Indonesia is 17,000 islands, and most travellers see three of them. Bali is the entry point; Lombok is the stepping stone east; everywhere else is, for most visitors, theoretical. That theoretical Indonesia is extraordinary. Java contains Borobudur — the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Flores leads to Komodo and the last dragons. Sulawesi has the Torajan death rituals and the Togean Islands. Raja Ampat in West Papua has the richest marine biodiversity in the world. None of these require expedition logistics. They require a domestic flight and the willingness to travel differently from the way Bali trains you to travel.
1. Borobudur, Java
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Borobudur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist mandala built in stone on a hill in Central Java — 504 Buddha statues, 2,672 relief panels, and 72 stupas arranged across nine stacked platforms representing the Buddhist cosmological universe. It is the largest Buddhist temple ever constructed. The sunrise experience from the upper terraces, available through a licensed operator who provides pre-dawn access before general admission, is one of the more profound experiences available in Southeast Asia. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an active place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Fly to Yogyakarta and hire a driver; Borobudur is 40 kilometres away.
2. Komodo National Park, Flores
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Komodo is a national park on a cluster of volcanic islands between Flores and Sumbawa, accessible by liveaboard dive boat or day trip from Labuan Bajo. The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) — the world’s largest lizard, three metres long, 70 kilograms, capable of running at 20 kilometres per hour — lives on Komodo and Rinca islands, where guided walks bring visitors within ten metres of wild animals. The waters around the islands contain some of the strongest currents in Indonesia, which brings extraordinary marine life: oceanic manta rays, whale sharks, pygmy seahorses, and coral formations that were destroyed elsewhere by the 2016 bleaching event but survived here due to the cold upwellings.
3. Mount Bromo Sunrise, Java
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The Tengger Caldera in East Java contains Mount Bromo — an active volcano surrounded by a sea of volcanic sand inside the caldera rim. The pre-dawn drive to the viewpoint at Mount Penanjakan, the descent to the caldera floor by jeep and then on foot, and the approach to the crater edge with sulphur smoke rising and the sky lightening above the outer caldera rim is a combination that makes Bromo one of the most dramatic landscapes accessible in Southeast Asia without technical trekking. The Hindu Tenggerese community in the villages inside the caldera conducts the Kasada festival annually, casting offerings into the active crater.
4. Lombok and the Gili Islands
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Lombok is 30 minutes by fast boat east of Bali and is its own complete island — the southern beaches (Kuta Lombok, not Kuta Bali) are uncrowded, the surf at Desert Point is among the finest left-hand barrels in the world, and Mount Rinjani (3,726 metres) is a two or three-day trekking destination with a crater lake and a summit view that extends to Bali and Sumbawa on clear mornings. The Gili Islands (Trawangan, Air, Meno) are three coral-ringed sand islands north of Lombok with no motor vehicles, excellent snorkelling with sea turtles, and accommodation ranging from budget to boutique.
5. Raja Ampat, West Papua
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Marine biologists describe Raja Ampat as the most biodiverse marine environment on earth — the archipelago at the tip of the Bird’s Head Peninsula in West Papua contains over 1,300 species of reef fish, 700 species of mollusc, and 500 species of coral. The diving is done by liveaboard; day trip diving from Waisai (the main town) is available but covers less ground. The above-water landscape — limestone karst islands covered in jungle rising from flat, still water — is unlike anything in Indonesia. The best dive sites include Misool (manta rays, wobbegong sharks), the Passage (a narrow channel between two islands), and Blue Water Mangroves.
6. Tana Toraja, Sulawesi
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Tana Toraja is a highland district in South Sulawesi where the Torajan people practice an animist-influenced Christianity with funeral rituals that are among the most elaborate in the world. Torajan funerals — which can last several days and involve hundreds of guests, ritual slaughter of water buffaloes, and the housing of the deceased in the family home for months or years before burial — are the cultural experience in Indonesia that no guidebook can prepare you for adequately. The dead are buried in rock-face graves with carved wooden effigies (tau tau) standing watch. Visits to funeral ceremonies are welcomed; local guides manage the protocol. Fly to Makassar and take an overnight bus or hire a driver.
7. Yogyakarta, Java
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Yogyakarta (Jogja) is the cultural capital of Java — the centre of traditional Javanese court culture, batik textile production, wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre, and gamelan music. The Kraton (Sultan’s Palace) is a functioning royal court that conducts weekly gamelan performances and maintains palace art collections. The street food in the pedestrianised Jalan Malioboro market corridor — gudeg (young jackfruit curry, unique to Yogyakarta), bakpia pastries, and nasi kucing street stalls — is the most distinctive regional food culture in Java. Yogyakarta is also the base for Borobudur and Prambanan (a 9th-century Hindu temple complex with 240 temples, 20 kilometres from the city).
Practical Information
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Indonesia requires domestic flights to move between islands efficiently — Lion Air and Citilink cover all routes for under . The visa-on-arrival for most nationalities (including UK, US, EU, and Australia) costs for 30 days, extendable once. Raja Ampat has a conservation entry fee (approximately per person for a ten-day permit) that funds reef protection; it is required and worth paying. The dry season (May to October) is the best time to visit most islands; Komodo and Raja Ampat are both year-round but Komodo waters are clearest May to August. Borobudur and Yogyakarta are accessible year-round. Carry Indonesian rupiah (IDR) in cash for accommodation and transport outside Bali and Lombok.
