Indonesia

Indonesia straddles the Equator between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. While it has land borders with Malaysia to the north as well as East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the east, it also neighbours Australia to the south, and Palau, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand to the north, India to the northwest. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. Indonesia’s population is on course to overtake the US and become the third largest before 2044.

With 18,110 islands, 6,000 of them inhabited, Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. About 240 million people live in this fourth most populous country in the world. Indonesia markets itself as Wonderful Indonesia as their Indonesia Tourism project slogan, and the slogan is quite true.

The nation of Indonesia is almost unimaginably vast: More than 17,000 islands providing 108,000 kilometres of beaches. The distance between Aceh in the West and Papua in the East is more than 4,000km (2500 miles), comparable to the distance between New York City and San Francisco. Laying on the western rim of the Ring of Fire Indonesia has more than 400 volcanoes, of which 130 are considered active, as well as many undersea volcanoes. The island of New Guinea (on which the Indonesian province of Papua is located) is the second largest island in the world.

Indonesia is famous for its beautiful local crafts and handiwork, from leather goods and silver to art and wood carvings. Lombok and Surabaya are the most popular for hand-woven cloths and traditional textiles, while Papua and Bali are more well-known for their intricate wood carvings and sand sculptures

By far the most popular visitor destination in Indonesia, Bali’s blend of unique culture, legendary beaches, spectacular highland regions and unique underwater life make it a perennial favourite amongst global travellers. Next is, Jakarta the perennially congested capital which is also the largest city of the country. Borobudur one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world located in Central Java province; often combined with a visit to the equally impressive Hindu ruins at nearby Prambanan.

Indonesia markets itself as Wonderful Indonesia as their Indonesia Tourism project slogan, and the slogan is quite true.