Explore the best places to visit in Indonesia and make the most of your stay with this Indonesia 10 days travel itinerary covering the adventurous activities in Java, lush greenery of Bali and relaxing beaches in Gili islands.
Indonesia is a diverse country. It has exciting activities for the adventure lovers, stunning temples for every architecture fans, and everyone looking for a relaxing time will find it by the sea. If you want to combine colourful marine life, lush jungles, rich culture of Bali, pristine beaches of Gili Islands, together with climbing an active volcano and discovering the hardest job in the world – this Indonesia 10 days travel itinerary is just for you.
The map with the exact locations of the places at the bottom of the post.
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Indonesia 10 days travel itinerary – best places to visit in Indonesia
Day 1 – arriving in Bali
Depending on where in the world you come from, the flight to Bali might be a long and exhausting one. Spend the first day on relaxing and getting your energy back. A good option is to visit the white sand beaches of Jimbaran and try the best seafood. The place gets very busy in the evening and the top tables with a romantic view can get booked very quickly.
Tip: If you come around lunch time, you will have the whole beach for yourself and plenty restaurants to choose from.
You can find nice accommodation in the area or, like us, move closer to Ubud, where you can enjoy the freshness of the jungle.
Where to stay in Bali, Ubud:
Luxury: Alila Ubud in the middle of the jungle. We stayed there for my birthday and loved it! Check availability.
Budget: Kabera House 2, Sila Urip Guest House,(dormitory beds), Bali Backpackers Hostel (dormitory beds)
Read more: How to plan a perfect trip to Asia
Day 2 – get a Bali feel
Explore Ubud town and surroundings. You can rent a motorbike, get a driver, or just walk around the places in town. In the evening make sure to go to the traditional Bali dance performance, it’s so worth it.
Before that, book a next day trip to Gili islands. This can be easily done by one of the many tour providers, whose offices are located on the main street in Ubud. Walk around and compare prices. We got our return trip from Ubud to Gili Air for 500k IDR.
Day 3 – time for Gili islands
Spend your morning walking around Ubud market and some beautiful temples. Have breakfast by Pura Taman Saraswati, temple overlooking the pond with lilies, before the bus departure to the Gili islands. The van will take you to Padang Bai, where the speedboats to Gili Islands leave from. You will arrive in the Gili island in the afternoon. We chose to stay on the peaceful Gili Air, but the boat goes to all three of the islands, so you can choose a different one. In the evening, have a leisurely dinner by the beach and watch a stunning sunset.
Where to stay in Gili Air:
Nanas Homestay – beautiful cottages with your own terrace, hammock and yummy Indonesian breakfast. Check availability.
Airbnb – there are several options on Airbnb. Click here to get a FREE travel credit for next cheaper stay!
Day 4 – explore the underwater paradise
I recommend you to wake up early enough to catch the best sunrise, that you can possibly imagine. The views over to Lombok’s highest volcano – Mt. Rinjani, mist rising from the valleys and pink fluffy clouds covering the sky, will take your breath away.
After the sunrise, you can get typical Indonesian breakfast in one of the cafes or if you’re staying in the Airbnb/hostel, it would normally be included in the price.
A great way to spend the rest of the morning is to go on the snorkelling trip – swimming with turtles and admiring the colourful fish and coral. The boats usually depart by 10:00 am and are back by 14:30 pm. They will take you to all three Gili islands and the best snorkelling spots, including Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno, where you can have lunch by the sea. Price for the trip (not including lunch) is around 100k IDR per person.
After returning, you can catch a yoga session or chill by the beach. The island is tiny, so it’s great just to walk around it, trying to find all the famous (and highly Instagrammable) swings. If you are lucky you can even spot the huge lizards, that belong to the same family as famous Komodo dragons.
Don’t miss the interior of the island, as this is where the local people live. Try some local street food called “Bakso” – meatballs with spicy sauce. In the evening treat yourself to the cocktail by the beach under the stars.
Day 5 – back to Bali
You can spend your last morning in Gili Air snorkelling by the shore or enjoying the beautiful views from the beach before jumping on a speedboat, that will take you back to Bali. If you have more time, you can spend it in around Padang Bai and go to the Blue Lagoon.
From there you can head north-east towards Amed and finish the Bali loop by going to Pemuteran on the north (our day 6 & 7), or head back to Ubud and take your way from there. You can also try some other interesting experiences in Bali.
Initially, we had plans to go to Amed, but because of the high risk of the volcano eruption the whole area was closed off, so we needed to change our plans.
If you decide to go back to Ubud, the driver might drop you off close to the Monkey forest, so you can visit it on the way.
In the evening, organize your next day trip to Munduk with the trip through some must-see places in Bali. The driver with a drop off in Munduk cost us 650 k IDR per car for 2 people, which seemed like a reasonable price. Make sure you agree on the exact stops before.
Read more: Tips for traveling light – ultimate packing list for a trip to Indonesia
Day 6 – Bali interior
Be prepared for an exciting day full of sight-seeing and ever-changing scenery. That’s our plan for this day, leaving at 7 am:
- Bali Rice terraces – beautiful green terraces with growing rice
- Pura Gunung Kawi – a temple with stone carvings
- Pura Tirta Empul – the holy water temple
- Geopark Global UNESCO Batur – View to the Mount Batur volcano and stop for lunch. We also visited the geological institute in town. If you have one more day you could extend your stay in the area and go down the villages around the volcano and Lake Batur or climb the mountain in the morning for the sunrise.
- Pura Tegeh Kahuripan (Pura Puncak Penulisan) – a local temple located on top of the highest hill. To get to the top you need to walk several flights of stairs, but it’s worth it!
- The Ulun Danu Beratan Temple – picturesque temple complex of significant importance, located by the lake – that’s the one that you can see on all the postcards and guidebook covers.
- Twin Lakes and the viewpoints – handmade platforms, swings, nests and many more, where you can take the perfect Instagram picture 😉 We were a couple of minutes late and the platforms were closed, so if you want to take those cool photos, make sure to get there a bit earlier.
- Entry gate to the golf course – because it’s cool!
- Munduk – a green village in the hills with beautiful waterfalls nearby, that’s where you can experience real Bali countryside
Where to stay in Bali, Munduk:
Made Oka Homestay and Warung – amazing view of the valley and the hills around. Great breakfast (included). Check availability here.
Day 7 – Munduk waterfalls
In the morning visit the stunning Munduk waterfalls. The hike should take you around 2-3 hours and you can visit a few nice places. Leave early to have them all to yourself. Entry to waterfalls is 10k IDR.
Arrange the car to go to Pemuteran with a few stops on the way. The price for the car is set by the local tourist agency and is 350k IDR (for the end of 2017).
On the way we visited:
- Banjar hot springs – Holy hot springs, Entrance 20k IDR
- Brahmavihara-Arama – the only Buddhist temple in Bali, Free entrance
Arrive at Pemuteran, go afternoon snorkelling just off the beach. Visit Turtle Hatchery in Pemuteran with cute baby turtles.
In the evening take a walk or the ride (we hitch-hiked) to the nearby Pura Pabean temple for the sunset with monkeys and wonderful views to Java.
Where to stay in Bali, Pemuteran:
Suka Sari cottages – outdoor bathroom, private terrace, swimming pool. Close to the beach. Check availability here.
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Day 8 – Pemuteran, black beach and off to Java
Spend the morning at the beach, snorkelling in the famous Reef project.
In the afternoon take a bemo (local bus) to Gilimanuk to catch the ferry to East Java. The ferry doesn’t take long, but may sometimes wait on water for the extended period (ours did).
In Java, you will arrive in Banyuwangi, which is a base for climbing Ijen volcano. Talk with locals and organize a trip to climb the volcano for the sunrise. We were planning to just get a driver and do a climb ourselves, but we met an Indonesian guy who offered us the whole package (including the guide, masks, visit to the waterfall and coffee plantations) for much better price – 175k IDR per person, so we went for it 🙂 Go to sleep early so you can wake up for the hike!
Day 9 – Ijen, the blue flames and the most dangerous job in the world
Wake up in the middle of the night to get to Ijen volcano around 1-2am. The earlier the better, but you might have a hard time convincing the drivers to depart early, especially with other passengers.
Climb Ijen volcano (2h one way), go down the crater (30 min) to watch the famous blue flames. Watch the sunrise and talk to the miners who work in the active sulfur mine carrying 90 kg up the crater and down the mountain, sometimes only in flip flops! This place is a real eye-opener and it’s very worth to see. More about is soon.
After the climb, we went to visit the nearby waterfall and coffee plantations as a part of the tour. After that, go back to town, catch few hours of sleep and get an afternoon train to Probolinggo (I recommend to book in advance).
Day 10 – climbing the active volcano
Wake up early and find a bus going from Probolinggo to Cemoro Lawang, which is a base of Bromo – an active volcano. The journey takes a couple of hours and the bemos only leave when they are full (or if you pay for the empty sits).
After arriving in Cemoro Lawang, you can go and explore the area. We climbed the Bromo crater in the afternoon with no crowds and no need to pay for it. More about it soon!
Go to sleep early as you need to wake up at night in time for another sunrise.
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*Day 11 – Sunrise above Bromo and departure
Wake up around 1 am and walk to one of the viewing points. That’s a way of watching the sunrise over Bromo for free, instead of the organized tour – and I highly recommend you this way. The number of cars that were going to one spot chosen by the tour companies was INSANE. There are several viewing spots and they get crowded, so try to arrive there early. More details soon.
After the sunrise go back to the hotel and catch a bus back to Probolinggo. From there get a train to Surabaya.
In Surabaya make your way to the airport where you can fly to Jakarta and catch the flight back home (or to the next destination).
*The 11th day can be skipped and the sunrise can be done on the previous day if you catch the morning train from Banyuwangi (Ijen base) to Probolinggo instead of the afternoon one. It requires less sleeping time, but it’s doable.
Map for the Indonesia 10 days travel itinerary:
What do you think about our Indonesia 10 days itinerary? What else would you add to it? Would you take something out? Let me know in the comments!
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Thanks for a very detailed guide! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for sharing! I can’t wait to have the opportunity to travel to different countries more! So far I have only been to 3! I guess that’s more than most 🙂 Indonesia looks beautiful! I will refer to this post when I visit!
3 is definitely a good start, and the numbers don’t matter anyway, you can travel in your own country and be happy about it and this is what matters the most 🙂 Indonesia is worth a visit though, so maybe you can do it yours 4th 😉
This is so informative & would be so helpful for those traveling around Indonesia! Great post!
Thanks, Dani!
Bali has been number one on my bucket list for so long – I have finally arrived in Australia so I am so so close to Bali hopefully I can tick it off by the end of the year!! So many beautiful images, The Ijen volcano looks incredible, Indonesia looks like an amazing adventure!!
Bali is great, but I highly recommend going a bit beyond it too and explore other islands in Indonesia, they all have so much to offer! I hope you’ll be able to visit it 🙂
So useful! I’m going to Indonesia in 3 weeks and have a few unscheduled days! The Ijen volcano trip looks so interesting… I need to figure out if that’s feasible for me!
Have fun! I’m sure you’re gonna love it 🙂
Fantastic guide! Definitely pinning it for later when I actually find time to go there.
Thank you! I hope you will find time soon – it’s worth it!
Such beautiful photos! I went to Indonesia and really hated Denpasar but I LOVED Ubud and would go back there in a heartbeat. I should add a few more of these places for the next time I go back!
I avoided Denpasar and Kuta, because of those reasons, and I had really good time in Bali 🙂
Great itinerary and such gorgeous photos! Would love to explore more of Indonesia, so far we’ve only made it to Bali. Pinning for a future trip!
Thank you! Those are places that can be visited on short trips from Bali too, so worth giving them a go 🙂
I am a first time Indonesian traveler. I love this itinerary but I had questions about traveling around the country. How did you get around bali? Also, is it affordable to take taxis from place to place or would you recommend another method to get around that’s affordable?
Also, I was looking into a day trip to Komodo Island do you know if it is possible to add a day to this itinerary for an 11 day trip? Or do you have any recommendations to make a day trip to komodo island possible?
I love your blog! Thanks so much for your help.
Hi Scarlett, thanks for coming by!
To go around Bali, there are several options, with the most popular being motorbikes (only if you know how to drive) and taxis or even cheaper Uber/Grab (an Asian Uber). We decided to get a car with a driver, as in our itinerary we were not coming back to the same location, but going north and then to East Java instead. It worked out the best for us. So it depends on your plans, you can try motorbike or Uber/Grab as those are the cheapest. The public transport exists but it’s not very reliable and to cover bigger distances you’d need to change several times. We used it to go from Pemuteran to the ferry for example – it’s written in the post.
We were thinking about Komodo island too, but in my opinion, 1 day is not enough, as there is so much to see in the area. You’d need to fly out in the evening to be ready for the boat for the next morning and then schedule your return after you come back from the trip. It is doable but rushed and expensive. You could skip Gili islands/East Java and do it instead, but it’s up to you (and cheap flight tickets ;)). We also saw massive lizards from Komodo family on Gili Air 🙂
Good luck and enjoy!
Thank you so much for responding! And for being so informative. One last question, I was considering a private driver too where did you go to hire one? Or are there any websites you would recommend for a driver? Thanks so much again.
A really informative post! Just curious as to why you decided to skip Lombok?
Thanks, we didn’t have time for Lombok unfortunately and we decided it was not worth it going there just for 1 or 2 days, as there is so much to see. I’d love to climb the volcano there though 🙂