Yogyakarta Travel Forum

Hi VT friends from java,
My plan is finally confirmed and I am going to java in end april.
Pls be so kind to help me below on what is the best ways to travel on budget :
- Is this a good time to visit? Raining? Hot?
- What is the time difference between jogja and kuala Lumpur?
Transport :
- How to go from Surabaya airport to Surabaya town?
- from Surabaya to mt bromo – by bus?
- from mt bromo to jogja town – by bus or train? If I were to take bus from mt bromo to probolinggo, is there train from probolinggo to jogja? Or is until solo only? How long is the journey?]
- from jogja town to solo airport – by cab or bus?

Jogja :
- About Mt Merapi, what is status now?
- Is prambanan open to tourist?
- Ramayana performance in prambanan. Is it already performing? I’ll be there on May 2 onwards.
- Nightlife in jogja - what to do?
- Kindly refer to my itenary below and let me know if it’s ok.

Itenary :

Sun : KL to Surabaya

Mon : earliest departure to mt bromo.

Tue : sunrise at penanjakan, walk up to bromo crater rim, then tour around tengger caldera. Then take bus to probolinggo or Surabaya, then head to jogja by train or bus?

Wed : borobudur/Prambanan in one day – is it enough?

Thurs : Dieng Plateau and the rest of the temples in one day. ratu boko. banyu nibo temple, kalasan temple king’s boko palace, mendut temple, pawon temple, plaosan temple, sari temple, sario temple, sambisari temple, sewu temple.

Notes : either do borobudur & dieng on wed, and prambanan and other temples on thurs, which is better?

Fri : Full day jogja town.

Sat : Depart to solo for morning flight back to KL


Hope to hear from you
Many many thanks!!

1. weather: it's probably raining. but it will still be hot. especialy surabaya, it will be hot definitely.
2. time: jogja is GMT +7
3. transport from surabaya aiport to town: by taxi. there is a taxi booth inside the airport (near the baggage claim). buy your taxi ticket here, rate is vary depends on your destination. it's the safest way. don't take illegal taxi
4. from surabaya to bromo by bus: take bus to jember, get off in probolinggo (20.000 rupiah, AC bus). here take public car to bromo (15000 rupiah).
5. from bromo to jogja: from bromo take bus to surabaya. then train from surabaya to jogja. i dont know about train from probolinggo to jogja.
6. merapi status now: don't know
7. prambanan: open for public. but last time i went there (last month), it was still on renovation, so we can't go inside the temple
8. ramayana ballet still perform when full moon
9. nightlife in jogja: many things. clubs, cafes are plenty. street food vendor are plenty. or watch wayang in keraton

have a nice holiday :))

Sorry, forgot to give you this site:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Surabaya

From Surabaya to Gunung Bromo- I went from Surabaya to Probolinggo by train in July 2006. The train is the Mutiara_Timur and leaves at 9.10am and arrives about 3 hrs later. Cost was 40,000 rupiah for busnis class. Very comfortable and pleasant trip.
From Probolinngo you can get the public bus up to Cemero Lawang for 15,000 rupiah. I think there is also a tourist bus for 30,000 which will get you there quicker because it does not have to wait to fill up like the public bus.

Probolinggo- Yogjkarta- You will need to take the train back to Surabaya and then get another train to Yogjakarta.Cost will be 50,000 for bisnis class and the trip will take about 5 hrs.
Sorry not sure about the times because I myself did not return to Surabaya- instead went down to Malang by bus. And then travelled under the mountain to Lumajang and onto to Ambulu to meet a Dutch internet friend.
Remember to book the train the day before for busnis or eksekutif because the seats fill very fast.

Yes, you can do Borobudur/Prambanan in one day for sure, more like half a day.
Make sure you organise a trip where you can arrive before sunrise to the Borobudur- did that in 1997- went out there on back of a motor bike.

Whilst in Yogjakarta in July Gunung Merapi was erupting, but that did not stop me or two women from Slovenia from going on a 1.30 am tour to see Merapi and her lava- really was exciting and frightening at the same time. Stayed until the sun rose- it was agreat experience. Not sure what is happening with Merapi at this time.
You can have a look at www.volcanolive.com and you might find out what is happening.
Here are some photos I took of Gunung Bromo in July
http://www.webshots.com/user/ppamela2006
All the best- have a great time.
Pamela.

Re train to Yogjakarta from Surabaya- you go through Solo to get to Yogjakarta.
You can always get the train from Yogjakarta to Solo- leaves at 7am in the morning and costs only 7,000 rupiah and I think takes about 1 hr if I remember rightly. I was clever enough to stand just outside the glass door of the driver's compartment and they eventually invited me in.
So from Klaten onwards I stood in the driver's compartment- it was amazing almost felt like I was driving the train- took some great photos too.
Pamela.

Hi thanks so much for your detailed reply & i really appreciate it - if i were to take bus from surabaya to probolinggo is it safe? we are 2 ladies here - tks again

Hi there again - we gotta take early train around 5.30am from jogja to solo - do they depart so early? tks again!!

hi pamela - ur bromo pic is so beautiful - mind to share how do you go about touring bromo - did u rent a jeep/horse? how much do you paid? where do you stay and what is the rate? and where did you took the beautiful pic? tks a lot!!

If you leave at 05.30 I'm assuming that's Senja Utama Solo train. Yes the time is correct. There are several train from Yogyakarta to Solo with different times. You can check here: http://ticketing.kereta-api.com/ but it's in Indonesian

2 ladies taking bus from Probolinggo to Surabaya is safe. Just make sure you take the executive bus (PATAS AC). And be careful in Surabaya's terminal

Hi,
When I arrived in Cemoro Lawang via the public bus I chose to stay at the Lava Hotel- not the expensive at 175,000 rupiah/night, but the next one at 60,000/night.
Right next door to the Lava hotel is a littel warung-cafe and you can book in there with one of the guys and it only cost 50,000 for a seat in the jeep that left about 5.30 am the next morning to go to the viewing platform ( where I took the photos) and where everyone else seemed to be going.
Please note it is freezing cold so bring a really warm jacket or be prepared to rent one for 10,000. You will definitely need a jacket.
I guess there were about 50 people up there when I was there on 17th July- a bit disappointing in my opinion-far too many people, but what can you do nothing- but grin and bear it.
I ended up sitting on the ledge, with my legs dangling over the edge and hung onto the rail because I was too short otherwise.
So I was sitting when I took the photos- quite comfortable and not being jostled by people.
(I only remember the exact date b/c after there, bussed it to Malang and a guide friend in Bogor smsed me at 8 pm to say there had been earthquake and tsunami in Pangandaran and some of our guide friends were headed down that way)

Once you have spent enough time watching the sunrise and taken enough photos the jeep then takes you across the flat surface to near the bottom of the stairs leading up to the Bromo crater. You can choose to walk at this stage or hire one of the small horses for 50,000 for the trip up to the stairs.
Then you walk up the stairs and below you is the crater of Bromo. I chose to walk because the horses are very small and I felt I was much too big for them.
If you like you can walk right aorund the edge of the crater as some travellers chose to do, but not me, I am a bit scared of heights so took my photos and stayed in the one place admiring all around me.
It was a fantastic experience- one of the most memorable of my 5.5 months travelling alone in Indonesia.

The mountain in the distance with the plume of smoke is Gunung Semeru.
Two travellers I met in that little warung John the Amercian and the French female documentary maker both decided to trek Gunung Semeru with a guide.
By chance I bumped into the American Jon in Bukittinggi in a warung a no. of weeks later and he had a ball climbing the mountain, but it sounded a bit wild to me, lots of rocks being thrown out of the crater etc.
Pamela.

Hi Pamela - i'm so grateful for your help & so far you are the only one who describe such a detail tour on bromo!! Thanks so much!! So what is the name of the hostel rp60000 per night? Is it alright if we just walk in without booking? many thanks!

Hi,
Very pleased to help you and happy to know you like the detail- not so many people do and usually no one likes writing detail, but I do.
Hotel name I cannot remember exactly- I need to look up one of the guide books. The name is Lava Hotel or somethng like that, and is very similar name to the expensive one.

No need to book, like I said there were about 50 people up at the viewing platform and I still got a room- no problems. The bus will ask you where you want to stay- I had no idea- so it stopped at the most expensive first- we ( myself and a Dutch couple) all got out and found out the price 175,000/night and immediately all piled back into the bus to check out the next place which is where I stayed at 60,000.
Pamela.

I really do appreciate your help & definitely like the detail so much!! Now we are rest assured to just hop in there instead of booking highly priced tour!! Thanks again!