Articles about Indonesia
Coming soon…
General information:
Capital: In 2024 the capital was still Jakarta but the Indonesian government intends to move the capital to the new built city of Nusantara, on the island of Borneo
Language: The official language is Indonesian but many other regional languages are recognised
Religion: 87% Islam, 10% Christianity, 1.7% Hinduism, 1.3% others
Population: 270 million (2020)
English-friendly: If you go to Bali or other touristy destination, most people will be able to speak English. In more remote areas English is not that common but everyone will try to communicate with you regardless
Wi-fi reliability: Most of hotels and hostels do have reliable Wi-fi. Sim card are also very cheap and they can be purchased at the airport on arrival
Currency: Indonesia Rupiah
Average cost per day: If you travel on a budget you can spend around 20USD/die. If you join tourist tours and go around using taxies consider between 30 to 40 USD/die. If you like fancy hotels, you will probably spend more than that.
Visa: Most western nationalities do not need visa for Indonesia or they can get it on arrival. If you want, you can apply for an online e-visa in order to speed up the passport control on arrival.
Safety: Overall in 2024 Indonesia was a very safe country. Some areas, like Papua, can be a bit more unstable, although it was still ok to travel there at that time. Be aware that the safety standards can be quite different from what you are used to, terrorist attacks can happen (Bali 2002) and deaths of tourist attacked by Komodo dragons have been recorded. However, you run the higher risk of getting seriously injured if you don’t wear a helmet while riding a bike. Always ask for it, many Indonesian consider it as optional.
When to go:
Dry season (April – October): This is probably the best time to visit Indonesia. It will be warm and reasonably dry. We went there between July and August 2024 and it was very warm and humid, it rained a bit but it could have been much worst. The cons? If you decide to go to Bali in August make sure you book your accommodations in advance, you will meet large crowds of European tourists there!
Wet season (November – March): During those five months Indonesia experiences widespread rain, especially in the South. The rain, other than being a pain by itself, might ruin your plans since the road might be closed due to landslides. On top of that, it will be extremely humid and some people might consider the heat almost unbearable. The pros? Well, there will definitely be less tourists around, it will be cheaper and you can improvise much more without booking everything in advance!
Average temperature in Bali: The temperature is stable around 30° all year round but the level of humidity changes drastically, making the wet season very hard to cope for whoever is not used to that!