Best places to visit in Indonesia: top cities, regions and sights

Indonesia is 17,000-plus islands, so the real question is not which places are best but which fit your nights. Flights between islands eat half a day each; a 7-night trip supports one region, a 14-night trip two.

Use the table to choose a region, then read the detail below for the specific bases.

Bali is the easy first trip: one island, short drives, and a base in Ubud covers rice terraces, temples, dance and food. Add a beach base only if you have five nights or more, and put it last so the airport run is short. Uluwatu, Sanur, Seminyak and Canggu all work; Sanur is calmest, Canggu the busiest.

Java is the culture-and-volcano trip. Yogyakarta is the base for Borobudur, Prambanan and the sultan's palace, and it connects by train to the Bromo and Ijen volcano route that ends at the Bali ferry. It is more travel per day than Bali, so it suits people who want sights over beach time.

Do not try to do both properly in a week. If you have 10–14 nights, the classic route is Yogyakarta → Bromo → Ijen → Bali, flying into Yogyakarta or Jakarta and out of Denpasar.

Once Bali and Java are done, the country opens up. The Gili islands off Lombok are car-free, with turtles on the reef and fast boats from Bali; keep the last night back near Denpasar because boats cancel in swell. Lombok itself is quieter beaches plus Mount Rinjani.

Komodo and Flores run from Labuan Bajo: dragons on Komodo and Rinca, plus some of the country's best diving. Bromo and Ijen are the two volcano sunrises on the Java–Bali route, best done as an organised overnight from Yogyakarta or Malang. Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan are the closest island add-on to Bali, with cliffs and manta dives.

For a longer trip, Sumatra's Lake Toba is Batak culture on a crater lake, Sulawesi has Toraja highlands and Bunaken reefs, and Raja Ampat in Papua has the richest reefs in the country, best October to April and reached via Sorong.

Jakarta is the capital megacity: Kota Tua, museums and food, with heavy traffic that makes it a stopover rather than a highlight. Bandung is the cool highland city for volcano craters and tea. Medan is the Sumatra gateway to Lake Toba and Bukit Lawang. Labuan Bajo is the Flores port for Komodo boats. Semarang is a useful Java stop on the north coast train line.

Most trips need only two or three bases. Pick one cultural base, one landscape or volcano base, and one beach base, and move between them by plane or train rather than by long drives.

Book Borobudur climbs online: numbers are limited and same-day tickets can sell out. Check volcano status with PVMBG the day before any Bromo, Ijen or Batur trip; closures happen. On Bali, Nyepi stops everything for 24 hours, including the airport, so do not schedule a flight that day.

Domestic flights are cheap and frequent but add airport time; a Bali–Flores or Bali–Yogyakarta hop is usually a half-day door to door. Fast boats to the Gilis and Nusa islands cancel in swell, so keep a buffer before an international flight. Travel insurance that covers medical evacuation and trip disruption is worth having for boat and volcano regions.

If you have one week and want an easy trip: Bali, Ubud plus one beach. If you have one week and want temples and volcanoes: Yogyakarta plus Bromo and Ijen. If you have two weeks: Java to Bali overland. If you have three weeks or a second trip: add the Gilis, Lombok, Komodo or Raja Ampat.

Then check the season, the visa rules and your budget before locking flights.