Sumatra to Bali tour

Planet

Our Sumatra to Bali tour is a small group, low impact tour including off the beaten track destinations as well as the well-known ones. Wherever possible we use public rather than private transport and stay in small, family-run accommodation and eco-lodges. All staff are local residents and fully trained in sustainable tourism practices.

Our group sizes are from 4 to a maximum of 12 persons and we believe such smaller groups have far less impact on the environment and local culture and allow for more genuine interaction with the local people while a higher guide to guest ratio facilitates instruction and information sharing on the part of our guides. Furthermore, such limited numbers mean we can use smaller, local cafes and restaurants for our inclusive meals.

Despite covering a very wide geographical range we’ve managed to create an itinerary keeping largely to the public rail and ferry system and including just a single flight and limited private bus transfers.

We also include visits to 3 national parks: Gunung Leuser, Bromo and Alas Purwo where we employ local guides/rangers and drivers and where entrance fees go towards upkeep of park facilities and staff employment.

People

As well as including the famous sites we’ve added plenty of lesser-known ones as well as local markets, street tours and villages thus helping to spread the ‘tourist dollar’ into otherwise rarely frequented areas.

Our emphasis with meals, as well as coffee/drinks breaks, is on genuine local-style cafes and street food rather than hotel and tourist-style set meals. With regards accommodation we stay at eco-lodges in Bukit Lawang, Yogyakarta, Kalibaru and Pemuteran. Wherever possible, drinking water is from large, refillable containers or reusable glass bottles avoiding single-use plastic ones.

Community-based tourism schemes included in the tour are a village and cottage industries project near Yogyakarta, visits to urban renewal projects in Yogyakarta and the ‘Rainbow Village’ scheme in Malang. A farm and orchard visit in Berastagi and optional bird-watching tour in Pemuteran are also in the itinerary.

All accommodation is locally owned and locally staffed while our tour-leaders are fully-licensed Indonesian national guides. At each point, activities such as national park hikes and city walking tours are also accompanied by locally-sourced guides and drivers.