In a republic made up of more than 17000 islands you will obviously find the one or other beach 😮

Indonesia is not known for beaches as much as Thailand or other southeast Asian countries, however this may be only because the touristic infrastructure isn’t quite as developed as in some other countries. Meaning: there are many phantastic beaches in Indonesia, they are just a bit harder to get to than, say, Phuket. And many are completely natural – which means all the flotsam that the sea lands simple piles up on the beach.

Tanjung Kerang near Palu, Sulawesi

Dodola kecil, a little island west of Daruba, pulau Morotai

Pantai Kopi, near Posi Posi, Pulau Rao

Unfortunately, this also includes a lot of plastic rubbish, even in the remotest areas. Luckily, the picture is usually still dominated by fallen palms, rootstocks or other natural debris washed ashore, as can be seen in the pictures above.

Many of the beaches in the more remote areas that I visited were completely deserted, or populated only by a few locals from the nearby village. Some of these beaches made me feel a bit like Robinson Crusoe.

Pantai Gorango, northeast Morotai

Pantai Gorango, looking east

Pantai Gorango, looking west

Pantai Luari, near Tobelo, Halmahera utara, looking towards the village

Pantai Luari, near Tobelo, Halmahera utara, looking out to the cape

Pantai Pulau Kakara, off Tobelo, Halmahera utara

Following the life- and holidaymaking styles of western visitors, an increasing number of Indonesians – mostly the younger people – enjoy beach life in their free time, so more and more beaches across the archipelago are getting a little developed, with the one or other restaurant, bar, guesthouse or resort opening, and perhaps a surfing or diving school.

Pantai Pulau Merah, east Java

Pulau Dodola besar, looking towards Dodola kecil

Pulau Dodola kecil as seen from Dodola besar

Pulau Dodola besar, looking towards Dodola kecil

Pantai Kupa Kupa, Halmahera utara, a few kilometers south of Tobelo

Looking into Teluk Hijau, Meru Betiri NP, southeast Java

looking out from teluk Hijau, Meru Betiri NP, southeast Java

Obviously, in a country with lots of volcanos, you also find black sand beaches:

Pantai Kahona, near Galela, Halmahera Utara

Pantai Kahona, near Galela, Halmahera Utara

Beach about 5 km south of pantai Gorango

Tanjung Dukomadihi, Ternate

Pantai Sulamadaha, Ternate

There is also a number of beaches with really good surfing in the country. (I don’t surf, therefore I did not visit many of them 😎 )

Bali’s west coast, at or near Berawa beach

Bali’s west coast, at or near Berawa beach

Bali’s west coast, at or near Berawa beach

Bali’s west coast, at or near Berawa beach

 

Added on Dec 25, 2017:

Reviewing my photos I found a couple more nice beaches. This one is called

Dream Beach, Nusa Lembongan

Dream Beach, Nusa Lembongan

Although there is lots of accommodation of all sorts on Nusa Lembongan, Dream Beach was only marginally populated. Perhaps that’s because all the people were in the Cafe Pandan right behind the beach, which was almost overcrowded.

Mangrove Beach, Nusa Lembongan

The signs say there’s “swiming” and “snorkling”, but when I was at Mangrove Beach, the water wasn’t even knee deep, so swimming was impossible. And to go snorkelling, I had to wade out between the mangrove bushes pretty far, before the water got deeper. But there, a pretty nice coral reef waited to be discovered. Unfortunately, the many dive shops on the island know this as well, and therefore, everytime I went up after free diving down, I had to look for boats which were jetting around at the surface.

Gamat Bay, Nusa Penida

at first glance looks like a wonderfully natural, deserted beach, however …

… the many boats suggest that this doesn’t need to remain so all day. (I took these photos relatively early in the morning)

Not far from there, there is the

Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida

with a couple simple restaurants and chalets. Snorkelling is reportedly nice there, but sometimes difficult due to strong currents, which is no wonder if you know the local topology: the tides often cause strong currents in the narrow, but deep channel between Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan, and Crystal Bay connects to this channel.

Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida

This is the rather remote

Atuh Beach, Nusa Penida

Considering its far-off location, it surprises with at least basic amenities.

Atuh Beach, Nusa Penida

Not a beach, but a natural pool:

Angel’s Billabong, Nusa Penida.

After watching it for a while I wanted to change and take dip in this pool to cool down – but I quickly changed my mind when I saw the big waves that sometimes crush into it.

Not far from Angel’s Billabong there is a natual bridge with another, bigger pool behind, called

Pasih Uug, Nusa Penida

Here it was clear from first sight that swimming down there would be dangerous. Anyway I did not see a way leading down there.

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