Krui beachfront surf cottage

Krui is the quiet capital of Pesisir Barat, a stretch of south-west Sumatran coast that faces straight into the Indian Ocean and receives the same swell as the Mentawais with a fraction of the crowd. Ujung Bocur, Mandiri, Way Jambu and Honey Smacks are all within a twenty-minute drive of the town, and the road behind them runs through pepper and clove smallholdings up to the edge of Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park.

The cottage is a hundred square metre single-storey build set forty metres back from the sand behind a low sea wall and a row of casuarinas. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open kitchen-living space with sliding doors to a covered front terrace, tiled floors, ceiling fans and split-system air conditioning in the main bedroom. A well and pump supply water, and there is a board store and outdoor shower at the side.

Krui town, five minutes away, is a real working Sumatran town rather than a resort: a big morning market, warungs doing pindang and grilled fish, a clinic, banks, mosques, schools and hardware shops. Prices for everything from a plate of food to a builder's day rate are low even by Indonesian standards.

Getting here has become far easier. Radin Inten airport at Bandar Lampung is around five hours by road, with frequent flights to Jakarta, and Krui's own small airstrip at Serai takes light aircraft. The overland route through the national park is scenic and worth doing at least once — elephants, hornbills and rainforest right down to the coast road.

The area is on the way up but still cheap, and local land is often held under customary arrangements, so a careful notary and a proper lease or Hak Pakai are essential. For a surfer who wants warm water, empty waves and a genuine Sumatran town rather than an expat bubble, Krui is one of the best-value coastlines left in Asia.