Tucked away in Eastern Indonesia, North Maluku is a region that still feels like a secret. Once at the heart of the fabled Spice Islands, it’s a place where history, nature, and adventure collide. Whether you’re drawn by steaming volcanoes, pristine coral reefs, or the chance to explore untouched islands, North Maluku rewards curious travelers who look beyond Indonesia’s better-known hotspots.

The Heartbeat of Ternate

The Heartbeat of Ternate

Most journeys through North Maluku begin on Ternate Island, dominated by the ever-present Gamalama volcano. Here, colonial forts whisper stories of Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish influence, while spice plantations recall the centuries-old trade that once made these islands the center of global commerce.

Ternate City, the region’s bustling hub, offers comfortable accommodations and serves as the ideal base for further exploration. A visit to the Sultan’s Palace provides a glimpse into the rich cultural heritage, while surrounding villages reveal traditional ways of life.

If you’ve enjoyed exploring Ternate, you might also like our article on Yogyakarta’s royal heritage for another perspective on Indonesia’s living history.

Halmahera – The Land of Legends

Hidden Treasure of Halmahera

The largest of the North Maluku islands, Halmahera, is wild, diverse, and full of mystery. Dense rainforests hide unique bird species, and local lore speaks of ancestor spirits leaving giant footprints in the earth.

Adventurers come here to trek remote trails, discover hidden waterfalls, and meet communities that still live close to nature. For divers, Halmahera’s surrounding waters promise spectacular marine biodiversity, from colorful coral gardens to dramatic drop-offs.

For more wild island escapes, check out our guide to Raja Ampat—another Indonesian gem for divers.

Morotai – From War History to White Sands

Majestic Morotai Island

History buffs will find Morotai Island fascinating. Once a strategic base during World War II, it was the hiding place of the last Japanese soldier to surrender—nearly three decades after the war ended. Today, the island tells its wartime story through relics and small museums.

But Morotai is not just about the past. Its present is defined by incredible diving and snorkeling opportunities, where dugongs sometimes glide through seagrass beds and pristine reefs teem with life. Offshore, the Dodola Islands invite travelers to camp on their powdery white sands, connected by sandbars that appear and disappear with the tides.

If you love remote island life, you may also enjoy our feature on Sulawesi’s hidden treasures.

Diving with Walking Sharks and Volcanic Wonders

Few destinations can boast the sheer variety of underwater experiences found in North Maluku. Here, you might encounter the rare walking shark, a small nocturnal species that “walks” across the seabed. Nearby, adventurous divers can descend the slopes of Banua Wuhu, an active underwater volcano that sends bubbles streaming toward the surface.

For those who prefer calmer encounters, the coral walls and reefs rival Indonesia’s better-known diving meccas, yet remain far less crowded.

To compare with other marine adventures, read about Komodo’s diving experiences and see how North Maluku stacks up.

North Maluku Indonesia

Travel Tips for North Maluku

• When to Go: The dry season (October to March) offers the most reliable weather for diving, hiking, and exploring.

• Getting There: Fly to Ternate from Jakarta or Manado, then continue by boat or domestic flights to Halmahera or Morotai.

• What to Pack: Bring sturdy shoes for jungle trekking, reef-safe sunscreen for marine adventures, and a flexible mindset—travel here can be unpredictable but rewarding.

• Stay Local: Opt for homestays or eco-lodges where possible to support communities and enjoy authentic hospitality.

Why North Maluku Belongs on Your Travel Map

North Maluku is not about mass tourism—it’s about discovery. It’s where volcanoes dominate the skyline, where cultural traditions remain strong, and where the underwater world is still pristine. For travelers willing to step off the beaten path, these islands offer some of Indonesia’s richest and most rewarding adventures.

If you’re seeking a destination that blends nature, culture, and history in an authentic way, North Maluku Indonesia might just be your next great journey.

The post North Maluku: Indonesia’s Untouched Archipelago of Adventure appeared first on Asian Itinerary.

As beach lovers know, Thailand is a year-round island hopping destination due to the wonderful weather, palm-fringed beaches and warm ocean. What most visitors don’t know, and it’s one of Thailand’s best kept secrets, is that the islands off Trang coast are the ideal exotic refuge to match what most people envision when dreaming of a tropical holiday.

These stunning and very diverse islands can be divided in two categories: the first group, which includes Koh Libong, Koh Phetra, Koh Sukorn, Koh Bulon and Koh Lao Liang, is almost unknown to foreign tourists. Even if you’re a frequent traveler to Thailand, I bet you’ve never heard any of these names.

The second group consists of islands that are known to a bunch of Phangan beach lovers and visited by local tourists and expatriates at weekends, yet they are still overshadowed by the likes of Koh Lipe, Koh Lanta, Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.

This category includes Koh Kradan, Koh Ngai and Koh Muk, offering a wide range of beach front resorts and guest houses and boasting the most pristine and romantic beaches in the area.

You can take a day trip from Krabi

If you don’t have time for a week or even a weekend island hopping among the second group of the Trang Islands, don’t write them off your list. The good news is that with a little planning, you can take a day trip to these stunning islands and be able to sleep in your hotel room back in Krabi at the end of an adventure filled day.

It’s what we at Fantasia Asia did a few weeks ago, driving our car from Ao Nang to Pak Meng harbour, which is located at the border of Krabi and Trang provinces.

Once you leave the lively Krabi weekend traffic behind, the journey to Pak Meng is a 90 minute pleasant drive through palm trees, coconut plantations and limestone mountains on a mostly straight and well kept road. You should use a GPS to reach Pak Meng easily, however the road signs are quite precise if you know what you are looking for.

We reached the Pak Meng harbour around 9 AM and boarded a private long tail boat for the day. I had visited Pak Meng a few years earlier, while the new pier was under construction, and this time I was very impressed by the improvement of the harbour. It’s now filled with small shops and a few nice looking cafés and restaurants without being overtly touristic. There are a few parking lots a few hundred meters from the National Park station, which is where tourists pay the park entrance fee (300 THB per person) and board their boats.

Several tour companies run transfers and daily tours with local boats (long tail boats) or larger boats (speed boats or yachts).

Itinerary

Koh Mook (Morakot Cave, The Mook Sivalai Beach Resort),
Koh Kradan (The Reef Resort, snorkelling)
Koh Chuak (snorkelling)
Koh Ngai (Thanya Beach Resort)

The post Island hopping off the Trang coast appeared first on Asian Itinerary.

Last weekend I travelled north to Khao Lak with Fantasia Asia team for a three day-two night stay with a day trip to Similan and Koh Surin islands archipelagos.

Popular for its coral gardens and white beaches, Surin Islands are one of the most famous diving and marine life viewing sites in the world, no doubt the best in Thailand, Koh Surin Islands are an archipelago of five islands within Mu Ko Surin National Park, in the Andaman Sea, Phang Nga province. The islands are 55 km off the coast, 100 km north from Similan Islands and just 18 km from the oceanic border of Myanmar.  

The main islands are Ko Surin Nuea and Ko Surin Tai which are only 200 meters apart, the corridor between both islands is shallow and a popular place for snorkelling. The other three small islands are Ko Ri, Ko Khai and Ko Klang. This archipelago is one of the very few untouched places in Thailand. Other than a small Moken (sea-gypsy) village and the National Park premises, there are no other buildings on the islands.

Local boat at sunset

Why would I want to visit Koh Surin islands when I live in beautiful Krabi where islands abound, you may ask. Well, I’m taking advantage of the unusually quiet high season to travel a bit further than usual and to try out excursions that I wouldn’t normally have the time to take. Was also after a change of scenery and some really stunning snorkelling experiences, which is what Koh Surin is famous about. 

Once in Khao Lak, we checked in at conveniently located The Briza Beach Resort. The next morning we woke up relatively early, had a large breakfast at the hotel and drove to the pier (for those who don’t have their own car, transfer is provided by Sea Star), where we had a second breakfast served at the Sea Star dock. We then registered for our tour and were given mask, fins, snorkel, a towel and a practical carrier bag. You are free to bring your own snorkelling equipment and only take what you miss. Sea-sickness pills and relaxing balms are also available free of charge.

It took about 2 hours to get to Koh Surin and the sea was a little rough during part of the trip, but it calmed down before we reached our destination.

The first stop was the Moken village in South Surin. The Moken people are divided into three different groups living along the Andaman Coast of Myanmar and Thailand – in the Mergui Archipelago, in Surin and in Phuket and Satun provinces. They are animists and are known as ‘sea-gypsies’ since until recently they used to live on boats, only to settle down in temporary villages during monsoon season. The Moken of South Surin are one of the last groups living in semi-traditional ways. These people survived the tsunami unharmed thanks to their strict bond with the sea and to their knowledge of earthquake-generated big waves, that made them run for their lives when the tsunami hit Thailand in 2004. Most of their village was destroyed, though, and had to be rebuilt.

The village is a settlement of about 60 huts and houses facing a spectacular bay. One of the first things you notice when you reach the village – besides the cute children and cats running around – are the totem poles that represent the spirits of the Moken ancestors. 

I decided to take a walk along the only sandy path that runs through the village under the 11am sun: the locals were resting in hammocks hanging under their stilt-houses, or chatting and eating in the shadow; some kids were playing on the beach or selling handmade wooden souvenirs – “50 bath, only 50 bath”, they kept saying – others were bathing in the ocean, the toddlers were chasing chickens or kittens, the babies were sound asleep in their mothers’a arms or in improvised cribs made of cotton or rattan. The sun here lashes all its heat in the dry season, leaving everybody sleepy and lazy. 

Moken girls in Surin

We left the Moken to their siesta and went out at sea for the first snorkelling stop of the day. Visibility was not as good as in Similan, but that may vary (in fact, it had been the opposite back in January), and overall I had a great 40 minutes of underwater exploration. We then went to North Surin to have lunch at the National Park premises, the only area in Surin Islands where it is possible to sleep: there are tents or A/C bungalows. Lunch was basic but tasty – fried chicken, chicken and vegetable curries, some fish, muffins and cookies, coffee, cold drinks – and there was enough time to go for a walk or a swim at the beautiful beach near the campsite. 

Snorkelling in Surin islands

After spending about an hour at the beach, we moved to the channel between North Surin and South Surin for two more snorkelling stops. I was looking for turtles, sharks or manta rays -the best period to see the latter being February to April – but without any luck. I anyhow lost myself completely in the warm, calm, shallow waters, shooting photos and videos of clownfish in their anemones, unicornfish, surgeon and parrotfish, starfish, purple and blue clams, puffer fish, hard and soft corals. It was soon time to get back aboard the speedboat and start the journey back to Khao Lak. Snuggled up in my seat with headphones on to cover the noise of the engines, a fresh breeze messing with my hair, I fell peacefully asleep only to wake up while we were entering the pier. 

I recommend this trips to all sea-lovers: even if you’re not keen on snorkelling, you will have a good chance to spot some corals and beautiful fishes (and, with a bit of luck, turtles) since most snorkelling areas have shallow waters, giving you plenty of opportunities to be amazed at some of the healthiest and most colourful reefs in Thailand.

Good to know:

Maya and Alis enjoy the day

Surin

1. Surin Islands are part of an archipelago of five islands within Mu Ko Surin National Park, Phang Nga province. They are located 55 km off the coast, 100 km north from Similan Islands, less than 20 km from the border with Myanmar.
2. The best time for snorkelling and diving is December to April when the wind is weak and the water temperature around 29°C.
3. The park closes in rainy seasons, usually from mid May to mid-October, but dates may vary. During the peak season, around 400 to 800 visitors travel to Surin every day, which is less than those who visit Similan Islands, but it’s not exactly ‘quiet’.
4. There is one small village of the ethnic Moken group, locally known as ‘Chao Lay’ or sea-gypsy. The Moken are sailors and fishermen who live mainly in the Burmese Mergui Archipelago.

DO NOT:

– feed the fish, even if they follow you and beg for food

– touch or step on any coral or sea life.

– take home sand, sea shells or any sea life.

– put tons of sunscreen before snorkelling: it’s toxic for the marine life. Wear a long-sleeved t-shirt instead.

Relaxing and waiting sunset from The Briza pool

In Khao Lak, Fantasia Asia and Asian Itinerary stayed at The Briza Beach Resort, one of Fantasia Asia’s partner hotels. The Briza Beach Resort has spacious, bright rooms settled around a large swimming pool, with partial or full sea view depending on the category chosen.

This beach resort has a laid-back atmosphere, and Khao Lak’s many restaurants, shops and bars are only a few minute drive away, as it’s the pier from which most sea-tour companies depart for Similan and Surin.

We chose operator Sea Star because it’s one of the most popular boat operators in the area, and one of the few that is still open despite the Covid pandemic that badly hit Thailand’s tourism industry.

WATCH FANTASIA ASIA VIDEO OF THE TRIP HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Mzjcj46t8

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