🇳🇱 Amsterdam → 🇮🇩 Bali · 1 week

Wake at 4:30am and take a guide up Mount Batur volcano (1,717m) to reach the crater rim by sunrise — the cloud inversion below and views across Lombok are unlike anything else in the region. Budget around €40–60 for a licensed guide and a banana pancake breakfast on the summit.

Rent a scooter (€4/day) and drive the Sidemen Valley road — rice terraces, bamboo bridges, and village temples with almost zero tourist infrastructure. Pull over at any warung (local roadside kitchen) for nasi campur (rice with mixed sides) for under €2.

Catch the dawn surf at Balangan Beach on the Bukit Peninsula — a long right-hand reef break that's empty at 6am and one of Bali's most consistent waves. Beginners should hire an instructor at Kuta Beach instead; Balangan is for intermediate to advanced surfers.

Visit Pura Luhur Uluwatu at sunset (5:30pm entry, kecak fire dance starts at 6pm) — the clifftop temple 70m above the Indian Ocean is genuinely dramatic, and the kecak performance below at the cliff edge amphitheatre is one of Southeast Asia's great spectacles. Wrap a sarong around your waist (provided at entry) and watch the monkeys.