The Most Beautiful Places in Indonesia
30 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful places in Indonesia are Raja Ampat Islands, Mount Bromo and Borobudur Temple. The list covers 30 places. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Indonesia stretches across thousands of islands on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where volcanoes have built mountains, calderas and crater lakes and keep the soil fertile. Its seas lie in the Coral Triangle, the richest marine region on Earth, and its history layers Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in Java, a living Hindu culture in Bali and the traditions of hundreds of peoples across the archipelago.
Central Java holds two of the greatest monuments of Southeast Asia, both from the ninth century. Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, a stepped mountain of stone lined with relief panels and crowned by stupas, while Prambanan raises tall, pointed Hindu shrines dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. In Bali, Besakih spreads up the slopes of Mount Agung as the island's most important temple complex, Tanah Lot stands on a rock in the surf, and Pura Ulun Danu Bratan seems to float on a mountain lake.
The volcanoes are everywhere. Mount Bromo smokes inside the Tengger caldera, surrounded by a sea of volcanic sand; Mount Rinjani on Lombok holds a crescent crater lake; and Lake Toba in Sumatra fills the caldera of one of the largest known eruptions, with the island of Samosir in its centre. Far to the east, Puncak Jaya rises from the mountains of Papua as the highest summit on any island in the world, Raja Ampat scatters jungle-covered islets over coral reefs, and Komodo and Padar, in the realm of the Komodo dragon, curve their ridges around beaches of different colours.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raja Ampat Islands | Coral reef | |
| 2 | Mount Bromo | Volcano | |
| 3 | Borobudur Temple | Stupa | ✓ |
| 4 | Kelingking Beach | Beach | |
| 5 | Kelimutu | Volcanic crater lake | |
| 6 | Pura Ulun Danu Bratan | Temple | |
| 7 | Padar Island | Island | |
| 8 | Tumpak Sewu Waterfalls | Waterfall | |
| 9 | Puncak Jaya | Mountain | |
| 10 | Prambanan Temple | Archaeological site | ✓ |
| 11 | Tanah Lot | Temple | |
| 12 | Lake Toba | Lake | |
| 13 | Besakih | Temple | |
| 14 | Lake Batur | Volcanic crater lake | ✓ |
| 15 | Mount Rinjani | Volcano | |
| 16 | Komodo Island | Island | |
| 17 | Ijen Crater Lake | Volcanic crater lake | |
| 18 | Baiturrahman Grand Mosque | Mosque | |
| 19 | Anak Krakatau | Island | |
| 20 | Uluwatu Temple | Temple | |
| 21 | Gunung Kawi | Rock-cut architecture | |
| 22 | Wae Rebo | Most beautiful village | |
| 23 | Lake Segara Anak | Volcanic crater lake | |
| 24 | Pura Lempuyang Luhur | Temple | |
| 25 | Kawah Putih | Volcanic crater lake | |
| 26 | Sukuh | Temple | |
| 27 | Jomblang Cave | Cave | |
| 28 | Madakaripura Waterfall | Waterfall | |
| 29 | Kakaban Island | Island | |
| 30 | Jatiluwih Rice Terraces | Terraced fields |
01 Raja Ampat Islands
Indonesia0.233° S 130.517° E
Image by Ady_Fauzan from Pixabay Raja Ampat is a scattering of more than 1,500 islands, cays and shoals off the northwestern tip of New Guinea, gathered around four large islands: Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool.
Did you know? The surrounding waters are visited by blue, Bryde's, Omura's and sperm whales, as well as dugongs, whale sharks and even orcas.
02 Mount Bromo
Indonesia · 30.4 km from Probolinggo7.943° S 112.954° E
Image by Gustomak from Pixabay Mount Bromo isn't the tallest peak in its own volcanic complex — that title belongs to neighboring Mount Semeru — but it's the one everyone comes to see, because it's the one that's actually doing something.
Did you know? The Tengger Sand Sea covers about 5,250 hectares and has been a protected nature reserve since 1919.
03 Borobudur Temple
Indonesia · 15.5 km from Magelang7.608° S 110.204° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Justine Hong · CC BY 2.0 Borobudur was assembled from an estimated two million stone blocks without any mortar — the blocks are cut and interlocked so precisely that the structure holds together on fit alone, carrying 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues up a stepped pyramid nine centuries before anyone had a name for engineering…
Did you know? Borobudur and the smaller temples of Pawon and Mendut stand on a single straight east-west line, which some scholars link to an ancient pilgrimage ritual.
04 Kelingking Beach
Indonesia · 29.9 km from Denpasar8.750° S 115.473° E
Dini Rosyadah Tridya · CC BY-SA 4.0 Seen from the clifftop on the west coast of Nusa Penida, the headland at Kelingking looks like an animal lying in the sea: a long ridge of limestone, green along its spine and sheer on its flanks, running down into turquoise water with a narrow crest and a blunt, bowed head.
Did you know? That nickname came from the kingdom of Klungkung's practice of exiling criminals, political opponents and reputed black magic practitioners to the island.
05 Kelimutu
Indonesia · 21.4 km from Ende8.770° S 121.820° E
Image by annieclairejane from Pixabay Kelimutu's three crater lakes sit almost side by side, separated in places by walls of rock only a few dozen metres wide, yet they routinely show completely different colors from one another — one might run turquoise while its neighbor sits black, or maroon, or milky white, and any of the three can shift color again…
Did you know? Heat from the volcano keeps the lakes warm, with water temperatures measured between about 21 and 30 °C depending on the lake and its activity.
06 Pura Ulun Danu Bratan
Indonesia · 18.9 km from Singaraja8.271° S 115.167° E
Image by DEZALB from Pixabay High in the Bedugul highlands of central Bali, at around 1,200 metres above the sea, Pura Ulun Danu Beratan stands at the edge of Lake Beratan in the village of Candikuning, and when the water is high its lakeside shrines seem to rise straight out of it.
Did you know? The eleven-tiered meru by the water is dedicated to Shiva and his consort Parvati.
07 Padar Island
Indonesia8.656° S 119.572° E
YUS JULIADI · CC BY-SA 4.0 Padar is the island that made Komodo National Park famous for something other than dragons.
Did you know? Padar is the third-largest island in a national park that covers some 1,733 square kilometres, of which only about 603 are land.
08 Tumpak Sewu Waterfalls
Indonesia8.230° S 112.917° E
Lutfi adn · CC BY-SA 4.0 Tumpak Sewu does not fall in one ribbon but in hundreds.
Did you know? According to legend told in the 15th-century Javanese text Tantu Pagelaran, the gods carried the mountain from India and shifted it east after Java began to tip.
09 Puncak Jaya
Indonesia4.083° S 137.183° E
Alfindra Primaldhi · CC BY 2.0 At 4,884 m, Puncak Jaya — also called Carstensz Pyramid, and Nemangkawi Ninggok, "peak of the white arrow", in the language of the Amungme people — is the highest mountain in Indonesia, the highest on any island on Earth and, for climbers who count New Guinea with Australia, the Oceania entry among the Seven Summits.
Did you know? In 1936, when ice still covered about 13 square kilometres of the massif, glacier-capped Ngga Pulu was probably the true summit, over 4,900 metres high.
10 Prambanan Temple
Indonesia · 13.2 km from Yogyakarta City7.752° S 110.491° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Gunawan Kartapranata · CC BY-SA 3.0 Local legend explains Prambanan's scale with a story dark enough that it kept people away for centuries: Prince Bandung Bondowoso wanted to marry Princess Roro Jonggrang, who agreed only if he could build a thousand temples in a single night.
Did you know? Restorers rebuild a shrine only if at least three-quarters of its original stones can be found, because villagers and colonial collectors carried much of the masonry away.
11 Tanah Lot
Indonesia · 14.9 km from Denpasar8.621° S 115.087° E
Jakub Hałun · CC BY-SA 4.0 This shrine sits on a small offshore rock because, according to Balinese tradition, it was put there on purpose — moved, not built. The story credits the 16th-century wandering priest Dang Hyang Nirartha, who saw a light shining from the sea near the village of Beraban and came to meditate there.
Did you know? More than a third of the rock that appears natural today is in fact disguised artificial rock added during restoration funded by a Japanese government loan.
12 Lake Toba
Indonesia · 37.6 km from Pematangsiantar2.670° N 98.888° E
Image by 12019 from Pixabay Lake Toba fills the caldera of a supervolcano in the highlands of North Sumatra. It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake on Earth: about 100 km long and 30 km wide, up to 505 m deep, with its surface at around 900 m above sea level.
Did you know? Ash patterns suggest the great eruption happened during the northern summer, since only the summer monsoon could carry Toba ash into the South China Sea.
13 Besakih
Indonesia · 39.8 km from Denpasar8.374° S 115.452° E
Image by MariaHZ from Pixabay High on the southwestern flank of Gunung Agung, Bali's tallest and most sacred volcano, Besakih rises in tier after tier of black-thatched shrines, stepped courtyards and carved stone gateways.
Did you know? According to Balinese tradition, the sage Rsi Markandeya first received divine revelation at Pura Basukian, the shrine within the complex regarded as the cradle of Balinese Hinduism.
14 Lake Batur
Indonesia · 38 km from Singaraja8.257° S 115.409° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Made agus devayana · CC BY-SA 4.0 Lake Batur fills the southeastern floor of the Batur caldera in the Kintamani highlands of central Bali, some 30 km northeast of Ubud. At about 1,030 metres above sea level and close to 16 square kilometres in area, it is the largest lake on the island, with a deepest point of around 88 metres.
15 Mount Rinjani
Indonesia · 38.9 km from Praya8.417° S 116.467° E
Image by rinaagtiana from Pixabay 5 kilometres, with a lake lying about 2,000 metres above the sea and, rising out of the water, a young dark cone of ash and lava. The lake is Segara Anak, named for its intense blue colour, and the cone is Gunung Barujari, the active heart of the volcano.
Did you know? The eruption is estimated to have released about 158 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide, leaving an ice-core signal some eight times stronger than Krakatoa's.
16 Komodo Island
Indonesia8.577° S 119.451° E
Image by topochart_app from Pixabay Komodo is a hilly island between Sumbawa and Flores in the Lesser Sunda chain of eastern Indonesia, and it gave its name to the largest lizard on Earth.
Did you know? About 1,700 Komodo dragons live on the island, the largest population of any island in the national park.
17 Ijen Crater Lake
Indonesia · 20.8 km from Banyuwangi8.057° S 114.242° E
Image by Andrea_Maverick from Pixabay Inside the crater of Ijen, in the far east of Java, lies a lake that looks like a pool of milky turquoise paint — and is one of the most hostile bodies of water on Earth. 3 in places.
Did you know? That older volcano, sometimes called Old Ijen, may once have stood about 3,500 metres high before an eruption around 50,000 years ago destroyed it.
18 Baiturrahman Grand Mosque
Indonesia · 0.5 km from Banda Aceh5.554° N 95.317° E
Image by ZULMAHDI from Pixabay The Baiturrahman Grand Mosque is the heart of Banda Aceh: a white building crowned with black domes and slim minarets, standing at the centre of the city on the northern tip of Sumatra.
Did you know? The construction was carried out by a contractor named Lie A Sie, under the supervision of the Dutch architect L. P. Luijks.
19 Anak Krakatau
Indonesia6.098° S 105.426° E
Image by SEI from Pixabay Anak Krakatau — "child of Krakatoa" — is one of the few places where a visitor can stand on land younger than their grandparents.
Did you know? Scientists had modelled a flank collapse and tsunami six years before 2018 and had pinpointed the flank of the cone most likely to fail.
20 Uluwatu Temple
Indonesia · 16.7 km from Denpasar8.829° S 115.084° E
Image by moritzklassen from Pixabay Pura Luhur Uluwatu clings to the very edge of the Bukit Peninsula, Bali's limestone tail, where the land ends in a sheer cliff about 70 metres above the Indian Ocean. The name says as much: ulu means edge or tip, watu means rock.
Did you know? Several smaller satellite temples, among them Pura Bajurit, Pura Pererepan and Pura Kulat, are bound to Uluwatu and celebrate with it.
21 Gunung Kawi
Indonesia · 27.1 km from Denpasar8.423° S 115.312° E
Visions of Domino · CC BY 2.0 On both banks of the Pakerisan river in central Bali, nine shrines have been cut straight into the soft rock of the gorge walls. Each is set in its own deep, arched niche, some seven metres high, which shelters the carving from erosion, so the monuments look like tall temple facades set into the cliff.
Did you know? The name Gunung Kawi is usually explained as gunung, mountain, plus kawi, carving, giving roughly the shrines carved into the mountain.
22 Wae Rebo
Indonesia · 26.8 km from Ruteng8.769° S 120.284° E
Josep M. Gracia · CC BY-SA 4.0 Wae Rebo is a village of seven conical houses in a high green basin of western Flores, in the Manggarai Regency of East Nusa Tenggara, at about 1,200 metres above the sea.
Did you know? In the Manggarai language mbaru means house and niang means tall and round, which is exactly what the buildings are.
23 Lake Segara Anak
Indonesia · 35.1 km from Mataram8.404° S 116.400° E
Image by arhnue from Pixabay Segara Anak, "child of the sea", is the crescent-shaped blue lake that fills much of the great caldera beside Mount Rinjani on Lombok, and its name refers to a colour that recalls the ocean. It lies at about 2,000 metres above sea level inside an oval basin some 6 by 8.5 km, and reaches about 230 metres at its deepest.
24 Pura Lempuyang Luhur
Indonesia8.391° S 115.631° E
Flickr user: yeowatzup https://www.flickr.com/photos/yeowatzup/ · CC BY 2.0 Pura Lempuyang Luhur crowns Mount Lempuyang, the peak also known as Gamongan Hill, in Karangasem in the far east of Bali.
Did you know? According to the palm-leaf text Markandeya Purana, worship here was founded in the 8th century by the sage Rsi Markandeya.
25 Kawah Putih
Indonesia · 30.3 km from Bandung7.166° S 107.402° E
Image by ignartonosbg from Pixabay Kawah Putih, the "White Crater", is a volcanic lake high on the flank of Mount Patuha, a stratovolcano in the highlands south of Bandung in West Java. At about 2,430 metres the air is cool, often around 10°C, and mist drifts across the water.
Did you know? The tale of birds avoiding the place had a simple explanation: the sharp sulphur fumes rising from the crater drove animals away.
26 Sukuh
Indonesia · 34.5 km from Surakarta7.627° S 111.131° E
Anton Leddin · CC BY-SA 3.0 On the western slopes of Mount Lawu in Central Java, at about 910 metres above sea level, Candi Sukuh looks unlike any other Javanese temple. 7 metres high, with a single steep stairway up its face to a flat top.
Did you know? The truncated pyramid is often read as Mount Mandara, used to churn the cosmic ocean for the elixir of immortality, a myth echoed by nearby Garuda statues.
27 Jomblang Cave
Indonesia · 39.9 km from Yogyakarta City8.028° S 110.638° E
Thomas Fuhrmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 Jomblang is a collapse doline in the karst of Gunungkidul, in the Yogyakarta region of Java: thousands of years ago the ground gave way and dropped, forest and all, into the cave below.
Did you know? An underground river runs through the bottom of the Jomblang–Grubug system and links to the Kalisuci cave river, reachable only when water levels are low.
28 Madakaripura Waterfall
Indonesia · 18 km from Probolinggo7.845° S 113.017° E
ESCapade · CC BY-SA 3.0 At the end of a narrow, steep-walled gorge on the northern slopes of the Tengger massif, near Mount Bromo, the Lawean River drops some 200 metres into a deep, rounded basin of rock.
Did you know? Only Sigura-gura, near Lake Toba in North Sumatra, is usually counted as a taller waterfall in Indonesia.
29 Kakaban Island
Indonesia2.144° N 118.536° E
Riza Nugraha from Singapore, Singapore · CC BY 2.0 Kakaban is a raised coral atoll in the Derawan archipelago, off the coast of East Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo, and it hides a lake at its heart. The island's limestone rim, covered in jungle right down to the waterline, rose from the sea in the late Pleistocene and Holocene and trapped a body of seawater inside.
Did you know? The lake's jellyfish still carry venom to catch prey; it is simply too weak to be felt by human swimmers.
30 Jatiluwih Rice Terraces
Indonesia · 28.1 km from Singaraja8.367° S 115.131° E
Imacim · CC BY-SA 4.0 Jatiluwih is where Bali's rice terraces are at their most expansive.
Did you know? Under the subak, neighbouring farmers plant in step, so large areas lie fallow at the same time and pests lose their habitat.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful places in Indonesia?
- On our list, Raja Ampat Islands ranks first, followed by Mount Bromo and Borobudur Temple.
- How was Lake Toba formed?
- Lake Toba fills a caldera created by a supereruption about 74,000 years ago, one of the largest volcanic eruptions known. It is the largest volcanic lake in the world, with Samosir Island rising in its middle.
- Is Borobudur Hindu or Buddhist?
- Borobudur is a Buddhist temple built in the ninth century under the Sailendra dynasty. Nearby Prambanan, from the same century, is Hindu.
- Where do Komodo dragons live?
- Komodo dragons live in the wild only on a few islands in eastern Indonesia, including Komodo, Rinca and parts of Flores. Komodo National Park was created to protect them.
- What kinds of places are there to see in Indonesia?
- In our collection, the places in Indonesia are most often temples (8), crater lakes (6), islands (4) and volcanoes (2).
- How many places are on this list in Indonesia?
- The list covers 30 places.