprouted up, among them Lelewatu Resort Sumba* and Alamaya*.
When to visit
As a year-round tropical destination Indonesia’s seasons are dictated by the monsoons, with the dry season falling roughly from May to October. November to April tends to be hot and wet.
Currency Indonesian rupiah
Take me there
Inspired to visit Indonesia but yet to book your trip? Here are the best packages from Virgin Holidays* and Tui*.
• Discover holidays to Jakarta*
• Discover holidays to Yogyakarta*
• Discover holidays to Bali*
• Discover tours in Indonesia*
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