Sumba Island

Sumba Island is one of Ampersand's Top 10 Summer Holiday Destinations in Asia.

Just an hour’s flight from Bali, but a world away in pace, lies Sumba, one of Indonesia’s last true wild islands. Often called The Forgotten Island, the name speaks to the preservation of ritual, raw beauty and a way of life steeped in tradition.

Sumba reveals itself in surf breaks and still mornings, in the rustle of alang-alang grasses and the clink of ancestral gongs. Here, marapu animism endures, and centuries-old customs remain quietly embedded in the everyday. Time your visit for February or March to witness Pasola, a thrilling ritual joust where horsemen hurtle across the plains, spears flying, as entire villages gather in ceremonial dress to watch.

Nature, too, is exuberant. The beaches are startlingly beautiful; wild crescents of sugar-white sand, wrapped in turquoise surf and backed by jungle. The sea offers sublime surfing and reef-snorkelling, and inland, the island is a tapestry of highlands, rice terraces, waterfalls and sacred megalithic tombs, adorned with fresh flowers. It’s a place to explore at your own pace, unhurried and often alone.

The barefoot luxury of Sumba appeals to a certain kind of traveller, and now, two extraordinary properties offer the rare chance to immerse in its spellbinding landscape without ever losing the thread of comfort.

On a stretch of cinematic coast, NIHI Sumba remains the grand original, a soulful sanctuary of wild luxury that has earned accolades from Condé Nast Traveller, Travel + Leisure and Vogue. It’s remote in the truest sense; horses on the beach at sunrise, cliffside spas in bamboo pavilions and villas that vanish into jungle, and it captures the dreamlike quality of Sumba. Surf uncrowded breaks, bathe in waterfalls, sleep to the hush of the ocean. 

Further up the coast, Cap Karoso offers a bolder, more design-forward lens on the island. Newly opened and already turning heads, this eco-conscious hideaway blends Sumba’s raw textures with refined European polish. It’s got a working farm, an artist-in-residence programme and a playful sophistication that feels deeply grown-up yet rooted in place. The beach is pristine, the cocktails are precise and the ethos makes it more than just a pretty stay. 

To truly understand Sumba, we’d suggest staying at both; NIHI for the soul, Cap Karoso for the mind. Both are deeply connected to the land, both are helping shape the future of sustainable travel in Indonesia.

The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.
G. K. Chesterton