Volcanoes, Temples & Secret Isles

Begin where garden-city futurism meets old Asia. Marvel at the Supertrees and misty Cloud Forest of Gardens by the Bay, raise a Singapore Sling at Raffles' Long Bar, then graze Maxwell hawker center for chili crab and Hainanese chicken rice. Being small, SeaDream berths right on Marina Bay, a front-row seat the mega-ships can't claim, and an overnight lets you watch the light show glitter long after the crowds have thinned.

Almost no cruise ship reaches the Anambas, a scattering of jewel-like islands adrift in the South China Sea, routinely ranked among Asia's most beautiful and least visited. In the stilted fishing town of Tarempa, life unfolds at its own gentle pace over plates of fresh-grilled seafood. Anchor to snorkel untouched reefs, kayak to the seven-tier Temburun waterfall, and savour the rare thrill of a place the world hasn't found. SeaDream III makes the impossible itinerary possible.

Almost no cruise ship reaches the Anambas, a scattering of jewel-like islands adrift in the South China Sea, routinely ranked among Asia's most beautiful and least visited. In the stilted fishing town of Tarempa, life unfolds at its own gentle pace over plates of fresh-grilled seafood. Anchor to snorkel untouched reefs, kayak to the seven-tier Temburun waterfall, and savour the rare thrill of a place the world hasn't found. SeaDream III makes the impossible itinerary possible.

Granite boulders, the same striking formations that made neighboring Belitung famous, line this quieter beach on Bangka Island, long overshadowed by its more photogenic neighbor. Bangka's centuries-old tin-mining wealth built a genuinely distinct Chinese-Indonesian Peranakan food culture, still on full display in the island's markets and kitchens. A handful of beachfront spas take advantage of the island's calm, clear water. Belitung's scenery, without Belitung's crowds.

Granite boulders the size of houses tumble straight into turquoise water along Belitung's coastline, a landscape made famous well beyond Indonesia by the bestselling novel and film Laskar Pelangi, both set on this small tin-mining island. A relaxed, unhurried dining scene built around fresh seafood and Chinese-Indonesian influences reflects the island's long tin-trading history. Some of the clearest, calmest snorkeling in western Indonesia lies a short boat ride from any of its beaches. An island still, remarkably, ahead of the crowds.

Few places on earth carry a name as loaded with history, the 1883 eruption here was heard nearly three thousand miles away and killed tens of thousands in the tsunamis it triggered, one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Anak Krakatau, the child of Krakatoa, has risen from the same caldera since the 1920s and remains active today, a genuinely rare chance to sail past a volcano still actively rebuilding itself. Approach depends entirely on current activity and official clearance. A sobering, spectacular piece of geological history.

A UNESCO World Heritage rainforest at the far southwestern tip of Java, and the last refuge on earth of the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros, fewer than a hundred survive, all within this one park. Peucang Island's white-sand beaches and turquoise shallows sit within full view of Anak Krakatau's smoking cone across the strait, while the surrounding forest holds gibbons, leopards and a genuinely rich variety of birdlife. About as close as most travelers will ever get to one of the rarest large mammals on the planet.

Just off frenetic Jakarta lies its antidote: the Thousand Islands, a scatter of palm-topped coral cays within a national marine park. Anchor over clear shallows to snorkel bright reef gardens and visit the turtle hatchery on Pramuka, or step ashore at Onrust to explore the ruins of a 17th-century Dutch East India fortress. Drop the marina for a lazy afternoon of paddleboards and swimming in bathwater-warm seas. A castaway idyll a world away from the megacity's roar.

Just off frenetic Jakarta lies its antidote: the Thousand Islands, a scatter of palm-topped coral cays within a national marine park. Anchor over clear shallows to snorkel bright reef gardens and visit the turtle hatchery on Pramuka, or step ashore at Onrust to explore the ruins of a 17th-century Dutch East India fortress. Drop the marina for a lazy afternoon of paddleboards and swimming in bathwater-warm seas. A castaway idyll a world away from the megacity's roar.

Indonesia's electric capital rewards the intrepid. Stroll Kota Tua's Dutch-colonial squares and the treasure-filled National Museum, browse the antique stalls of Jalan Surabaya, then dive into a bowl of soto Betawi rich with coconut and lime. As the largest city in South-East Asia hums around you, retreat each evening to the calm of your suite. Being small means we tuck close to the old harbour, delivering you straight into the heart of the action.

Semarang is your gateway to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument on Earth: a mountain of grey volcanic stone crowned with bell-shaped stupas, best met at sunrise as mist lifts off the Kedu plain and 500 serene Buddhas emerge from the haze. Pair it with the soaring Hindu spires of Prambanan, then stroll Semarang's Dutch colonial Old Town and its candy-pink Blenduk church. It's a long, rewarding day inland, and you return to your own suite rather than a hotel.

Semarang is your gateway to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument on Earth: a mountain of grey volcanic stone crowned with bell-shaped stupas, best met at sunrise as mist lifts off the Kedu plain and 500 serene Buddhas emerge from the haze. Pair it with the soaring Hindu spires of Prambanan, then stroll Semarang's Dutch colonial Old Town and its candy-pink Blenduk church. It's a long, rewarding day inland, and you return to your own suite rather than a hotel.

A cluster of twenty-seven small islands scattered across the Java Sea, protected as a national marine park and rewarding anyone who makes the crossing with some of the clearest water and healthiest coral in the region. Frigatebirds and terns wheel over largely uninhabited islets, while mangrove channels on the main island shelter smaller reef fish nurseries. Deliberately low-key and difficult to reach, which is precisely why the reef here has stayed so intact.

A small volcanic island adrift in the Java Sea, home to the critically endangered Bawean deer, found nowhere else on the planet and rarely seen even here. Two crater lakes fill the island's interior, ringed by forest thick with hornbills and other endemic birdlife, while a fringing reef offshore remains largely untouched by the dive tourism that has reshaped so much of Indonesia's coastline. A genuine hidden corner of Java's own backyard.

Indonesia's second city wears its role in the independence struggle openly, the Heroes Monument commemorates the fierce 1945 battle that gave the country's National Heroes Day its name. The House of Sampoerna, a beautifully preserved colonial-era cigarette factory turned museum, still shows the hand-rolling process that built one of Java's great commercial fortunes. A round of golf and a genuinely serious East Javanese dining scene, heavier and spicier than Bali's, round out Indonesia's often-overlooked second city.

The gateway to one of Indonesia's most photographed landscapes, Mount Bromo's smoking crater rises from a sea of volcanic sand inside the vast Tengger Caldera, best seen at dawn from the Penanjakan viewpoint as the sun clears the surrounding peaks. The Tenggerese people who farm this harsh volcanic soil still hold an annual offering ceremony, Yadnya Kasada, throwing produce into the crater itself. A four-wheel-drive sunrise excursion here is one of the most dramatic short trips in all of Indonesia.

The quieter gateway to North Bali, well removed from the crowds of Kuta and Seminyak, Celukan Bawang opens onto the Buleleng coast's black-sand beaches, waterfalls at Gitgit and Sekumpul, and dolphin pods that surface reliably off Lovina each morning. Bali's small but increasingly serious wine country has taken root in these volcanic soils, alongside a wellness tradition of natural hot springs at Banjar. Rice terraces and temple villages fill the hills behind the coast. Bali as it was before the south became famous.

Benoa opens the whole of Bali to you. Watch the sun drop behind the sea-cliff temple of Uluwatu as barefoot dancers stamp out the hypnotic Kecak fire ritual, or rise early for the mirror-calm Tegallalang rice terraces above Ubud. Wander incense-scented temple gates, browse the silver workshops of Celuk, and feast on crackling babi guling. Back aboard by evening, you sidestep the resort crowds who never see Bali empty. The Island of the Gods, on your schedule.