Indonesia

The world's largest Buddhist monument, built between 750 and 842 AD, Borobudur is a 9-level mandala in stone with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues arranged across a volcanic hillside in central Java. A private sunrise visit — climbing the monument before dawn to watch the sun rise over the surrounding volcanoes as Buddhist pilgrims light incense around you — is one of the greatest experiences in Asian travel.

Home to the Komodo dragon — the world's largest living lizard, reaching three metres and capable of killing a water buffalo — Komodo's islands are among the most dramatic and biologically unique in the Indonesian archipelago. The surrounding waters are a UNESCO World Heritage marine area of exceptional coral diversity, and a private charter vessel allows you to dive and snorkel in absolute solitude between the dragon islands.

The global epicentre of marine biodiversity, Raja Ampat's 1,500 islands in the Bird's Head Seascape of West Papua are home to more species of coral and fish than anywhere else on earth — over 600 coral species and 1,700 fish species in a single archipelago. The combination of extraordinary underwater life, dramatic karstic islands, and near-total absence of mass tourism makes this the world's most coveted liveaboard diving destination.

Set among rice terraces and river gorges in the interior of Bali, Ubud is the island's cultural and artistic heartland — home to traditional dance performances, painter's galleries, woodcarvers' workshops, and the royal palace. The Tegalalang rice terraces north of Ubud, sculpted into the hillside over centuries of subak communal irrigation, are among the most photographed agricultural landscapes in the world.

The gateway to the Gunung Leuser National Park, one of the last places on earth where Sumatran orangutans can be encountered in a semi-wild forest setting, Bukit Lawang on the Bohorok River offers multi-day jungle treks accompanied by guides who have worked with the orangutans for decades. Thomas leaf monkeys, gibbons, and sun bears share the forest, and the river itself provides spectacular jungle swimming between the encounters.

A 9th-century Hindu temple compound dedicated to the Trimurti — Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva — Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple in Southeast Asia, with 240 temples arranged around a central compound of soaring stone spires. Built at almost exactly the same time as Borobudur, 40 kilometres away, the two monuments represent one of the world's greatest concentrations of religious architecture in a single valley.