July/August Indonesia

[HappyHolidays75]

Inspired by the Borneo thread I was wondering if people had recommendations for a 3ish week trip to Indonesia.

I was thinking about flying into Jakarta and out of Bali but nothing is set on stone.

Older teens, very easy going, backpacking rather than upmarket, independent rather than organised travel, homestays or guest houses rather than posh hotels. We like nature, water, hiking, culture.
Previous holiday highlights have been a homestay on the kinabatagan river, hiking culture surfing and food in Sri Lanka, white water rafting in various place, camping in France.

Thanks!

So, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, or France??

Your OP makes no sense....

Been to all and all are fabulous.

I'd take them to Asia. A whole different culture. They'll learn a lot.

Oh sorry, got the wrong end of the stick (You've been to Sri Lanka).

Yes, go to Indonesia but not just Bali.....

Borubudur Temple and Prambanan (Buddhist/Hindu) on Java are incredible.

Watch Bali on Netflix. Ibiza in the Far East. Influencers have ruined it.

I ve worked as an academic at a University in Jatim (Java Timor)for about 2 years and have had the opportunity to visit many of the big islands in Indonesia.Bali is a good hub for international flights..some connections to Australia for about £50 for example but i would say just do a few days there otherwise you ll get a kind of bad impression from much of what ll you see there-bogan tourist hordes and migrant crimewave .If u stay Bali head to the village of Celuk ,Bangli ,Mount Agung ,Lake Batur and the beaches north like Lovina.The well known beaches around the greater Denpasar area aren't safe and swimmers get killed monthly trying to swim there.
Makassar is the transit hub for East Indonesia so you can get to Raja Ampat for the world class dive sites around Waigeo island and prehistoric paintings on Misool and into Papua which is generally safe in its bigger city areawithout permits needed.I d say Wasur NP next to Merauke is worth a look amd normally about £30 to fly to from Jayapura.Most of the airports in Papua have small airlines which can fly you on regular flights around the outback of Papua cheaply.You can book tickets at the main Papuan airports.
Sulawesi is very interesting for its prehistoric sights and Tana Toraja with its mummy effigie sites is very beautiful to behold.Togian islands are like a small poor Maldives.And the Badan valley has a huge megalith collection sitting along it.There is also a new railway to ride on Sulawesi between Makassar and Pare Pare.You can daily on a boat from Northern Bali to the Kangean Islands then or to the east of Madura at Kalighat.These are very cheap and you ll avoid the road traffic.Travel on the ferry routes such as DLU,Express Bahari and Pelni is extremely cheap in economy.A major ferry hub is Surabaya where u can get to Kupang, southern Kalimantan,Nusa Tenggara and many other places.
The Sumba,Belitung,Karamunjawa islands are all infinitely better than Bali in my book.All mostly resorts for respectable Indonesian families.
Javanese cities are huge and busy but the best would include Yogjakarta(cultural capital)Solo,Sukabumi,Semarang and Malang/Batu.I even like the old city of Jakarta these days.The view of Mt Arjuno from Malang is very capitvating and one of the biggest draws for domestic tourists here.
Sumatra is fine but rural and huge.So travelling on land is an adventure and time consuming with little to see inbetween but Padang,Sawahlunto,Lake Toba,Medan and Palembang are all good places to visit.
If you have any specific questions on travelling to Indonesia then please ask-i know the apps to use for internal travel and how to book ferries etc.

@Walikota that is incredible, thank you! I'll read up on your suggestions and be back with questions.
@suburberphobe yes, that was to give an idea of what we like.
Thank you!

Komodo park was amazing

Loved climbing mount batur - it’s Bali, but writing off Bali is like writing off Mallorca because of magaluf

Loved Tanjung Puting National Park

We went to Indonesia for 3 weeks this summer with older teens
We had 4 days in Singapore - gardens on the bay, bumboat, raffles, sentosa island.
Then 6 days in Bali - villa outside Ubud, temples, yoga, paddy field cycling, monkey forest, cookery classes.
Then 5 days in Flores - Kimodo national park, Padar island, manta rays, sharks turtles
Then 6 days in Nusa Dua. In a lovely hotel but a couple of day trips to Ulluwatu, Nusa Pedina.

Weather was great, food excellent and super cheap. Villas also cheap £100 a night for 4 adults including breakfast. Komodo was exceptional.

@Lordofmyflies @Christmascakeforbreakfast
Can you recommend boats / accomodation for Komodo?

As mentioned Yogyakarta is great and from here east to visit Borobadur and Prambanan. I'd definitely go back to Java.
Despite me saying I'd never go back, we ended up spending over 2 weeks on Bali. We avoided SEAs Benidorm though.
To this day snorkeling in the marine reserve near Pemuteran in the North was one of the best days of my life and a far cry from doing the same off Nusa Lembongan where I'm surprised someone didn't die by being down down by a boat.

Definitely recommend our boat it was one of the highlights of any holiday I’ve done. They were amazing hosts and it was a fantastic ship

https://anandacruises.com

Max and Nana who own it were lovely. I felt safe and they went all out to ensure our DC and we all had a fantastic time. It was like staying on a pirate ship!

Downside is, it’s a spendy option.

@Walikota Thanks for that great post, which has given me lots of ideas.

Do you know what the visa situation is for UK passport holders? The FCDO website www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/indonesia/entry-requirements says you can get a 30-day visa on arrival, which I would take to mean that you just land and get it, without having done anything in advance. And the rest of that page describes just landing and getting it. But there's a link to an Indonesia government page, and when I go through that and answer the questions, even for a maximum 30-day visit it seems to want me to apply in advance, upload my passport and a photo, etc. Is it definitely possible to just get off the plane with only a passport and pay for the visa at Jakarta airport?

We applied for our visa before travel.

Was it fairly easy? Applying for our Indian e-visas online was a bit of a struggle (4 or 5 pages of mostly useless questions) and I'd rather avoid that if I can just smile and hand over my debit card to a human at the airport.

Seemed pretty straightforward from memory

Interesting re visa as when we went in 2017 we had to send passports to Indonesian embassy (or similar) in UK and they manually added a visa.

Edit..just realised, we were there over 30 days so had to send it off before we travelled.

Selamat pagi dari Jatim,
Welcome to the joys of Indonesian bureaucratic procedures.But i ll give the short answer 'yes' its ok.The translations and vagueness are frequent on websites because they have an ambitious civil service with soso English.I would imagine that the must pay site is for the non eligiable VOA countries.It used to visa free for the UK its probably more likely to revert to that if tourist numbers dip enough.

I personally use a one year multi-entry business visa which needs to be applied for before entering Indonesia.But its all electronic without stamps and without queuing mostly.You re allowed 60 days each entry so is topped up by exiting for another 60 days but it lasts over a year and is cheapish ..and agencies can often arrange it for you in advance.Saves on trips to immigration offices which can be very dull and time consuming.I use flights to Singapore from Surabaya which cost about £45 then enter by ferry either Batam or Johor Bahru for another cheap flight back.