Indonesia

In short

• Bali is the easiest start: Ubud for rice terraces and culture, Seminyak, Legian and Canggu for beaches, Uluwatu for cliffs.
• Nusa Penida and the Gili Islands are short boat trips from Bali; Labuan Bajo and Raja Ampat need a domestic flight.
• Many visitors enter on a visa on arrival of IDR 500,000 for 30 days, and Bali charges every foreign visitor a levy of IDR 150,000.
• Each hotel guide here lists hotels chosen from public, checkable data, with a price check link for every one.

Indonesia’s most visited guides on this site cover 10 places, from Bali’s Ubud and Uluwatu to the reefs of Raja Ampat in West Papua. Most first trips start in Bali, with boat trips to Nusa Penida or the Gili Islands; Labuan Bajo, for Komodo National Park, and Raja Ampat add a domestic flight each. Jakarta, the capital, is mostly a gateway, with international flights at Soekarno-Hatta airport.

Where to go in Indonesia

Where to go in Indonesia depends on what the trip is for: culture and rice terraces, beach towns, island hopping or diving. The table sets out the 10 places covered here.

Bali: five bases, five different trips

Bali has five bases, and each makes a different trip. Ubud, inland, is the cultural centre, with rice terraces, temples, galleries and a green river valley; it has no beach. Seminyak and Legian sit on the long sandy west coast, with restaurants, beach clubs and sunsets over the Indian Ocean.

Canggu, further north along the same coast, is the surf and café town, with villas among the last rice fields. Uluwatu, on the limestone Bukit Peninsula in the south, has cliff-top hotels, famous surf breaks, small coves and the temple on the cliff edge. Many visitors split a week between Ubud and one beach base.

The islands beyond Bali

The islands beyond Bali are the reason many trips grow longer. Nusa Penida, a short fast-boat ride from Sanur, is known for its cliff viewpoints and for snorkelling with manta rays; roads on the island are steep and narrow.

The Gili Islands, off Lombok, are three small islands with no cars: Gili Trawangan is the liveliest, Gili Air the in-between and Gili Meno the quietest. Labuan Bajo, on Flores, is the harbour town for boat trips into Komodo National Park, and Raja Ampat, in West Papua, is one of the world’s best-known diving regions.

Getting into and around Indonesia

Getting into and around Indonesia is mostly by air between regions and by boat between nearby islands.

• Visa: for many nationalities, a visa on arrival costs IDR 500,000 for 30 days and can be extended once for another 30 days; apply online or on arrival through the official eVisa site.
• Bali levy: every foreign visitor to Bali pays a tourist levy of IDR 150,000, payable online through Love Bali before or on arrival.
• Bali’s international airport, Ngurah Rai, serves Ubud, Seminyak, Legian, Canggu and Uluwatu by road.
• Fast boats leave Sanur for Nusa Penida and several Bali harbours for the Gili Islands; sea conditions decide crossings, so leave a spare day before an international flight.
• Labuan Bajo has its own airport, Komodo Airport, with domestic flights; Raja Ampat is reached by flying to Sorong and taking the ferry to Waisai.

How the hotel guides are made

How the hotel guides are made matters, because we have not stayed at these hotels. Each list is chosen from public, checkable data: the hotel’s own website, its location, the facilities it lists and its guest score on booking sites, with the date checked.

Indonesia does not publish an open register of official hotel star ratings, so these guides show no star category; the facilities and the guest score do that job. Every hotel has its own price check link, and no hotel pays to be listed. Read the editorial policy for the full method.

When Indonesia is not the right trip

Indonesia is not the right trip for every plan. A short stay of four or five nights is better spent on one base in Bali than on island hopping, because boat and flight connections take most of a day each.

Raja Ampat and Komodo suit travellers with time and a budget for boats and permits; they are not easy add-ons to a week in Bali. For a first trip to Europe instead, start with the Spain and Portugal guides.

Hotel guides for Indonesia

Each list compares hotels by area, price level and guest score, and explains how they were chosen.

• Best Hotels in Canggu
• Best Hotels in Jakarta
• Best Hotels in Labuan Bajo
• Best Hotels in Legian
• Best Hotels in Nusa Penida
• Best Hotels in Raja Ampat
• Best Hotels in Seminyak
• Best Hotels in the Gili Islands
• Best Hotels in Ubud
• Best Hotels in Uluwatu

Common questions