White Sands Beach, Jayapura, Papua

Papua is the farthest east province of Indonesia and also the most remote. A few dedicated scuba divers will visit West Papua, but very few foreign tourists ever make it to the eastern side. Only those who are planning on crossing into Papua New Guinea come to Jayapura.

As a result, don’t expect to meet many tourists, or even many English speakers. While this can make arranging activities a tad bit trickier if you do not speak any Bahasa Indonesia, it definitely makes the experience of visiting Jayapura much more rewarding.

Regardless of where you stay in Jayapura, you’ll need to rent a driver to get out to Harlem Beach, also known as the White Sands Beach. The driver will drop you off at the Depapre Pier (50 km west of Jayapura), and from there, it is a 15 minutes boat ride to the Harlem Beach. However, given its remote location, it is quite likely that you will have the entire beach to yourself— especially if you visit on a weekday.
Harlem Beach is arguably the nicest beach in Papua, and part of the reason it is the locals, who take good care of it. As a result, they do charge a 20,000 rupiah entrance fee—paradise at a bargain.