Bali

One island, and a small one, but it behaves like several places at once. The south — Seminyak, Canggu, Uluwatu — is dense, built up and where the surf is. The east and north-east are quieter and rockier, with black volcanic sand rather than white. The Gili islands and Nusa Penida, both a short boat away, are where most people actually find the water they came for.

Bali's beaches are not its strongest card and it is worth saying so: much of the south coast is grey sand with a serious shorebreak, and the water off Kuta is not clean. What it has instead is everything behind the beach, at a price nothing else here matches.

Getting there

Denpasar (DPS) takes direct flights from across Asia and Australia, and one-stop from Europe and the Middle East. There are no domestic flights on the island — everything is road, and the traffic in the south is genuinely slow. Allow two hours for anything that looks like forty minutes.

Entry

Indonesian rules apply. Visa on arrival is valid for 30 days and extendable once for a further 30. Passport must have at least six months' validity from the date of arrival. The visitor visa fee is IDR 500,000. Overstaying is fined at IDR 1,000,000 per day and can mean detention, deportation and a re-entry ban.