The main pull of Tidore is its history — the island was, with Ternate across the strait, one of the four great clove sultanates of North Maluku, and the rebuilt Kadato Kie palace together with the Sonyine Malige Museum and the Sultan Nuku Monument trace that history clearly. The two Spanish forts above Soasio — Fort Tahula and Fort Tohula — are short climbs with excellent views and almost no other visitors.
For more active travellers, the climb up Gunung Kiematubu is the obvious challenge — a long, steep day from the village of Gurabunga that finishes at one of the best summit views in eastern Indonesia. Less ambitious days can be spent circling the island on the ring road, stopping at the Akesahu hot springs, and walking through the clove gardens on the middle slopes.
Quieter pleasures include a short charter from Rum harbour to Maitara Island for snorkelling, and a wander through the streets of Soasio — its great mosque, its market, its evening seafront walk.