Indonesia

Understand

With 17,500 islands, 6,000 of them inhabited, Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. To imagine how vast Indonesia is, Indonesia stretches from west to east as wide as the United States or Western and Eastern Europe combined, yet more than two thirds of the area is sea water. With more than 260 million people, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world — after India, China and the United States — and by far the largest in Southeast Asia. The population is not spread equally among the five biggest islands, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Papua; Java has half of the population. More than 50% of foreign tourists enter Indonesia through the airport of Bali, and most of the rest come in through Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for business or as a hub to other Indonesia tourist destinations or through Batam mostly by ferry from Singapore. These three arrival sites account for about 90% of foreign arrivals. Indonesia also has the largest Muslim population in the world, mostly Sunni. Indonesia is a member of the G20 and although it has potential to become a world leader, it is still hampered by corruption and shortcomings in education as well as an infrastructure hampered by difficult terrain and water. Indonesia's tropical forests are the second-largest in the world after Brazil, and are being logged and cut down to grow oil palm plantations at the same alarming speed. While the rich shop and party in the cities and resorts, the poor work hard and struggle to survive. After decades of economic mismanagement 50.6% of the population still earns less than US$4 per day according to figures compiled by the World Bank in 2012. In 2015, the poverty rate was 5.5% and declining, due to Indonesia's stable growth at 4-6% annually since 2

Getting there

Indonesia offers a multitude of visas via its official e-Visa website. The easiest to get is the 30-day electronic visa on arrival / B1 tourist visa, which is approved within minutes after supplying passport details, the intended address of stay in Indonesia, and a PDF copy of outbound transportation (e.g. a flight which can be cancelled later if plans change). The visa application wizard makes the process pretty straightforward. Just make sure to check "Credit/debit card" for the payment type. The fee for the 30-day visa is Rp500,000, and the visa can be extended for another 30 days. There is also a 60-day tourist visa (C1, also known as 211A), which can be issued within 5 business days for a cost of Rp1,500,000, and can be extended twice, for a total of 180 days. Alternatively, a visa can be obtained on arrival, but the process will take longer due to queues at the airport. A minimum of 6 months' validity must be available in your passport and it must contain at least one or more blank pages. This same rule applies to any visa extension that may be sought whilst in the country. In addition to the visa, all travelers must complete the All Indonesia arrival card before arrival. The website opens 72 hours before your flight, and replaces previous customs, immigration and health form. With the visa obtained online, and their passport in hand, tourists can pass through certain entry points in minutes (e.g. the Denpasar airport in Bali) using auto-gates, without needing to talk to any immigration officer. The days a visa holder is within Indonesia are counted with the day of entry being day 1, not day 0. This means that by 00:00 on the night of the day of arrival you have been in Indonesia for one day. If you enter at 23:59, then the next minute would have been your second

Getting around

By plane Indonesia's vast area and lack of fixed links between islands mean that the only rapid means of long-distance travel within Indonesia is by air. State-owned carrier Garuda Indonesia is a full-service airline and thus usually comes out as the most expensive, but offers seamless connection between its extensive domestic networks and international flights, and has the best safety record of the lot. Lion Air is a low cost carrier (LCC) that has plenty of flights to a specific destination, though major delays occur sporadically. Wings Air is a subsidiary of Lion Air is also a LCC. Other low-cost competitors include Citilink, Garuda Indonesia's subsidiary, and Indonesia AirAsia, a subsidiary of Malaysia's AirAsia. Sriwijaya Air is one of the provides a middle-of-the-road service between full fare and low cost carrier, with more spacious leg room compared to low cost carriers, and also has modest on board meals. Routes for a few less popular destinations are usually served by Air Fast, Susi Air, Trigana, and Wings Air (a Lion Air subsidiary), operates mostly propeller aircraft to smaller airports. If you really get off the beaten track, e.g