CAPTIVATING INDONESIA'S CAPSTONES : TOURISM 2023. {4}

Flores, Indonesia : An island paradise where crater lakes change color and nine-foot dragons roam.

The term ''fairy-tale getaway'' is overused, but what else do you call a far-off, unspoiled, Southwest Asian island with nine-foot [almost three-meter] Komodo dragons, active volcanoes, white - sand beaches, coral gardens, rushing water-falls and color shifting crater lakes said to house departed spirits?

Such are the allures of Flores, one of the roughly 17,500 islands of the Republic of Indonesia.

An hour's flight from Bali and far less visited, Flores may be seeing more visitors with the scheduled opening late this year of Kodi Bajo, a luxury resort in the fishing town of Labuan Bajo.

Operated by the group behind the NIHI hotel on Sumba, a nearby Indonesian island, Kodi Bajo will offer sumptuous hillside accommodations and views of the nearby Komodo National Park archipelago - the only place in the world inhabited by the famous giant lizards. [ Seth Sherwood ]