2 months in Indonesia

Hello everybody!
I am planning to travel in Indonesia for 2 months (February/March). It is my first such trip and I will be travelling alone. I find it amazingly difficult to plan trip properly as Indonesia is such a massive country with so many small islands. I know that my question is very generic and it might be hard to answer it but I need any kind of help, advice, recommendations: which parts of Indonesia would you recommend to visit in 2 months? My main goal is to see nature, beaches, culture, do some hiking and especially street food! :D . Island hopping seems like a very attractive way of travel. I just want to try to avoid crowds, though I would still like to visit Gili Islands, Komodo National Park and Banda Islands. I think to spend 1 week in one place to see the local area would be enough time. I am a backpacker, meaning that my budget is not the biggest one (I would say around 6.000NZD) and I am also good with staying in the most basic places. Any suggestions?
Thank you.
P.s - if somebody is travelling during this time, I would be willing to join you traveling :)

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With 100 NZD per day, you certainly won't need to stay in the most basic places!
That's far more than a typical backpacker's budget in Indonesia, so money won't be an issue. You can go pretty much wherever you like, take flights, etc. Your time is also longer than most people have these days.
The places you picked are in Nusa Tenggara and Maluku, both of which are regions great for island-hopping, beaches, culture and nature, though perhaps not all that great for street-food, away from major cities or tourist areas anyway.
To connect the two, you probably must go via Sulawesi, which also offers great combination of nature, culture and hiking.
Get the Lp Indonesia guidebook to fill you in on enough details for the trip.

I would say keep things flexible enough that you can change your plans or also have enough time for travel between areas. Flights get cancelled, boats break down, etc. Have good travel medical insurance that includes emergency evacuation just in case.

Also, you may be trying to avoid Bali but March 17 is Nyepi and it's one of the most interesting times to see the Balinese Hindu culture. Parts of Ubud (for example) can be crowded but is a great place to be for Nyepi.

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Thank you for responses and recommendations. It's good to hear that this kind of budget is okay as I was a little bit worried. But apart from the above mentioned places, what other islands, areas, regions or places would you recommend to visit which are worth to visit but usually are missed by tourists?

But apart from the above mentioned places, what other islands, areas, regions or places would you recommend to visit which are worth to visit but usually are missed by tourists?

Basically all of Indonesia, apart from Bali...

I wouldn't try and see too much of the country in only 2 months, if I was you. Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, maybe a bit of Sulawesi. Certainly no more than that. You can link the regions with long-distance boats, or the odd flight. But 2 months isn't a lot of time to travel, and there is island after island in these regions to explore.

So I have come up with a rough plan:
1 week in Bali (I have decided that people go there not without a reason and as cuscus mentioned Nyepi celebration is a good time to visit Bali).
3 days in Gili islands
1 week in Lombok
1 week in Flores
1 week in Banda islands
1 week in Raja Ampat
1 week in Tana Toraja
Is such plan completely unrealistic or possible?

Transport to the Banda Islands is not very reliable. It's not realistic to turn up when you like, stay for a week, and then leave when you like. More often than not, you're limited to the sailings of PELNI ships, which only come a few times each month. If you really want to visit Banda, you need to be more flexible.

Well, that list only has 6.5 weeks' of places to visit, which would probably leave enough time (out of 2 months) to travel between them.
If going to Banda and Raja Ampat, I'd drop the Gilis unless they are there for partying.
Other than Banda, all places on the list are readily accessible so this plan might be doable. Banda should be carefully planned around Pelni schedules.

Hi

Maybe you can start from Flores.

1) Flores-Lombok-Gili-Bali.
Take a flight from Bali/Jakarta to Flores, spend your time go to Lombok,Gili than Bali

2) Banda
You need to go to Ambon if you wanna go to Banda. There is also a regular flight from Denpasar (Bali) to Ambon via Makasar. You have 2 option: by PELNI boat (check on their website for schedule) or another ferry from Tulehu, about 1 hour from Ambon, leaving each satuday from Ambon to Banda and Banda to Ambon each thusday.

3) Raja Ampat
From Ambon, take a flight to Sorong or by PELNI boat. Sorong-Waisai by ferry and usually depend on where you will stay, they will pick you up in Waisai (capital of Raja Ampat).

4) Toraja
From Sorong,take a flight to Makasar, and Makasar to Rantepao(Toraja) by bus or airplane.

Hope this will help :)

Wow, thanks for information! Apart from these places is there anything you would not recommend to visit? As Laszlo said for example Gili islands should be visited unless for partying.

The Gilis are part of Lombok and very short boat ride between all the West Gilis. Southern Lombok more picturesque and their Gilis are said to be better for snorkeling, although I am not a fan of this area in general..
Also, if you do indeed have more time then Sumba is a fascinating place.

All your other places are worth visiting, though I would also happily swap Lombok for Sumba any time.
If transport to Banda turns out too difficult, spend that week on Ambon, Saparua and Nusalaut instead. They offer similar attractions, minus the volcano, but ade far more accessible.

This is such a complicated country to plan a trip... So I guess I'll swap Lombok to Sumba and won't go to Gili Islands (still I'm not a big party person). I had chosen Banda islands for my last week in Indonesia where I could just relax, enjoy white-sand beaches with crystal clear water and amazing views while also avoiding tourists. As Laszlo mentioned, would Ambon, Saparua and Nusalaut would be something similar to what I'm looking for or there is a better place which comes to your mind?

The reason the Bandas have few tourists is because it's difficult to get to. If it was easy to get to, it would be teeming with tourists.

Nusalaut is an island that sees about 3 tourists a year. That corner of Indonesia is lovely for a little bit of history, nice village life, beautiful landscapes, and great water for swimming and snorkeling. It's not really a place for beautiful beaches (nor are the Bandas). You might want to look into the Kei Islands for beaches...

And sure, Indonesia's enormous, with a ton of choices, and you only have 2 months. You're inevitably going to miss out on lots of lovely places. Don't worry. You can go back.

I actually think Saparua's beaches a pretty good, while Nusalaut offers better snorkelling. Last time a friend went to Nusalaut, the guesthouse in Ameth actually had 3 couples from 3 European countries staying there at the same time, though I personally never bumped into other tourists on the island.
The Keis obviously have superior beaches, but lack the other sights of the Ambon-Lease group.
Mind you, Raja Ampat is hard to beat. It might be better to leave that for the end.

So I guess I'll swap Lombok to Sumba

By the way, there is the Pasola festival happening every year in February and March on Sumba, which perfectly links up with your travel period! Just note that the exact date hasn't been announced yet, so you will need to be flexible if you want to be there at the right time.

If you want to see nature, somekind of mountain, waterfall and virgin beach you can go to malang city in java island. You can go to bromo mountain, semeru mountain or waterfalls and many other beautiful place. You can browse about the picts of bromo mt, tiga warna beach, bidadari waterfall, etc all that place is in Malang. If you curious about beautiful hiden place in java you can ask me. I'll show you.

What about Bukit Lawang north sumatera and seeing the Orangutans?

Most tourists when they go to Bukit Lawang they only see the Orangutans and miss out the local cultures people have in the village. Been to Bukit Lawang last December and decided to stay in the village. I felt like home and did not feel like a tourist at all. I stayed at Rumah Papa Homestay(try to find it on Airbnb) which is 10 mins away from the crowd in Bukit Lawang. It is set in middle of the rice fields with mountain views and the host was so lovely,she taught me some basic conversation in their language, went to a wedding, going to a rice field and seeing the farmers growing rice and l tried to grow one, l even witnessed a goat was giving birth near the homestay,l did some laundry with the locals in the river and be taught how to make a traditional indonesian food,tried eating cacao for the first time in my life. I had so much fun and l am feeling really lucky as l did not only see the Orangutans but l learnt the culture by staying with the local and l will definitely go back there one day:)

Have fun with your trip

What about Bukit Lawang north sumatera and seeing the Orangutans?

Most tourists when they go to Bukit Lawang they only see the Orangutans and miss out the local cultures people have in the village. Been to Bukit Lawang last December and decided to stay in the village. I felt like home and did not feel like a tourist at all. I stayed at Rumah Papa Homestay(try to find it on Airbnb) which is 10 mins away from the crowd in Bukit Lawang. It is set in middle of the rice fields with mountain views and the host was so lovely,she taught me some basic conversation in their language, went to a wedding, going to a rice field and seeing the farmers growing rice and l tried to grow one, l even witnessed a goat was giving birth near the homestay,l did some laundry with the locals in the river and be taught how to make a traditional indonesian food,tried eating cacao for the first time in my life. I had so much fun and l am feeling really lucky as l did not only see the Orangutans but l learnt the culture by staying with the local and l will definitely go back there one day:)

Have fun with your trip

Hi friends,

I hope it's okay I hijack your thread here, as my girlfriend and I are looking at similar travel destinations as you, but will be away for about one month (August). Would the recommendations be the same for August? And we probably would have to cut some of the destinations away, as we only have 1 month of vacation to do with. We were thinking about maybe combining with Borneo/Kalimantan to go see the caves and the orangutans. What say you? Any ideas of how to combine this for a 4-5 week trip? Any tips?

Cheers!

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