Destinasi
"Indonesia"
Indonesia is a huge archipelago of diverse islands scattered over both sides of the Equator between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. With extensive (but rapidly diminishing) rainforests on its 18,000 islands, Indonesia is nicknamed The Emerald of the Equator. Indonesia's best known tourist destination is Bali, but with 6,000 inhabited islands, tourists have a wealth of diversity to explore.
Indonesia is one of the most exotic countries you will ever visit. Indonesia markets itself as Wonderful Indonesia, and the slogan is often quite true. It has a diversity of culture with more than 900 tribes and languages and food, while its enchanting nature, mostly outside of Java, and the friendliness of the people in most areas will entice you to stay as long as you want. Today, some senior citizens from Europe stay for months in Indonesia to avoid the winter.
Regions
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The nation of Indonesia is almost unimaginably vast: More than 18,000 islands providing 108,000 km of beaches. The distance between Aceh in the west and Papua in the east is 4,702 km (2,500 mi), comparable to the distance between New York City and San Francisco. Lying on the western rim of the Ring of Fire, Indonesia has more than 400 volcanoes, of which 129 are considered active, as well as many undersea volcanoes. The island of New Guinea (on which the Indonesian province of Papua is located) is the second-largest island in the world, Borneo (about 2/3 Indonesian, with the rest belonging to Malaysia and Brunei) is the third-largest, and Sumatra is the sixth-largest.
Travellers to Indonesia tend to have Bali at the top of their mind as their reason to visit, which is a shame given there are even more breathtaking natural beauty and cultural experiences elsewhere that are waiting to be explored. The vastness of the estate and the variety of islands offer significant cultural differences that are worth sensing.
Most of the 37 provinces are composed of a group of smaller islands (East & West Nusa Tenggara, Maluku), or divide up a larger island and its outlying islands into pieces (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi, Papua). The listing below follows a simpler practice of putting together several provinces in one region, except with Bali, which is treated as a separate region in Wikivoyage.
Regions of Indonesia
| Sumatra (incl. the Riau Islands and Bangka-Belitung) Wild and rugged, the sixth-largest island in the world has a great natural and cultural wealth with more than 40 million inhabitants and is the habitat for many endangered species. This is where you can find Aceh, Palembang, Padang, Lampung and Medan, as well as the multi-coloured Lake Toba in the land of the outspoken Toba Batak and Indonesia's gateway island, Batam. |
| Kalimantan (Borneo) The vast majority of Borneo, the world's third-largest island, forms Kalimantan (with the remainder belonging to Malaysia and Brunei). An explorer's paradise for the uncharted (but quickly disappearing) forest, mighty rivers, the indigenous Dayak tribe, and home to most of the orangutans. The cities of Pontianak, Banjarmasin, and Balikpapan are some of the fastest growing in the nation, and it is also the planned site of a new purpose-built city called Nusantara that will replace Jakarta as Indonesia's capital. |
| Java (incl. Karimunjawa, the Thousand Islands, and Madura) The country's heartland, big cities including the capital Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang and a lot of people (with almost 50% of the population) packed on a not-so-big island. Also features the cultural treasures of Yogyakarta, Solo, Borobudur and Prambanan. |
| Bali By far the most popular tourist destination and has the most complete facilities for all kinds of tourists in Indonesia. Bali's blend of unique Hindu culture, legendary beaches, numerous religious and historical sites, spectacular highland regions and unique underwater life make it a perennial favourite amongst global travellers. |
| Sulawesi (Celebes) Strangely shaped, this island houses a diversity of societies and some spectacular scenery. This includes the Toraja culture, megalithic civilisation in Lore Lindu National Park, rich flora and fauna, and world-class diving sites like Bunaken and Bitung. |
| Nusa Tenggara (NTT & NTB) Also known as the Lesser Sunda Islands — literally the "Southeast Islands" — they are divided into East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara and contain scores of ethnic groups, languages and religions, as well as Komodo lizards and more spectacular diving. West NT contains Lombok and Sumbawa and many small islands. Lombok is the less-visited but equally interesting sister of Bali and offers several diving sites as well as historical and religious locations. East NT contains Flores, Sumba and West Timor as well as several other islands, including Komodo Island, home of the Komodo dragon, and offers the unique attraction of containing tiny kingdoms on Sumba. Traditional art in East NT, especially woven cloth, is interesting and reasonably priced, and you can find beaches that are literally covered with sand of unique colours, coral, and shells. |
| Maluku (Moluccas) The historic Spice Islands, formerly much fought over by colonial powers, are now seldom visited, but Ambon, Ternate, the Banda Islands, the Kei Islands and the Morotai Island are promising destinations for marine tourism. |
| Papua (Irian Jaya) The western half of the island of New Guinea, with mountains, forests, swamps and an almost impenetrable wilderness in one of the remotest places on earth. Aside from the gold and copper mining in the area of Freeport, this is probably one of the most pristine parts of the country, and scientists have discovered previously unknown species here. |
Cities
500 km
Wikimedia maps | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Map of Indonesia
- 1 Jakarta — the perennially congested capital which is also the largest city in the country
- 2 Bandung — university town in the cooler highlands of Java
- 3 Banjarmasin — a cultural hub of Kalimantan
- 4 Jayapura — the capital of Papua and a gateway to the highlands
- 5 Kuta — with its great beaches and exciting nightlife, Kuta is yet another reason for visiting Bali
- 6 Makassar (Ujung Pandang) — the gateway to Sulawesi and home of the regionally famous Bugis seafarers
- 7 Medan — the diverse main city of Sumatra, known for its large Indonesian-Chinese community, and gateway to Lake Toba and the rest of the Batak land
- 8 Palembang — southeastern Sumatra's port city, and former capital of the great Srivijaya kingdom
- 9 Yogyakarta — central Java's cultural hub and the access point to the mighty temples of Prambanan and Borobudur
