Budget
Crowds
History
Nightlife
Food
Cultural Distinction
Housing half of the entire population of Indonesia, as well as its capital city, the island of Java has everything you would expect from the country, and is a bit of a conglomerate of what all the islands have to offer. Beautiful white sand beaches line the islands coastline, while waterfalls and Hindu temples dot its volcanic landscape, including the worlds largest Hindu Temple, Borobudur. While it is one of the countries larger islands, its infrastructure is well developed making it easy to traverse the island in its entirety via bus, train, and scooter. As the geographic and economic centre of the country, there are several different ports of access which allows for a flexible itinerary around the island, with most people landing in Jakarta in the North and working their way south. However since I was coming from Bali, my itinerary tended to be the inverse of other travellers I met on the island, who provided me with insights from their trip that had me constantly altering my plan and adding new destinations to my itinerary. Since at this time the Covid-19 pandemic was just starting to shut down the world, I was unable to experience all the perks of Jakarta that I was hoping to, but was at the same time able to experience most of them without any major crowds. Between the insights I got from other travellers and the closure of different attractions, this was the final result of my constantly evolving itinerary;
Don’t forget to check out my post on Indonesia for more information.
My Itinerary
1. Banyuwangi
Coming from Bali, the ferry docks in the Ketapang port in the Banyuwangi region. While this region acts mainly as an access point to the rest of the island, it also has one big drawing attraction in the volcano Kawah Ijen, the only volcano in the world known for spewing blue lava. To do this hike it is absolutely necessary to do it with a guide, and it’s also essential that one must begin the climb around midnight, as the Lava can only be seen in the dark . After reaching the top of the crater, it is time to put on the supplied gas masks, and the descent into the caldera begins, where you will pass several miners carrying a rack of two baskets full of sulfur rocks on their shoulders, which they will carry down the entirety of the mountain. The bottom of the crater is where, due to the large levels of sulfur emitting from the volcanoes natural steam vent, one can witness the spectacle of the blue lava. An important tip to this hike is to arrive as early as you can, as the closer to sunrise you are the more crowded it becomes.
The other bonus of arriving early is that it allows for a chance to climb back up to the rim of the crater in time to witness a beautiful sunrise over the caldera sulphur lake, and past the volcanic range to the coast. In the daylight, the hike down rewards you with all the beautiful views that were hidden in the night on the way up. Having begun the hike at night, it is easy to finish the hike still relatively early in the morning, which allowed us enough time to get to the train station, on to our next destination.
2.Yogyakarta
As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, Yogyakarta is the hotspot for Javanese culture, and is the true gem of the island. A simple walk around the city will have you happening across shops full of Batik art, a technique that had originated from the island and involves using melted wax to stain the canvas, as well as Wayang Kulit workshops, which is a special form of shadow puppet formed by punching precise holes into the dried leather. The interesting thing about watching the locals create the Wayang Kulits is the attention to detail they must make. As representations of Hindu deities, each character has a specific form it must take, and if a single hole of one of the thousands that go into each character is punched incorrectly, it compromises the entire sanctity of the puppet, and the craftsman must restart with a fresh scrap of leather. Continuing to explore the city, one will be able to appreciate the fine architecture of several key buildings, such as the sultans palace and variety of museums.
I highly recommend the Museum Sonobudoyo, where they display Javanese heritage as well as hold nightly Wayang Kulits shadow puppet shows. During my stay in the city, the Covid-19 panic was just starting to make its way to Indonesia, and as a result I was unable to experience these cultural buildings due to closure. However the city itself still has plenty to offer, including Gembira Loka Zoo, a nice modern zoo featuring many species of fish, mammals, and reptiles found in Asia and some neighbouring regions. As a large city, its typically pretty easy to find some nightlife. However if the club scene isn’t really for you, Yogyakarta also has some of the finest cuisine in all of Indonesia. Whether you are enjoying one of the cities fine cuisine restaurants or your sticking to a strict budget of street food, you will experience a clear level of quality separating it from the rest of the country.
3. Borobudur
Renting a scooter from our hostel in Yogyakarta, we next headed over the nearby Buddhist temple of Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world. While upon arriving we discovered that the 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple itself was also closed due to Covid-19, we were still able to pay for access into the grounds around it, as well as the two museums featured within it. While it was pretty disappointing not to wander the temple complex that was only rediscovered in 1814, after being buried by volcanic ash in the year 1000, its impressive stature could be seen towering over the tree lines from the temples grounds, and the three informative museums of Borobudur and Indonesian history and art are well worth the trip there themselves. As the main tourist attraction of all of Indonesia, a market has sprung up at the exit of the temple, and is a great place for picking up local crafts.
4.Bandung
Another quick train ride brought us to the colonial city of Bandung. Set 768 meters above sea level, in the middle of a volcanic mountain range, Bandung is know for its Dutch colonial architecture, its position amongst tea plantations, and its popular shopping districts. While my main excitement for visiting the city was to visit the Bandung Geological Museum, like Borobudur and Yogyakarta, I found it to be closed due to Covid. So instead, after touring the city and admiring the architecture, we spent the following day at the Trans Studio Bandung indoor theme park located in the Trans Studio Mall. As one of the largest indoor theme parks in the world, and with Covid just starting to have a presence in Indonesia, the regular crowds that would typically be flooding the park were scarce, allowing us virtually unlimited access to the attractions, including an Indonesian version of the Disney ride “It’s a small world after all,” a variety of classic amusement park rides, as well as several shows offering insights into the production of the action movie industry of Asia.
5. Jakarta
The final stop in our Java trek was the country’s capital city, and kind of a cosmopolitan of all its different cultures. As the capital city, Jakarta’s museums hold much of the countries history, and despite being closed, the Jakarta History Museum was still a sight to behold, as it is housed in an old Dutch colonial building in the middle of a European style square. Unfortunately with the fear of Covid reaching its pinnacle as I arrived in Jakarta, I was unable to explore the city to its fullest, but if large modern cities are your thing, it is definitely worth the visit.
Missed List
1.Hiking Mt. Bromo
This is an odd one to not include in your itinerary for the island, as it is typically near the top of most people’s to-do list. I however, after hiking several volcanoes during the earlier portion of my trip, opted to stick with Kawah Ijen further to the east for its unique blue lava. With that being said, Mt. Bromo is still on my to-do list for a later trip back to the island. Described as having a lunar landscape, it is said that the sunrise from the top of the volcano is one of the countries most breathtaking views, and in a country of awe inspiring views, definitely makes it worth a visit.
2.Candi Prombana
Similar to Borobudur in the fact that it is another 9th century temple near Yogyakarta, Candi Prombana differs in the fact that it is a Hindu temple opposed to Buddhist
3.Visit Bogor
While often overlooked by tourists, this Javanese city located near the capital of Jakarta houses one of the countries most famous botanical gardens, as well as the neoclassical landmark of Bogor Palace. Also to be found in the city is the JungleLand Adventure Theme Park, and the Bogor Zoology Museum.
4.Enjoy a beach day
While the islands to the south of Java are internationally known for their beaches, there is something to be said for the ones found on itself. With the white sand beaches and crystal clear waters that have become the expectation of any Indonesian beach, the islands coast is a perfect place to unwind with a day on the water.
Food
Java is renowned for having some of the best food in Indonesia. Whether it be street food or fine cuisine from a five star restaurant, a big highlight of backpacking the island is experiencing all the different dishes it has to offer. The three presented here were some of my favourite street foods from my entire trip to the country.
Batagor
This street food can be found at several carts in every city on the island, and consists of fried dumplings typically served with peanut sauce.
Gudeg
This dish traditional to Yogyakarta consist of young unripe jack fruit stewed with palm sugar, and coconut milk, and is typically served with rice, a hard boiled egg and chili sauce.
Gado-Gado
This may have been one of my favourite dishes on the island, just based on the variety of tastes it offered. Gado-Gado consists of steamed vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, boiled potato, fried tofu and tempeh, and lontong, and like many dishes on the island, is served with a peanut sauce dressing.
*Note; while not traditional to Java, the Indonesian meatball soup dish, bakso, is best sampled in Yogyakarta.
Budget
$34 CAD
As the most populated island, and one of the most touristed destinations in the country, the infrastructure of Java is perfect for budget travel. Intercity train tickets run fairly cheap depending on how you break up the trip across the island. The way we had broken it up, from Banyuwangi–>Yogyakarta–>Bandung–>Jakarta, cost us approximately around $10-$15/trip, with it being very easy to keep it towards the lower end if you keep the trip flexible. The cost of renting a scooter in each city is pretty standard as the rest of Indonesia, and can typically be found for $7/day through your accommodations, so you can expect to pay about $8-$10/day for transport. By comparing prices across the popular booking channels, as well as the local booking apps, Traveloka and Agoda, it is easy to find accommodations between $6-$10/night. We did manage to find accommodations cheaper than that at times, but they tended to be borderline inhospitable, even according to my standards. Again, the price of food, despite their elevated quality, remains pretty much constant as with the rest of the country, with street food adding approximately $9-$10/day. Now the part of the budget that is pretty volatile are the expenses for activities/admissions. This is because while most activities are super cheap, between $1-$3, some of the main tourist attractions can cost quite a bit more. The only larger expenses we covered were the tickets to Borobudur which typically run around $33, but since the temple itself was closed, the cost was reduced down to $25, and the guide up to Kawa Ijen which ran us $60. So depending on which activities you end up choosing, and how long you end up travelling the island, you’re average daily cost for activities will likely be somewhere between $5-$10, for an overall daily budget of $28-$40/day.
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