Indonesia is made up of more than 17,000 islands, yet roughly 40 per cent of its international visitors end up on the same one. Bali's dominance goes back nearly a century — wealthy travellers started arriving by Dutch colonial shipping line in the 1920s — and it cemented from the 1960s, when Ngurah Rai International Airport opened up to international flights. The result in 2025: world-class beaches with traffic to match.
But the archipelago's other islands have quietly caught up on the luxury front, and a new round-up from Condé Nast Traveller UK makes the case for looking further afield. The resorts on its list share a few things: private-island or private-beach settings, design that reflects where they actually are, and enough distance from the tourist circuit that you'll hear geckos rather than beach-club DJs.
Three standouts worth knowing by name. Nihi Sumba, on the rugged island of Sumba east of Bali, is the pick for wellness — a remote, wildly scenic property on a stretch of coast that feels a world away from Seminyak. Bawah Reserve is the one for overwater villas: an entire private archipelago in the Anambas islands, reached by seaplane, with its own coral reefs and jungle trails. And for snorkelling, the recommendation is The Oberoi Beach Resort on Lombok, Bali's less-developed neighbour, where the house reef and nearby Gili Islands do the heavy lifting.
The full list runs to seven properties, and the wider point holds no matter which you choose: Indonesia's lesser-visited islands now offer some of the best-located hotels in Southeast Asia, often at a calmer pace and with a stronger sense of place than the established hotspots. Editors behind the selection say they weigh design, location, service and genuine sustainability credentials, and revisit the list as hotels open and evolve.
Why does this matter if you're planning a trip? Because the logistics are easier than they sound. Most of these islands connect through Bali or Jakarta with a short domestic flight or seaplane hop, so you can tack a quiet second chapter onto a Bali itinerary — or skip Bali entirely and let the transfer be part of the adventure. Expect more effort than a Bali villa booking, but a very different payoff: reef snorkelling before breakfast, empty sand in the afternoon, and staff-to-guest ratios you simply don't find on a busy island.
If your dream holiday leans towards wellness retreats, overwater bungalows or unspoiled snorkelling rather than nightlife, it might be time to give Bali's neighbours a closer look.
