Makassar

Most travellers pass through Makassar on the way somewhere else, and that is a fine way to use it — but a night or two pays back. The seafood is the best in Sulawesi, the old Fort Rotterdam is genuinely interesting, and the Losari waterfront at sunset is the kind of city scene worth standing in.

It is also the practical hub: most Sulawesi flights connect through here, and the roads to Toraja, Bira, and Wakatobi all start at the airport.

Two nights is the sweet spot — a city dinner, a Fort Rotterdam morning, the airport in time for the connection north.