Seventeen thousand islands. The best days start before dawn.
Which volcano is worth the 2am pickup, what the Komodo boat really costs, and whether Nusa Penida is a day trip or a night.
The four days a first trip to Indonesia is built on.
A valley outside Ubud, three waterfalls in a morning, the east coast gates, and the Java day.
01The first full dayMonkey Forest, Jungle Swing, Rice Terrace, and Water TempleMonkey forest, a swing over the valley, the terraces and a water temple. One minibus, and most of the Ubud postcard.
02The waterfall runBest of Bali Waterfalls: Tibumana, Tukad Cepung and TegenunganTibumana, Tukad Cepung and Tegenungan in a morning. Cepung is the one with the light shaft, and it wants the sun overhead.
03The east coastEast Bali Tour: Gate of Heaven, Water Palace, Sleeping GajahThe Lempuyang gates, a water palace and the Sleeping Gajah pools. A long drive east, and the photographs are why people go anyway.
04The Java dayBorobudur Climb-up & Prambanan Day Trip All InclusiveUp onto the Borobudur stupas, then Prambanan before the heat. Yogyakarta is a short flight from Denpasar and worth the night.
Indonesia sells sunrise by the volcano. Here is how the three differ.
Batur is the two in the morning walk out of Ubud that half of Bali ends up doing. Bromo is a jeep across a sand sea on Java and costs more because it is further. The rest, Ijen included, arrive attached to two and three day runs.
Mount Batur, on foot from Ubud
A walk rather than a climb, on a path that fills with head torches by four. Breakfast gets cooked in the steam vents at the top. Add the hot springs on the way down and you are back before eleven.
The whole list →
Mount Bromo, by jeep on Java
The viewpoint looks across a sand sea at three cones, one of them still smoking. You reach it from Surabaya or Malang, so it works as the opening of a Java run rather than a side trip from Bali.
The whole list →
Ijen, Rinjani and the long ones
Ijen burns blue before dawn at the far eastern end of Java. Rinjani on Lombok is a genuine two night trek. These are the ones people build a trip around instead of slotting into one.
The whole list →Indonesia is six trips pretending to be one.
A jungle town in the Bali highlands, a beach strip that runs on day trips, cliffs on an island off an island, the temple plain on Java, quieter sand to the east, and the harbour the Komodo boats leave from.
How two weeks in Indonesia usually gets spent.
Ubud
Mount Batur
Nusa Penida
Uluwatu
Yogyakarta
Mount BromoThe most booked days out in Indonesia.
All of them, ranked →These carry more travellers than anything else in the country. What each one costs, and what you actually get for the money.
1
All-Inclusive Ubud Private Tour
Review of the $100 Ubud private tour covering rice terraces, temples, waterfalls, monkeys, lunch, a jungle swing, and hotel pickup.
From · $100
Read our review →
2
Best of Ubud Full-Day Tour with Jungle Swing
from $56
3
Monkey Forest, Jungle Swing, Rice Terrace, and Water Temple
from $31
4
️Nusa Penida by Private Boat – Snorkeling 4 spots, Swim with Mantas + Land Tour
from $100
5
Best of Ubud 1-Day Private Tour
from $54
6
Ubud Palace Legong Dance Show Ticket
from $6
7
Uluwatu Sunset, Kecak Dance, and Dinner Jimbaran Beach
from $35
8
Tanah Lot and North Bali Tour: Scenic Journey
from $100
Indonesia keeps its best hours underwater.
Manta cleaning stations off Nusa Penida, a wreck you can snorkel from the beach at Tulamben, and the reef shelf around the Gilis where the turtles genuinely ignore you. Most of it is warm enough to skip the wetsuit.
Ubud is where most of Bali actually happens.
The town itself is a market, a palace and a lot of traffic. What people come for is the ring of valleys around it: the terraces at Tegalalang, the swings over the Ayung gorge, the monkey forest, and the road that climbs to Batur.
Every day out of Ubud →
Waterfalls, terraces and a rope over the gorge: the standard Bali day out.
Three waterfalls in a morning, the Tegalalang steps before the coaches arrive, and somebody swinging you out over a river valley. Nearly every Bali itinerary contains this day, and the prices vary far more than the itineraries do.
- 1Best of Ubud Full-Day Tour with Jungle Swingfrom $56
- 2Monkey Forest, Jungle Swing, Rice Terrace, and Water Templefrom $31
- 3Full-Day Tour to Water Temples and UNESCO Rice Terraces in Balifrom $39
What an Indonesian day out actually costs.
Every tour on the site, sorted by price. The gap between the cheap end and the expensive end is wider here than almost anywhere, and it comes down mostly to whether the car is yours.
Dance tickets, the waterfall runs, the terraces, a cooking class, and most of what leaves Ubud in a shared minibus.
A driver for the whole day, the Nusa Penida boat, Batur with the hot springs, and the Yogyakarta temple pairing.
Komodo by speedboat, the multi day Java volcano runs, dive certification, and anything with a private boat attached.
Three Indonesian sights with no equivalent anywhere else.
Beaches and volcanoes are available all over the tropics. A gate that frames a live volcano, a hundred men chanting a battle at sunset, and the largest Buddhist monument on earth are not.
The Lempuyang Gates
Two split gates on the temple steps at Lempuyang frame Mount Agung when the cloud allows it, which makes it a morning job. The mirrored reflection everyone has seen is a phone held under the lens by the man managing the queue, and the queue is real: people wait hours for that frame. The temple above it is a working one, and the dress rules apply.
- 1East Bali Tour: Gate of Heaven, Water Palace, Sleeping Gajah★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,726 reviews
- 2Bali Instagram: Gate of Heaven Temple Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 737 reviews
- 3Bali Instagram Tour – Lempuyang Bali Gate of Heaven★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 149 reviews
Kecak on the Uluwatu Cliff
The cliff temple stands seventy metres above the water, and the amphitheatre beside it fills every evening for the kecak. There are no instruments: a ring of men chant the rhythm while the Ramayana plays out and the sun drops behind it. Get there early for a seat on the sea side, and keep hold of your sunglasses, because the monkeys work the aisles.
- 1Uluwatu Sunset, Kecak Dance, and Dinner Jimbaran Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,681 reviews
- 2Ubud Kecak and Fire Dance Show Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 2,631 reviews
- 3Private Uluwatu Temple and Kecak Fire Dance Evening Tour in Jimbaran Bay★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,199 reviews
Borobudur and Prambanan
Borobudur is a stone mountain of a monument, nine stacked platforms of relief carving with seventy-two bell shaped stupas on the top three. Prambanan is the Hindu answer an hour up the road, tall and sharp where Borobudur is broad. Both sit within an hour of Yogyakarta, and the usual mistake is trying to fit them either side of one afternoon.
- 1Borobudur Sunrise from setumbu Hill , Merapi Volcano & Prambanan Full Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,030 reviews
- 2Borobudur Temple Climb To The Top & Prambanan Temple – 1 day tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 638 reviews
- 3Borobudur Top Access & Prambanan Temple Private Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 390 reviews
Four Indonesian bookings that will not wait until you land.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast the day before. These four run on boat departures, park gates and a ticket with a daily cap, none of which care what time your flight got in.
- 01Exclusive Early Bird Komodo Tour: Beat the Crowds by Speed BoatOne boat a day out of Labuan Bajo, and it leaves in the dark. Miss it and the next one is tomorrow.
- 02Mount Bromo Sunrise Tour from Surabaya or Malang – 1 DayThe viewpoint run sets off around three in the morning, and the jeeps are arranged the night before rather than at the gate.
- 03Borobudur Top Access & Prambanan Temple Private TourGoing up onto the stupas runs on timed slots with a daily limit. The grounds below are a separate ticket and always open.
- 04Mount Batur Sunrise Hike and Natural Hot Spring OptionPickup is around two in the morning from wherever you are staying, which makes it yesterday’s decision, not this morning’s.
What to book in Indonesia when it rains every afternoon.
From roughly November to March the rain turns up in the afternoon, hard and short. Volcano sunrises get called off and the waterfall gorges close. The fix is the one locals use: do the outdoor thing at dawn, then get under a roof. Kitchens, hot springs, silver workshops and a dance stage all improve in a downpour.
By place · Bali, Java and east
By kind of day · climb, boat, temple or kitchen
The Indonesian tours we reviewed most recently.
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