Bromo at 3am is a traffic jam
Photograph: Thomas Fuhrmann, CC BY-SA 4.0Every jeep on the mountain converges on the same viewpoint above Cemoro Lawang. The people who walk up get the better sunrise, and the crater rim to themselves.
Travelsaya: Indonesia, one island at a time
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Base map: Indonesia provinces outline map — Afrogindahood, CC BY-SA 4.0. Recoloured; boundaries unchanged.
Spotlight
What postcards miss
Five observations from the road: the hour before a temple opens, the reason a ferry leaves late, the cliff that holds a family’s name.
Read the field notes
01 / 05
Toraja keeps its dead close
Photograph: Kondephy, CC BY-SA 4.0Cliff graves, tau-tau effigies and funerals that run for days. Visitors are welcome at most ceremonies, but ask before you photograph anything.
Lombok’s south coast, before the villas
Photograph: Midori, CC BY 3.0MotoGP came to Mandalika in 2022. Twenty minutes west of the circuit, the fishing bays still set their own hours and sell the catch on the sand.
The boulders are the beach
Photograph: Raflinoer32, CC BY-SA 4.0At Tanjung Tinggi the granite comes right down to the water, so the shade moves with the tide. Go at low tide, not at noon.
Nutmeg paid for these forts
Photograph: Anton Leddin, CC BY-SA 3.0Banda was the only place on earth growing nutmeg. The Dutch, the British and the Bandanese all paid for it, and the forts are still standing.
Six ways to travel the archipelago
Culture
Borobudur at first light
Java · Field guide
The gates open at 6am. Be on the east terrace twenty minutes before.
4 min read
Culture
Toraja’s cliff graves
Sulawesi · Region guide
Cliff balconies, tau-tau effigies and the funerals that fill the highlands.
Region guide
Nature
Orangutans of Tanjung Puting
Kalimantan · Region guide
A klotok up the Sekonyer, and the feeding stations at Camp Leakey.
Region guide
Nature
Padar before sunrise
Flores · Field guide
Climb in the dark, then watch the three bays fill with light.
8 min read
On the water
Banda by public ferry
Maluku · Field guide
No package needed: the ferry from Ambon, a guesthouse, and the forts on foot.
7 min read
Rail
Night train to Yogyakarta
Java · Itinerary
Executive class, a window seat, and the rice fields at first light.
7 min read
Events not
to miss
Explore all events
Waisak at Borobudur
May · Full moon
Magelang, Central Java
Nyepi, the day of silence
March · New moon
Bali
Bau Nyale
February or March
Kuta, South Lombok
Yadnya Kasada at Bromo
June or July · Kasada
Cemoro Lawang, East Java
Funeral season in Toraja
July to September
Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi
Dragon mating season
August to September
Komodo and Rinca