Indonesia: Need help with preliminary planning
 

Hello,

Trying to decide between 3 weeks to either Indonesia or Malaysia. I am leaning more towards Indonesia as it seems to have more to offer in terms of culture, better food and more budget options for transport, lodging, etc.

I can only take 3 weeks vacation in 2009. I usually take my vacation during the Canadian winter (Feb/March) and I was initially thinking on going to Malaysia late Feb-March.

However, after doing more research I thought that Indonesia would interest me more. So I instead chose to book off vacation for three weeks starting in early April as this would be a drier time to visit Indonesia vs. Feb/March.

Problem is: with only 3 weeks to travel, Indonesia seems overwhelming! It would seem a shame to go to Indonesia for only 3 weeks and pick a tiny portion of the highlights to see. I was thinking Bali, Lombok and Yogyakarta (to visit Prambanan and Borobudur). This would not seem to leave ANY time to do anything more "remote" i.e. visit to Sulawesi.

After reading more into Indonesia, and being fascinated by the range of options of things to see/do, I feel that if I now picked Malaysia, I would be "settling" for something else that was not my first choice (I know, sounds a bit snobby...lol). However, Malaysia (I'm considering just the peninsula) seems more "doable" in three weeks since places are closer together.

So, with only 3 weeks (plus maybe a few extra days) to travel, should I save Indonesia for another trip when I can dedicate at least a month?

Would Malaysia dissappoint in comaprison to Indonesia? (I've been to Bangkok, Laos and Cambodia before, so this would not be my first trip to Asia).

If I chose Malaysia, would three weeks even be enough to see the highlights on just the Peninsula? (Plus maybe a day in Singapore). (Things we like to do include: light hiking, forests, volcanoes, wandering city streets, local markets, snorkelling, beaches!!!, museums, etc.)

How much less of a budget destination is Malaysia than Indonesia?

Any opinions/advice would be much appreciated.


Thanks!

Andrea

Guess I should also add that our budget would be i.e. $30US/night or less for lodging, meals under $5-10US. We will be backpacking.

Thanks.

Look, no matter where you go, you'll see only a small portion of the country.

In your price range, Indonesia is more do-able, in my opinion. And your plan for Bali, Central Java and Lombok is excellent.

Thanks Kathie. I guess my questions are really ones I have a gut feeling answer about but chose to ask anyway :)

In terms of flights...do most people visiting Bali/Lombok fly to Singapore and then get a connecting flight to Indonesia? (Coming from US/Canada). I'm finding that fligths that go directly to Denpasar are super $$$.

If flying to Singapore (Singapore Air seems most reasonably priced) would I then have to book the connecting flight to Indo. on my own with a budget asian airline or would most travel agents have access to options for connecting flights?

Thanks again.

Singapore is the closest gateway city to Indonesia. If you are flying Singapore AIr, you might see if they can get you a great price flying on Silk Air (their subsidiary). Se what it would cost to fly into Mataram (Lombok) and out of Solo (central Java) or vise versa. SIlk is usually rather expensive, but if you are using Singapore a cross the Pacific and book it all as one ticket, you can often get great deals. You would then make you own internal flight arrangements as needed once you are there.

I understand Air Asia now services Indonesia flying to/from various points though Jakarta. That's a bit inconvenient, but it should be cheap. Take a look at their website.

Sounds like a wonderful trip!

Kathie,

Thanks very much for the specific suggestions. I will consider these options and start pricing things out.

Cheers!

Kathie really is one of our experts on this board, I agree with her advice.

If you are interested we have a relative on the west coast who is Indonesian and is a travel specialist for Indonesia. She travels frequently to Indonesian to check out places. Bob has used her for some of his asia trips and we have used her as well. Just let me know and I will post her email for you to contact.

Check out Air Asia (www.airasia.com). It's a Malaysian airline, so if you can fly to Kuala Lumpur first, there are very cheap flights to Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Solo, and Denpasar that are very cheap, less then $80 one way. It's a budget airline though.