Indonesia Panorama: North Sumatra, Java & Bali Islands

Welcome to Indonesia, the largest island country in Asia! Once you arrive in Medan, your tour guide will meet and transfer you to your hotel in downtown. Check-in and relax on your own.

Depart from your hotel at 8:00 am, drive about 4 hours through some rubber, oil palm and cacao plantations to Bukit Lawang village. In there, you will take a 3 hours jungle trekking to discover the Gunung Leuser National Park. Besides a variety of tropical floras, you also have a chance to encounter some rare animals in this park, such as orangutans. After that, head back to Bukit Lawang and check into your hotel.

Leave for Berastagi in the morning. En route, stop at Sembahe River, visit the gold-plated Lumbini Natural Park, a Buddhist temple whose architecture is similar to a Myanmar pagoda, drop by a fruit market as well. Continue your trip to Gundaling Hill for the fabulous views of volcanoes of Mount Sinabung and Mount Sibayak. Afterward, get to Berastagitown for an overnight stay.

Today, drive to Parapat for a short ferry to Samosir Island. On the way to Parapat, you will visit a Karo village named Dokan, which is one ethnic group of Batak peoples. Later, have a break at the Sipiso Piso Waterfall and stop to see the longhouse of Batak Simalungun kings and Simarjarunjung as well as the view of Lake Toba. Upon arrival at the island, check into your hotel.

Cruise on Lake Toba to visit three significant Batak villages on Samosir island. Tomok has ancient sarcophaguses covering the remains of Raja Sidabutar, the leader of the first Batak immigrants to Samosir. In particular, you can catch the King Ompu Ni Ujung Barita Sidabutar's sarcophagus with a singa in the front and a woman at the back. Ambarita has a rather curious collection of stone chairs and Simanando has some well-kept traditional houses. You will also have a chance to see the activities of young children at a local school and witness a traditional wedding and funeral if lucky.

After breakfast at the hotel, take a ferry boat back to Parapat and then drive about 4 hours to Medan via another route. The road leads through plantation land, a vast area of oil palm plantations, which brought considerable wealth to this region. Upon arrival, board a flight to Jakarta. Your tour guide in Jakarta will greet you and escort you to your hotel for check-in.

Your exploration of Jakarta starts from Sunda Kelapa Harbour with many wooden Pinisi boat docking, loading and unloading heavy materials. Continue to Fatahillah Square, the historical center located in Jakarta Old Town. Later, get a glimpse of Indonesia from a visit to the National Museum of Indonesia and Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, and then fly to Yogyakarta.

Spend the morning exploring the Sultan Palace, Taman Sari Water Castle and Kotagede that famed as the hub of the Yogyakarta silver industry since the 1930s.

In the afternoon, visit Borobudur, the most spectacular as well as the world's largest Buddhist temple compounds. Its history dates back to the 8th and 9th centuries and is one of the important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia and has been registered on the UNESCO World Heritage list. You can also visit Pawon Temple or Mendut Temple nearby before returning to the hotel.

Today, you will take a 2.5 hours biking tour to the Prambanan Temples. Biking along a narrow but well-asphalted path will allow you get a glimpse of the daily life of the local farmers, learn how they still cultivate and irrigate the land in the traditional way, planting, tending and harvesting all by hand, or swinging their hoes and plowing the land with their buffaloes. This journey also provides amazing views of the Boko Temple visible amongst the green cluster of coconut trees on the hill.

Afterward, drive to Yogyakarta airport for your flight to Bali and check into your hotel in Ubud after arrival.

Goa Gajah is the first stop of your exploration today. Standing in the front of the entrance, you can see a menacing face carved in the stone, followed by the Tirta Empul Temple, which is famous for its holy springs.

Have lunch at a local restaurant and then visit the Besakih Temple. Located on the slopes of Mount Agung, it is the most important, the largest and holiest temple of Hindu religion in Bali. Before heading to your hotel in Sanur, stop at Kintamani for the great view of Mount Batur and Lake Batur.

The morning is at leisure. Sanur is a mature beach-side town and it is easy for you to explore on your own. There are many watersports on offer at Sanur Beach, such as kitesurfing, windsurfing, and surfing. In the late afternoon, pay a visit to the Uluwatu Temple. Perched precipitously on a top sheer cliff dropping straight into the pounding surf, 70 meters above the sea, it offers breathtaking views surrounded by colorful flowers and blue waters of the Indian Ocean. At the background of the beautiful sunset, you will enjoy the Kecak dance performance, well-known as "the monkey chant dance".

After the tour, take dinner at a local restaurant in the Uluwatu area and drive back to your hotel for rest.

In addition to various water sports, there are many other things that can kill your time: rent a bike riding through the splendid paved beachfront cycle-path in the morning, step into a bustling restaurant to savor the fresh seafood at noon, roam around the main street in the afternoon to find some Balinese handicrafts as souvenirs; and finally, enjoy a traditional spa at your hotel.

Your holiday in Indonesia will come to an end. Bid farewell to this enchanting country and then fly home.