We hit Indonesia twice on our 2023 from Dubai to Singapore. First was a quick cruise stop in Sabang on Pulau Weh, the northernmost island of Indonesia. Then we flew from Singapore to Bali on Christmas Eve and spent a week in Indonesia before flying on to Sydney for New Year's Eve.
Sabang was one of those wonderful surprise ports. We visited a local school where the kids picked us out of the crowd and pulled us into their traditional dance — Jessica's fair complexion made her instantly famous and she ended up in approximately a hundred selfies. We also went out to the Jaboi Geothermal Valley, where steam vents up through the ground, and finished the day at Gapang Beach eating sticky rice and drinking out of fresh coconuts. Not a place we would have ever sought out on our own, and we loved it.
For Bali we stayed at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua for a week, which was the right call for a Christmas trip — big pool, full resort, easy to do nothing for a day at a time. We had a few big days mixed in. Sundays Beach Club down on the Bukit Peninsula is a great half-day beach club with good food and lounge chairs on the sand. We did a boat day out of Harbour Serangan, snorkeling around Nusa Penida. Our big Ubud day went Tegenungan Waterfall, then the Tegalalang Rice Terrace, then lunch at Cretya Lite (touristy but actually a beautiful spot), then the Monkey Forest with its 1,000-plus monkeys, then a coffee stop at Teké Coffee on the long drive back.
If you can only do a few things in Bali, make them a snorkel day out to Nusa Penida and the Ubud loop.