Kalimantan

Known locally as Kalbar – short for Kalimantan Bara – West Kalimantan is a sizeable province bordering Malaysian Sarawak to the north and the Java Sea to the west. Its capital, Pontianak, is a transport hub for flights and as a start or end point for the Cross-Borneo Trek, while travellers with a passion for remote national parks and river journeys will find Kalimantan's longest river, Sungai Kapuas, and some very isolated pockets of near-pristine jungle wilderness, but overall the province is largely off the traveller radar.

West Kalimantan

Sprawling just south of the equator and split by the lower reaches of the Sungai Kapuas (the Kapuas River), Pontianak is urban Kalimantan. The main attraction here is the river itself – stroll along the boardwalks or cross by canoe taxi to get a feel for Indonesia's longest waterway.

Pontianak is also the main transport hub of West Kalimantan by air, boat and long-distance bus. From here you can head south by speedboat to Sukadana, north to Sinkawang (or cross-border to Kuching) or east to the Dayak longhouses and national parks of Kapuas Hulu.

Pontianak

Although not as populous as the capital Samarinda, Balikpapan is Kalimantan's only truly cosmopolitan metropolis thanks to a long history of oil money. It's still seen largely as a stepping stone to Samarinda, Derawan or Banjarmasin, but a night in Balikpapan's club scene will give you a whole new perspective on Borneo.

For the most part the city is vibrant, with several enormous shopping plazas and some decent beaches. Midrange to high-end hotels with reasonable rates abound, and a social scene exists in the form of restaurants, hotel bars, live-music venues and the odd nightclub.

Overall the city makes a fine weekend break and a great place to begin or end more adventurous travels.

Balikpapan

Tanjung Puting is the most popular tourist destination in Kalimantan, and for good reason. A near guarantee that you'll see free-roaming orang-utans, combined with a storybook journey up a winding jungle river, gives this adventure world-class appeal. And though remote, the park is easily reached via direct flights from Jakarta and Surabaya. The park is best seen from a klotok, a ramshackle, multistorey liveaboard boat that travels up Sungai Sekonyer from Kumai to the legendary rehabilitation centre at Camp Leakey. During the day you lounge on deck surveying the jungle for wildlife with binoculars as the boat chugs along its narrowing channel, stopping to convene with semi-wild orang-utans at the three main feeding stations. Despite an increase in visitor numbers and boats in recent years, the trip is still a fine introduction to the rainforest, and one of the most memorable experiences you'll have in Kalimantan.