Indonesia Post-Bali: Culture, Craft, and Colonial Echoes

The 2nd biggest city in the world, with 32.3 million inhabitants.

For many Australians & Kiwis, “Indonesia” begins and ends with Bali. But step across the archipelago and you discover a country layered with empires, colonial intrigue, and artisanal traditions that make Thailand & Vietnam feel over-exposed by comparison. This 10-day journey traces a line from Jakarta’s colonial core to the spiritual plains of Central Java, the wild seas of Komodo, and finally, the frontier-luxury shores of Sumba.

Jakarta – Colonial Streets and Street Food Heat Most travelers treat Jakarta as a stopover to be endured. That’s a mistake.

Start at Kota Tua, the old Dutch quarter where 17th-century warehouses and canals whisper of the VOC trading empire. The Hotel Majapahit in Surabaya (a sister property worth a detour) was where Indonesian independence was first proclaimed in 1945, but Jakarta has its own revolutionary ghosts — Fatahillah Square, the old Post Office, and Café Batavia still drip with colonial atmosphere.

Balance the history with the present: in Glodok, Jakarta’s Chinatown, the air thick with incense and wok smoke, you’ll find skewers of sate kambing (goat satay) grilled over charcoal, and bowls of bakmi (Chinese-Indonesian noodles) served at street corners. These flavors are as essential as the five-star dining rooms. Jakarta is a city that rewards curiosity — and appetite.

An Oasis in the bustle at The Dharmawangsa

2 Nights in the City at The Dharmawangsa — Indonesia’s answer to the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, a discreet old-money retreat where tycoons and diplomats drink whisky under teak ceilings. Central Java – Empires and Artisanship

Fly into Yogyakarta and step into the shadow of Indonesia’s great empires. The Majapahit once stretched across much of Southeast Asia; today, their spiritual capital lives on in the stone reliefs of Borobudur and Prambanan.

For 3 nights at Amanjiwo, Ed Tuttle’s masterpiece set among rice fields, you’re not just near Borobudur — you see it from your terrace. Sunrise here, when monks chant and mist drapes over the jungle, is one of those rare experiences that resets your sense of place.

Central Java is also about the artisanal: hand-dyed batik workshops, where families have been working wax and dye for centuries; silver craftsmen in Kotagede; gamelan players whose bronze instruments have been tuned since before the Dutch ever arrived.

The Amanjiwo makes you feel as if you are ensconced within the temple grounds.

Komodo – Dragons and the Edge of the Map

Sunset from the AYANA Komodo - you could complain, but no-one will listen.

From Java’s temples, leap into another world: the raw frontier of Komodo National Park. Base yourself for 2 nights at AYANA Komodo Resort, a rare slice of luxury in Labuan Bajo. By day, take a private speedboat across seas where manta rays glide and coral gardens explode with color. By land, trek to meet the Komodo dragons — prehistoric beasts lumbering through dry savannah.

This is Indonesia’s Galápagos, but without the crowds.

Sumba – Frontier Luxury at the World’s Best Resort

Voted #1 Resort in the World - more than once.

The finale belongs to 3 nights at Nihi Sumba, a property so consistently named “World’s Best Hotel” it’s almost cliché. But the cliché dissolves the moment you ride a horse across its empty beach at sunrise, or take a surf lesson on its private break.

Here, luxury isn’t about white-glove service (though you’ll have that too). It’s about connection: to the Sumbanese villages with their megalithic tombs and peaked thatched houses, to the handwoven ikat textiles that carry patterns centuries old, and to the raw landscape itself.

At Nihi, “artisanal” isn’t staged — it’s the actual rhythm of the island, interpreted for guests with rare sensitivity.

Sumbanese Village overlooking the ocean.

A Journey with Depth

This 10-day arc — Jakarta, Central Java, Komodo, Sumba — isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about rethinking what Indonesia means. It’s about eating satay from a smoky cart in Glodok one night and waking up to Borobudur at dawn the next. It’s about watching dragons hunt in Komodo and then drinking champagne on a Sumbanese beach.

Thailand & Vietnam may have the name recognition, but Indonesia has the depth. And for the Australian or Kiwi traveler who wants to move beyond the obvious, this journey is the bragging-rights ticket: luxury layered with history, artisanal craft, and the raw edges of one of the world’s most complex archipelagos.

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