Put simply for many people Indonesia is the beach. With some 17,000 islands stretching between two tropical oceans, it would be hard to imagine any other place on earth where land, sea and sky have combined to produce so many utterly breathtaking strips of sand of such total variety. Tiny uncluttered coves lapped by crystal seas to long, devil-black stretches of wave and wind swept sand; there are party central tourist hang-out beaches and others whose soft, white sands are rarely smudged by a human footprint. Some you can reach by car or bus, others can only be got to by following the trade winds in a rickety old boat. But whatever kind of beach you find yourself at you’ll quickly come to understand why, for most people, Indonesia is the beach.