This laid-back, off-the-beaten-track, horseshoe-shaped town set between the northern fingers of Sulawesi Island is one of the favoured gateways to the Lore Lindu National Park, a great swathe of montane forestry, mist-clad ridges, and verdant rice paddies that is home to swinging Tonkean macaques and chiselled monoliths dating back more than 3,000 years ( Indo’s fitting answer to the Easter Islands!)

While most travellers who make their way to this coastal enclave of the Greater Sunda are probably of the intrepid type, clad in waxed walking boots and eager to enlist the help of a Palu tour guide to take them into the wilds, there’s yet more. Visitors can also case out the curious traces of Dutch colonialism that linger in the centre, join paragliders twisting in the air from the heights of Mount Matantimali, dive off Tanjung Karang, kick-back on Talise Beach, or taste the region’s trademark kaledo soups—doused in capsicum and bursting with meat.