Java

Home to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, Java remains the most populous island in the world, but it’s the treasures that lie beyond its urban centres that make it well worth adding to any tour of Indonesia.

No journey through Java would be complete without a visit to Borobudur, the single largest Buddhist structure ever built. Constructed in the 9th century, the pyramid-shaped temple comprises nine tiers, the higher levels studded with 72 enormous bell-shaped stupas and more than 400 Buddha images. Sitting among the stupas at dawn, watching the sun light up the surrounding hills and valleys, it’s easy to see why it’s been a place of pilgrimage for over a millennium.

It’s rumoured that the great Hindu temple complex at Prambanan was built as a counterpart to Borobudur. One of the largest Hindu temples in South-East Asia, it’s an essential stop on your journey east towards another of Java’s most spectacular sights, Mount Bromo, whose steaming volcanic cone stands in a sea of ashen, volcanic sand, surrounded by the towering cliffs of a larger caldera. Bromo is one of three volcanoes to have emerged from this vast crater, and with Java’s highest peak, Mount Semeru, also on the horizon, the result is landscape of near-supernatural beauty.