Most travellers chasing an Indonesian escape stop at Bali, but those willing to venture a little further east will find one of Asia's most celebrated hideaways: Amanwana, a pioneering luxury tented resort perched on the remote western coast of Moyo Island, gazing out across the Flores Sea. Widely regarded as the first luxury tented resort in Asia when it opened in 1993, Amanwana has retained an effortlessly timeless appeal that continues to earn it a place on serious travellers' bucket lists.
Getting there is part of the experience
Reaching Amanwana is itself an adventure. Guests fly into Sumbawa's Sultan Muhammad Kaharuddin Airport, where a private black SUV collects them for a short 20-minute drive to a dedicated harbour. There, after a welcome refresh — cold towels and access to facilities — visitors board Aman X, the resort's two-level open-air cruiser, for a windswept 45-minute crossing of the Flores Sea. Staff line the resort's wooden pier to greet arrivals, and the welcome continues on shore with a chilled tamarind drink before guests are escorted to their accommodation for a relaxed, unhurried check-in.
It's the kind of arrival ritual that signals immediately: this is not an ordinary resort.
Seventeen tents, zero roughing it
Amanwana's 17 glamping tents are arranged along a grassy foreshore fringe, their white canvas peaks and taut guy ropes standing in striking contrast to the dense, luminescent rainforest behind them. The resort's main pavilion — a traditional Indonesian structure featuring central teak columns, a soaring peaked ceiling and an alang-alang grass rooftop — anchors the property with quiet architectural authority.
The tents themselves are categorised as jungle, ocean-view or ocean-front, and each spans a generous 58 square metres. Built with solid walls, teak window and door frames, and hardy canvas rooftops, they feel far closer to luxury suites than anything suggesting a campsite — the primary exceptions being the occasional thud of a monkey landing on the roof or a gecko making itself at home in the bathroom.
Interiors strike a considered balance between colonial-era elegance and tropical warmth: white bed linen, mosquito nets and rattan mats soften the dark hardwood floors and carved wood furnishings. Ocean-front tents offer 180-degree views across Amanwana Bay from the central king-sized bed, while outside, a hammock, umbrella-shaded recliners and deck chairs make it easy to spend an entire afternoon watching black-tipped reef sharks patrol the protected marine park shallows.
Small touches elevate the experience further — desktop glass jars are continuously replenished with cashews (grown on the island itself), cookies and Indonesian kerupuk crackers, while the minibar is fully stocked and included in the rate.
Food, culture and the Sumbawanese table
Meals are served in the expansive open-air pavilion, where round teak tables are set with white linen for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Indonesian cuisine is the focus, but the standout offering is a traditional Sumbawanese bakela — a communal feast, historically prepared for special occasions, built around a central cone of nasi kuning (yellow rice) and accompanied by a rotating spread of smaller dishes: spicy beef curry, grilled chicken, fish steamed in banana leaf, and urap, a salad of cooked greens, bamboo shoots and grated coconut.
Evening cocktails draw guests to the breezy beachside bar, where the setting sun over the Flores Sea provides all the atmosphere anyone could ask for.
A national park playground
The broader landscape surrounding the resort is as remarkable as the property itself. Moyo Island, neighbouring Satonda Island and the waters around them have been under environmental protection since 1976, and in 2022 the area was formally gazetted as a combined national and marine park. The result is an extraordinarily well-preserved natural environment — home to protected rusa deer, macaques, silvery reef fish and a richly biodiverse marine ecosystem.
Guests can fill their days with hiking, kayaking, scuba diving and snorkelling, but one experience stands above the rest: trekking through dense jungle to reach Mata Jitu waterfall, a series of cascading limestone pools deep in the island's interior. The resort pairs the visit with a floating sound bath experience, making it one of the more distinctive wellness offerings in the region.
For travellers drawn to the idea of escaping the tourist trail — and willing to trade convenience for something genuinely extraordinary — Amanwana makes a compelling case that the most rewarding destinations are sometimes the ones that take a little more effort to reach. If Bali feels increasingly familiar, Moyo Island is waiting just beyond it, largely unchanged and entirely unforgettable.
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