Banda Aceh

The sleepy regional capital of less-trodden North Sumatra has risen from the ashes of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami to once more evoke the laid-back, chilled-out vibe expected of an Indonesian backcountry town. The off-the-beaten-track character of Banda Aceh continues to draw travellers, making their way along the coastal stretches of the Malaccan Strait to take in its traditional timber homes, elegant mosques, earthy warungs and bubbling fish markets.

Most Banda Aceh tour guides recommend seeing the town on foot, weaving between colonial buildings before arriving at the graphite domes of the Masjid Raya Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, the religious epicentre of this highly zealous place.

However, no trip to this northern tip of Sumatra could be complete without surveying the legacy of the destructive tsunami, and Aceh is home to perhaps the most striking and sobering collection of monuments. To see them, head down to the reconstructed port areas of pretty Ulee Lheue, or the Tsunami Monument Gardens and the nearby beached ship—sitting just where the waves left it, more than five kilometres from the shore.