I am in the very early stages of planning a trip to Indonesia next Jun-Jul-Aug (not 3 months, but maybe around 4-5 weeks in that time frame). I have a very rough idea of places to go and see, but I find the logistics complicated. I think I need help in that department, and a sanity check: would 28-30 days on the ground be enough, or should I scale down the number of destinations? We're interested in history, architecture, scenery and wildlife. Plus some hiking, but given the temps and humidity, nothing strenuous, although at least one sunrise on top of a caldera is a must. We don't need to see all the temples, and we're not interested in beaches, although maybe 1-2 days to relax would be nice. Here is what we'd like to see:
Java - definitely Borobudur and Prambanan, other smaller temples, Dieng Plateau, Bromo area.
Bali
Komodo dragons, most likely as a day trip from Flores - and if we get to Flores, Kelimutu National Park would be nice.
Orangutans - I like the idea of Bukit Lawang better, but the fact that we can also see the proboscis monkey in Tanjung Puting NP is very appealing. We're so close to Borneo, should we consider a different area for maybe 3-4 nights? I know getting from A to B takes time. We would like to pick bases where to stay longer, rather than many short stays.
We'll try to get award flights, so no idea yet where we'll fly into to get to that area, so please suggest anything you think might make sense. Thank you.

Our last trip to Indonesia was a few years ago now but here is a link to our blog which covers some of the places we visited https://accidentalnomads.com/category/indonesia/

We visited what we considered the key sites in Java, mostly travelling by train from Jakarta before getting the ferry across to northern Bali and heading south to Ubud (for some downtime). From Bali we flew to Sulawesi.

Highlights include Mt Ijen & Bromo - we did that with car and driver/guide who dropped us off at the ferry. We wanted to go the Dieng Plateau but the roads were closed due to a collapsed bridge and closed roads.

Travelling by train was definitely the way to go for much of Java but the car and driver was invaluable for the tour. It is not the easiest Asian country in which to travel so you do need to allow time for the unexpected.

I would take a look at Sulawesi which was one of the more unique places we have been to. Again , not the easiest place to get around so a car and driver /guide is the easiest and perhaps only way. Tana Toraja was amazing as were the other location we visited .

We had been to Borneo many times previously so dint head that wa on that trip though there are several posts in the Malaysian section of our blog which may be of interest. There are many locations there that are great for wildlife. Travel is easier and better organised there.

Fell free to ask any questions and I will help if I can.

Thank you, crellston!
I considered Sulawesi, but it seems so remote. But your notes and photos, wow! So intriguing, not just the scenery, but the architecture, the rituals, it's definitely a part of the world worth traveling to. It's the time needed to get there (and back) that worries me, at the expense of other places.
At Mt.Ijen, it seems like not all guides provide gas masks, right? It looks like these views are better than Mt. Bromo, but harder to get to, so yes, another thing to consider. We'll stay away from Albert...how do you find a good guide?
We were lucky to always have good wildlife guides when we needed them for multiple days in a row, but we always arrange them from home. I realize that we pay a premium price for that, but...it's always a "once in a lifetime" trip.
I also found the Malaysian section of your blog, thank you!

I didn't go to Mt. Ijen and so can't compare, but I thought Mt. Bromo pretty darn scenic!

You are most welcome xyz.

Yes, Sulawesi was amazing! Getting there wasn't too bad as we just flew Air Asia to Makkasan. It was arranging the transport on the island that was problematic and took some time (but worked out fine in the end. I recall trying to arrange a tour with several guides but kept getting let down. Eventually "Dodo the Penman" came up trumps.

Mt Ijen is much less visited than Bromo as it is difficult to get there and when you do the accommodation is not great (more than likely down to Albert being useless!) It really makes sense if heading to the ferry for Bali as it is more or less on the way and only needs a night there. Many do an overnight climb leaving at 2.am so as to see the blue lights in the volcano but we have climbed enough mountains to arrive at the peak at dawn, so decided against that . You pick up a guide there so just ask if they have gas masks. Shortly after we were there another volcano on the island erupted , screwing up flights for a few weeks. Yet another lucky escape for us.

We spent a day in Malang checking out tour operators and getting quotes. We settled on Sunrise Tours but made the rookie mistake of not meeting the guide beforehand - never again. If you do decide to go to Tanah Toraja , I still follow our TT guide Ritha on instagram and FB. I think we were one of here very first clients but her guide business seems to have really taken off.

Thank you, kja and crellston.

After reading more blogs and TR, I realized that as much as I would love to see the blue lights and Igen caldera, the hike is too long for us. Maybe not impossible, but not easy and at the expense of something else. We'll keep Bromo (and the sunrise hike/view) and skip Ijen. There is so much to see, and while a month sounds like a long time, it's not nearly enough to scratch the surface...I am working on Sulawesi, would love to add a few more days there, but again, logistics are killing me.

Some random thoughts

Central Java
I would suggest that you stay in the countryside near Borobudur, instead of in the town of Yogyakarta. Though some Yogya city sites merit visits (e. g. the Kraton has superb dance performances and there are several fine batik resources) overall I find the town itself to be crowded and trafficky. The countryside on the other hand is peaceful and bucolic. It’s really the heart of Java. You’ll want to visit Borobudur more than once — at dawn and late afternoon. Try to get a copy of the book Borobudur: Golden Tales Of The Buddha before you go.

East Java
My preference would be to fly from Yogya to Surabaya instead of taking the train. My preference would also be to stay in the Bromo area, instead of “commuting” from Surabaya or Malang. Bromo is a group of several volcanic peaks, which like Borobudur, deserves a longer exposure. Accommodations are fairly basic. Have a look at Jiwa Jawa Resort.

If you choose not to visit Ijen, then I’d backtrack to Surabaya and fly to Bali Denpasar. (The exception to this advice would be if you’d like to scuba or snorkel in north Bali. In that case you’d be better off taking the ferry. Just be aware that it’s a long haul to the ferry port.)

Bali
July & August are peak tourist season on Bali and everything will be packed. My suggestion would be to base yourself in the Ubud area and plan day trips from there. The Ubud Food Festival will take place sometime in June. It’s a wonderful event if you’re interested. If not avoid Ubud at that time.

I’m not a fan of Ubud town itself but the surrounding countryside side is still what you’ll expect from Bali.

For beaches I’d look at Lombok or the Gilis, which would also move you closer to Flores.

Sulawesi
Tanah Toraja in Central Sulawesi is, in my opinion, well worth the effort, for culture, architecture and natural beauty. Flights to Makassar are frequent including from Surabaya and Bali. If you make arrangements with a tour guide in advance, they will pick you up at Makassar airport and drive you to Toraja (as well as guiding you during your time in the area.). Many of the funeral ceremonies are scheduled for the August tourist season. Be forewarned, animal sacrifice is a central feature.

North Sulawesi has some of the most fabulous marine life on the planet for snorkeling or scuba. To get to North Sulawesi from Toraja you need to return to Makassar and fly to Manado. From Manado there are flights to the rest of Indonesia.

I haven’t been to Komodo or to either of national parks you mention so can’t comment, but I remember seeing some detailed trip reports on this site.

Lastly, make sure your passports are valid for at least 6 months after your arrival in Indonesia. For some reason, they are very strict on this point.

@mormot, thank you so much!!! This is great info.
Central Java - I played with the idea of combining Borobudur and Yogyakarta stays, but I was not sure. Now I am I was thinking 3 nights in each place, so a total of 6, but I'd like to reduce the number to be able to include Sulawesi. Is 5 nights/4 days too little for the area? We will want to see the bigger temples (yes, I understand they will be more crowded), but spend more time in the countryside. We prefer that, smaller towns and markets to the big city scene.

East Java - that was my plan too. Flying into Surabaya, and staying in Bromo area. Hopefully for a couple of days, so we can see the volcano in one, and do some birding the next. Plus, we don't like 1-night stays. Thanks for the Jiwa Jawa Resort recommendation.

Bali - again, thanks for confirming my initial thoughts: base ourself somewhere around Ubud for the entire stay. The dates of our trip will depend on when we get award flights, but I'll keep in mind the Food Festival dates. Sounds interesting, but because of the crowds maybe not what we're looking for. Decisions, decisions...

We are not looking for beaches on this trip, so thankfully something I'm not trying to squeeze in. We'll get just a little snorkeling on the day trip to Komodo island. Some tours offer 3-4 stops for snorkeling, and we'll take one of those.

Sulawesi - this is the big dilemma. Tongkoko NP looks great for wildlife and birding, but getting to it is not that easy, even though Manado is a big airport. The only non-stop from Surabaya is at 8:50 am (and that is 2.5 hrs by car on google maps) from Bromo; all other flights during the day are over 20 hrs, with long layovers. Connections to Bali airport are not better, either. I don't think we have time for both central and north Sulawesi, unless we skip eastern Flores and Kelimutu NP. Not to mention that the drive from Makassar to Tanah Toraja is almost 8 hrs...

We're also doing a 3 nights stay at Bukit Lawang for orangutans, although I'm still not sure if Tanjung Puting might be a better option. One of these 2 is a must.

Thanks for the passport tip, we're good there. Phew!

I meant to ask another question: if staying outside Ubud, how do people get to restaurants for dinner? Even if our hotel will have a restaurant, we like exploring local places and have dinner each night somewhere else. Will the hotel and restaurant arrange for taxis? How does this work? I guess I don't understand what "countryside" means, and how far away from each other the hotels and restaurants are. Thank you.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Yogya and for me 2 nights would be more than enough. The Phoenix Hotel is pleasant and well run with a good restaurant (for Yogya). Prambanan temple is between the airport and Yogya city.

I don’t have a reliable hotel recommendation for the Borobudur area. The manohara which is within the grounds of Borobudur itself is bare bones but you can’t beat the location. I was lucky enough to stay at the Aman Jiwo (someone else was paying) which was an incredible but very costly experience. Still, try to go by for a drink or sunset meal.

Most hotels/resorts will arrange pre-dawn visits to Borobudur. They get you up to the top tier for sunrise. After that, I’d suggest that you go back down to the base and make the spiral pilgrimage around each tier, always counter clockwise, up to the top. It’s like a meditative art history lesson.

I wouldn’t recommend a guide as they tend to talk incessantly, but they’re hard to dodge. After the park opens you’ll be beset by dozens of students wanting to take your picture with them. After a while it’s okay to say sorry, no.

When you book your tour of Borobudur — or buy tickets on your own — make sure you get “climb up / upper tier” access. These are the more expensive tickets but the lower priced ones only allow access to the base.

I haven’t stayed at Jiwa Jawa. They took over an older property Java Banana several years ago. Banana was fairly grim, but from Jiwo’s website it looks like they’ve spiffed it up a bit. The views are spectacular and the staff (hopefully still) knowledgeable about hiking and photo spots.

I don’t remember the drive from Makassar to Rantepao being as much as 10 hours, but it’s been sometime since I’ve been there. When your research tour guides you can ask. The scenery along the way is stunning though.

Tangkoko is a lovely park. We saw plenty of macaques and several splendid hornbills but weren’t there at the right hours for tarsiers. (Wish we had stayed longer. )

I think you could work out getting to Manado if it’s of interest. If not you’ll get ocean time from Flores to Komodo. Be very picky about choosing your boat. Check the flotation vests yourself.

Getting around Ubud can be bewildering at first, but after a while you get the hang of it. First, Ubud is officially the town itself, but it also informally refers to the surrounding area in all directions. This area is actually made up of small individual villages, each with its own name.

There are no metered taxis in Ubud or surroundings, however transport is plentiful. Along major roads, drivers will solicit passengers by leaning out the window and asking “transport?” In town a representative will accost you on the street. If you agree, then you wait while he summons the car and driver. Most hotels/resorts have their own group of drivers whom they will contact for you. If you find a driver that you like, you can makes plans with him for future trips.

Important note: Everyone in Indonesia is on WhatsApp. Having a working cellphone makes everything easier. You can buy a chip with an Indonesian phone number for your phone at the airport. GoJek and Gocar are easy to use apps, the local equivalent of Uber.

In all cases you must settle the price before you get in the car. For one way rides the prices are mostly standardized (which you will grasp after a while). For more complex routes, e.g. a round trip including wait time, you can negotiate the details. Drivers don’t mind waiting. For whole day excursions you’re expected to pay for the driver’s lunch. He won’t be offended if you don’t ask him to join you.

Drivers tend to tag along when you go into a shop. If you don’t want or need their help, just ask them to stay in the car. if you would like them to act as translators or to run interference with hawkers, they’re happy to do that

In Central Java, we split our nights between the Borobudur area (3 nights) and Yogyakarta (3 nights). We stayed at Villa Borobudur, which is up the hill from the Amanjiwo and was about a third or less of the nightly rate. Athough the regular rooms were nice, we were surprised with an upgrade to a private villa at no extra cost. To this day, this remains one of our most memorable stays anywhere. In Yogyakarta, we stayed at the Phoenix, which marmot mentions.

For Bali, we stayed just outside Ubud in Nyuh Kuning village, but the edge of central Ubud is about a 15-minute walk. We easily walked there and beyond a couple of times per day, including dinners. It had a different feel from central Ubud, which we liked - a little more local, with a school at the end of our street, a soccer field, etc. There are several small properties that are part of the Alam group, which used to be mentioned on this forum from time to time. We stayed at Alam Jiwa, with views out to the rice fields. Also a very memorable stay that we still talk about often.

All of this was all nine years ago, though, so things may have changed (but Villa Borobudur and Alam Jiwa do still seem to get good reviews). I have an old a trip report here, but unfortunately none of the photo links work anymore

Hi, xyz99, I posted this when the article came out as I’d been planning a trip to Indonesia which, sadly, never came to fruition (thanks to a better job, so it wasn’t too disappointing!). This article was fascinating and since you’re planning to include Sulawesi, I’m sure it’ll be interesting reading.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/t...smid=url-share

marmot
We really don't like short stays in a place, and with the risk of longer drives, I think we'll skip Yogya and stay longer around Borobudur. Aman Jiwo is waaaay out of our budget, but we dreamed looking at pictures. I'm glad to read that "Most hotels/resorts will arrange pre-dawn visits to Borobudur"; so we can stay put in one place for a few days, without changing hotels. I agree, Manohara's location is excellent, but I don't think we want a bare-bones hotel for several nights, when nicer options are not that far away.
Thanks for the Jiwa Jawa recommendation, it looks very nice, and they have a restaurant on site. Check!
I'm still trying to decide between Sulawesi (Tangkoko area, and if we get there, wouldn't be a shame to skip Tanah Toraja??) and the eastern part of Flores. Sulawesi needs more time and it's harder to get to and then get back. Ugh!

"Be very picky about choosing your boat. Check the flotation vests yourself." Does this mean I should not book in advance one of those Viator tours? Wait to get there to select a tour only after confirming they have life vests and they are functional?

Thanks for the explanation on Ubud transportation. We've visited Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and between taxis and tuk-tucks we never had a problem getting from the hotel to the restaurant and back, but...I need to know and be prepared. We'll definitely have a working phone, we always do. Glad to hear that simplifies the problem.

ms_go
I've seen your TR 😄 and took notes, Villa Borobudur is on our short list thanks to you. How does Indonesia traffic compare to the other SE Asia countries traffic? The area outside Ubud...countryside...do they have sidewalks or it's truly countryside? You mentioned you walked back to the hotel, so I guess it's safe with sidewalks? No fast scooters to run you down?

progol
Sadly, that article is behind a pay wall. Can you please gift it to me? I don't have a NYT subscription. Thanks

<<progol
Sadly, that article is behind a pay wall. Can you please gift it to me? I don't have a NYT subscription. Thanks>>

I hope this will work. Let me know if it doesn’t.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/t...smid=url-share

For the areas we walked around the outskirts of Ubud, no problem. And we walked easily all over Yogyakarta as well - although the intersection near the Phoenix hotel took a little courage. From Villa Borobudur, not so much because of the hill - but the hotel provided all transportation. For Ubud, try roaming around on Google Street View to see what it is like. It can be more detailed than you think! I tried that earlier, starting out from our hotel, Alam Jiwa, and Google Street View put me in an outdoor shower of one of the units

Re vetting Komodo vessels: I don’t think it’s a problem to book in advance as long as you have positive recommendations. However I would suggest visually reconfirming the number and conditions of the life vests before you set sail.

Got it, we'll do that! Thanks.

Yes, perfect, thank you! Fascinating! I could not find a date on the article, but even though probably a few years older (exchange rate was about 13,000 then, it's about 15,700 now), I'm sure some things are still the same. Too bad you never got there.

LOL, that's waaay more detailed than what I was thinking, you're right. Hopefully the shower was not used at that time 🤔