RAJA KELANA

INDONESIA

The Garden of the East

All the desert island clichés are present and correct: dazzling white-sand beaches fringed by coconut palms, turquoise waters and a coral reef. It's still possible to live the tropical dream – snorkelling, feasting on fresh seafood, then lounging or dancing under the stars – for a fistful of Indonesian Rupiah

But if your budget is bigger and your comfort zone narrower, there are some superb new accommodation options. Seriously stylish thatched-roofed cabins, most built in local "rice barn" style, replacing creaky old A-frame huts. Expect polished timber floors, hand-carved beds with gorgeous linen, and open-air bamboo-walled bathrooms. Those villas have front decks facing the island's best sandy beach, green lush ricefield, or breathtaking valley covered with real jungle and a river flowing at the bottom, and a waterfall somewhere in the middle of it.