Luxury Indonesia Holidays: Bali, Komodo & Beyond

The best time to visit Bali and Indonesia depends on which islands you’re planning to include. Bali is at its best from May to September — the dry season brings clear skies, lower humidity, and ideal conditions for coastal and highland itineraries alike. April and October are shoulder months that offer fewer crowds with reliable weather. The wet season from November to March is worth noting for Ubud and the interior, where afternoon downpours are common, though mornings are usually clear. For the Komodo Islands and the archipelago to the east, the dry season from April to October is strongly recommended — the seas are calmer, visibility for diving is at its peak, and Komodo dragon sightings are far more reliable on the drier islands. For Raja Ampat in West Papua, October to April is best for manta rays and calm seas.

A luxury holiday to Bali and Indonesia with Black Tomato typically starts from around £4,500 per person for a seven to ten night Bali itinerary combining Ubud and the southern coast. Extending into the broader archipelago — adding the Komodo Islands by private yacht, Sumba at Nihi Sumba Island, or a liveaboard in Raja Ampat — generally falls between £7,500 and £18,750 per person, depending on the properties and experiences selected. A private crewed yacht charter through the Komodo National Park adds significantly to the budget but is, for many of our clients, the most memorable part of the trip. Every Black Tomato Indonesia itinerary is fully tailor-made, so your travel expert will work within a range that makes sense for you.

Bali is absolutely worth visiting beyond the well-known areas — and in our experience, the lesser-known parts of the island are where the most rewarding experiences happen. The cultural interior around Ubud offers rice terrace walks, private temple ceremonies, and cooking classes with local families that are difficult to find independently. The Bukit Peninsula in the south has cliff-top resorts and surf breaks that remain largely free of the crowds in Seminyak and Kuta. The north and east of the island — Amed, Munduk, the volcanic highlands around Kintamani — are quieter still and extraordinarily beautiful. We consistently find that clients who come to Bali expecting to tick off the famous sights leave having been most moved by the private moments: a sunset ceremony at a temple arranged just for them, a sunrise on a volcano with nobody else around, an afternoon cooking with a local family in a village that doesn’t appear on any itinerary map.

The best way to experience the Komodo Islands is by private liveaboard yacht, spending three to five nights cruising through the national park rather than arriving on a day trip from Labuan Bajo. A crewed gulet gives you access to bays and beaches that are only reachable by boat, the flexibility to dive or snorkel at the best sites without schedules dictated by shared tours, and the extraordinary experience of anchoring for the night in complete isolation. By day you’re tracking Komodo dragons on Rinca or Komodo Island with a park ranger, swimming with manta rays, and drifting through coral gardens. By evening it’s sundowners on the deck as the volcanoes fade into the dark. We work with a carefully selected group of skippers and vessels and pair every charter with a naturalist guide who genuinely knows these waters.

Bali is one of the most celebrated honeymoon destinations in the world, and with good reason — the combination of extraordinary hotels, intimate cultural experiences, and lush landscapes makes it genuinely romantic rather than just scenic. A luxury honeymoon in Bali typically moves between two settings: the cultural interior of Ubud, where resorts like Capella Ubud and Amandari are set in jungle canopy above river gorges, and the coastal south at properties like Six Senses Uluwatu, perched on the clifftops above the Indian Ocean. The most memorable experiences are the private ones — a sunset ceremony at a temple reserved just for two, a cooking class in a local village, an evening in a private pool villa with nothing but the sound of the gamelan drifting up from below. Many of our clients extend a Bali honeymoon into the islands further east — Sumba at Nihi Sumba Island, or a private yacht through Komodo — for a combination of barefoot luxury and genuine adventure.

Indonesia is an excellent destination for a family holiday, particularly for families who want genuine adventure alongside real comfort. Bali offers cultural immersion that engages children and adults equally — temple visits, cooking classes, rice terrace walks, and wildlife encounters at the Sacred Monkey Forest. The Komodo Islands are exceptional for families with older children: sailing a private gulet through the national park, tracking Komodo dragons with a ranger, snorkelling over coral gardens, and sleeping under the stars on deck is the kind of trip that children talk about for years. For families seeking pure nature without the cultural complexity, Sumba combines world-class surfing, horse riding on the beach, and untouched coastline in a way that genuinely works for all ages. We’ve been crafting family itineraries to Indonesia for many years and know how to pace the journey so that parents and children get what they came for.