A journey through Java in 11 days – this island has a lot to offer!
A journey through Java in 11 days – this island has a lot to offer!
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We knew Bali from several journeys but we were very excited to visit another place of Indonesia that is still very authentic and less touristic – Java. We heard of beautiful volcanos and we weren’t disappointed. Actually we were absolutely surprised by the beautiful city Yogyakarta, we totally fell in love with this place and stayed spontaneously for 5 nights. The temples and viewing platforms around Yogyakarta were overwhelming, followed by a beautiful train ride to Malang and after two volcano hikes on Bromo and Ijen we totally lost our heart in Java.
The hip city Yogyakarta, Day 1-6
Java was a Dutch colony until 1942. 1949 the Netherlands recognized Java’s independence. Because of the historical background you will find a lot of colonial buildings in Yogyakarta, for example the Bank of Indonesia. We absolutely fell in love with Yogyakarta, no taxi mafia, good working Grab, a lot of vegan food, a lot to explore and so many nice people! One day we hadn’t enough money to pay for a cave tour, without hesitation our friendly driver borrowed us the missing money. Also we saw mostly Indonesian people, locals and people from other Indonesian islands who traveled to this city.
On our first day we explored the city, we visited the underground mosque early in the morning, explored the water castle and discovered a lot of graffiti art in the streets. Afterwards, we ate in one of the many amazing vegan restaurants (all listed below). Another day we did a a long 12-hour day tour with our nice driver Wawan outside the city. He showed us beautiful viewing platforms for sunrise in the middle of nature, a wooden hand and helped us abseiling in a deep cave. The other day we enjoyed sunrise at the famous Borobodur Temple, the biggest Buddhist temple in the world, followed by another temple complex Prambanan Temple. There is a lot to do in and around the city and you will need enough time to enjoy the beautiful hotels and restaurants, too.
What to do in Yogyakarta
- Sumur Gumuling- the underground mosque, you have to wait until 9 am in front of the water castle Taman Sari until the ticket office opens (15.000 IDR per person for both temples). Be there at 8:30am to be the first one in the line. A lot of Indonesian travel groups will ask you to take pictures with them. For the underground mosque you have to cross the first part of the water temple and walk through a beautiful underground tunnel. The first 10 minutes we were alone in the mosque, but after the first minutes it got really crowded.
- Taman Sari – water castle, not as stunning as the underground mosque but included in the ticket and still very beautiful
- Malioboro Street, big street with shops and beautiful colonial buildings
- Street art and graffitis, for example of the artist Anagard, around Lanpangan Minggiran Field, road dl Panjaitan, road Tirtodipuran & side streets, road Prawirotaman
Tour 1 around Yogyakarta
- 12 hour Day tour, we highly recommend our driver Wawan +62 813 92829082 booked with jogjakartadriver.com, start at 4 am in the morning to see sunrise at a viewing platform (550.000 IDR for the whole day)
- Bukit Panguk Kediwung viewing platform, sunrise with locals, 2 of 10 platforms are really beautiful, tbring some breakfast (8000 IDR)
- Serebu Batu – wooden hand, we had the place on our own (5000 IDR)
- Sukorama Rice Fields, beautiful but when we’ve been there in August the fields were harvested and brown
- Jomblang Cave, abseiling for two people 70 m down, walking through a cave to a another cave with beautiful sun rays, you will get rubber boots because it’s very muddy, max. 80 persons per day so be there early (500.000 IDR per person)
- Taman Gumuk Pasir – Love Yogyakarta, heart of flowers at the beach with sand dunes, 90-minute drive from the cave, unfortunately they told us that the area has to be vacated and will be a nature area, therefore all the buildings have to go and the heart will not be there anymore, 1 hour drive back to Yogyakarta
Tour 2 around Yogyakarta
- Borobodur Temple, start at 3.30 am to see sunrise at the temple, 90- minute drive from the Yogyakarta centre, when we’ve reached the place it rained, but the rain stopped at 5 am before the sun went up, it got really crowded, but the sunrise looked really beautiful, magical place, monks are walking around the temple (driver Wawan, same driver as the day before; ticket price for sunrise: 475.000 IDR per person, ticket for Borobodur and Prembanan together only after sunrise)
- Prambanan Temple, 90 minutes drive from Borobodur, big temple complex, main temples with 240 broken shrines, Hindu temple, spacious area, a lot of Indonesian people (310.000 IDR as a student)
Yogyakarta – Stay at
- Adhisthana Hotel (Riad style, beautiful patio with a pool)
- Yats Hotel (nice pool, beautiful plants, design and furniture)
- Greenhost Boutique Hotel (beautiful pool surrounded by plants, eco-friendly)
- Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta, really nice staff and reception, beautiful outdoor and pool area, good food, amazing rooftop terrace, palm trees
Yogyakarta – Eat at
- Via Via Restaurant (so delicious, Tempeh with beans, tofu and rice, fruits, salats, thai curry, mindful travel projects, cooking classes)
- Lawas 613, beautiful restaurant of Adhistana hotel
- Greenhost Botique Hotel, really good rice noodle salad
- Fortunate Coffee, completely vegan, modern, beautiful interior, delicious smoothie bowls
- Sadé Tropical Kitchen, amazing smoothie bowls, delicious vegan buddha bowl
Yogyakarta – How to get there
- to get to restaurants or sights in the city take a Grab, there is no taxi mafia (for example 120.000 IDR grab to underground mosque from hotel)
- for day tours: driver Wawan +62 813 92829082 booked with jogjakartadriver.com
Train ride to Malang
From Yogyakarta we did a 8 hour train ride to Malang and absolutely loved it. We expected full trains like we experienced in Sri Lanka, but everything was very organized and relaxed. We bought two economy class tickets for 200.000 IDR (every class has AC), departure was at 7:45am. Check in was 1 hour before departure with a modern check in machine. You type in the booking number of your ticket and the machine prints a ticket, then walk through a control and wait at the platform for your arriving train. There are also some food stores. The train arrived on time, everything felt well structured.
We shared a seat group with a lovely family from Yogyakarta who traveled to Malang to see their own country. This family with two kids made the time fly by. With google translator we talked for hours, because they didn’t speak English a lot. They were so excited to read the English and Indonesian version with the translator. It wasn’t enough time with these cute people! Completely relaxed we saw the rainbow village in left direction of motion (seats A-B) for the first time, then we arrived at the Malang train station.
The colorful town Malang, Day 6-7
We didn’t had a lot of time in Malang, we mostly used it as a stopover between Yogyakarta and Bromo. We arrived in the afternoon at the train station and managed to see the famous Blue Village and neighbouring Rainbow Village for sunset. A bridge connects both villages.
What to do in Malang
- Blue Village (from our hotel we walked to the village)
- Rainbow Village Jodipan (walk over the bridge from Blue Village to Rainbow Village, fly your drone)
- Yellow Pedestrian bridge
- rooftop near the bridge (at the top of the drone picture), you will see all of the Rainbow Village, perfect for sunset, for free
- be prepared that locals want to take a lot of pictures with you
Malang – Stay at
- Griyo Sultan Agung Hotel (very basic, nice owners, 100 meters by foot from the train station, Rainbow Village reachable by foot)
Malang – Eat at
- Saigon San (Thai restaurant, looks like a museum, nice roof top, a little more expensive but very delicious)
Malang to Bromo and Sewu Waterfall, Day 7-8
We booked a tour with helios tours that included the car drive from Malang to Bromo with a stop at Sewu Waterfall, as well as a hike on Bromo and another drive to the Ijen area. For Mt. Ijen we decided to do everything on our own.
At 7 am we started in Malang and after 2 hours we arrived at the famous Sewu Waterfall. We needed another local guide to get to the waterfall. At first we took some pictures and drone shots from the higher viewpoint, then we walked down to the foot of the waterfall with our guide. The path was very steep and down there it was pretty wet and muddy. Don’t go there with flip flops as we did – and put a rain-cover on your backpack….The waterfall is incredibly big and there are several beautiful photo spots down there. On the way up we had to walk through knee-deep water, through little waterfalls and caves until we reached a natural swimming pool. From there you can decide if you walk 15 minutes back to the car or to take a motor bike.
Then our driver drove us to the base camp of Bromo volcano, Cemoro Lawang, and showed us a little secret roof top for sunrise. We don’t know exactly where this place was, but it wasn’t far away from Café Lava. Just ask your driver. Then we arrived at our cute little tree house hotel. Bring some warm clothes, it get’s really cold in the Bromo area!
What to do between Malang and Bromo
- Tumpak Sewu Waterfall (rain-cover for backpack and good shoes!)
- watch the sunset behind Mt Bromo in Cemoro Lawang near Café Lava (bring some warm clothes, it get’s really cold here!)
Mt. Bromo, Village Cemoro Lawang – Stay at
- Hotel Pagupon (basic but very beautiful tree houses, 2 mattresses in a little wooden room, clean, high quality, dinner at adjoining restaurant)
King Kong Hill and the Bromo hike, Day 8-9
At 3 am, in the middle of the night, our driver picked us up at Hotel Pagupon with a green Jeep. After 2 attempts to start the motor the battery was flat so we had to push the car down the hill. The battery finally worked again and our driver brought us up a hilly street to King Kong Hill. There were a lot of Jeeps in front of us and behind us. We got to know a guided group with people from Wales, Maastricht and Italy – how funny that we’ve met them there! We enjoyed tea together while we talked about our travel plans, then we hiked to the summit of the little mountain. There was a second higher view point with a fantastic view of Mt. Bromo, of course there were a lot of people. The sunrise was magical and the changing colors of the volcano fascinated me a lot.
We went back to the jeep and drove down the hill to the volcanic ash desert around Mt Bromo. Try to leave early, all the jeeps will drive down this one road. The desert looked really beautiful and we wished to have more time there. Our driver waited for us at the parking place and we walked through the desert to begin our hike up to the crater. The hike isn’t really difficult or exhausting, but it’s very windy and you will get a lot of sand and ash in your face. Definitely bring a scarf! On the stairs up it was crowded but at the top you can walk around the whole crater, enjoying some alone time while looking down in the big smoking hole. We started our drone and saw this place the first time from above – magical! On the way back we had to walk through a sand strom, partly we had only a 5-meter view and we were completely dirty on our faces when we arrived at the jeep. Back at the hotel we wanted to take a shower, but there was a power failure in the whole village.
What to do on the Bromo tour
- King Kong Hill (best view of Mt. Bromo, sunrise, bring warm clothes!)
- Jeep drive through the desert of volcano ash
- hike on Mt. Bromo and walk around the crater (bring a scarf!)
- we weren’t that happy with our tour company, because the driver was very impatient and couldn’t speak English, but there are tons of tour companys
Bromo to Ijen, Ijen Resort, Day 9-11
From Bromo base camp we had to drive another 6 hours with our driver to the resort around Ijen volcano. At first we wanted to visit another water fall but we were so tired of the night hike, that we slept most of the time in the car. We were very happy when we arrived at the beautiful Ijen Resort and Villas – The Hidden Paradise. Ferdi, the manager and owner of the hotel, became a good friend for us. We took pictures together, eat together and talked about all of our travels around the world. Ferdi was born in Jakarta and his father built the resort around Ijen volcano on Java in 2012. Now he has a travel agency in Bali. Ferdi is one week in Bali and the other week in Java, but he also traveled to a lot of places around the world.
The resort really looked like a place in paradise! It is surrounded by rice terraces and the pool has a beautiful view on lush green grass and palm trees. The food was really good, too. Also we met Thomas, a passionate photographer from Germany, we talked a lot about our next destination Myanmar and he lent us his Canon L 100-400 lens. It was so lovely to sit together with all these passionated travelers. In the morning there is a beautiful fog on the rice terraces, so try to get up early. Ferdi took pictures of us with his 70-200 lens in the rice terraces and visited a local primary school with us. There was a little contest for the kids. It’s the perfect place to relax in the sun between the Bromo and Ijen volcano hike.
Ijen area – Stay at
- Ijen Resort and Villas – The Hidden Paradise (perfect starting point for the Ijen hike, nice host Ferdi, incredible pool and rooms in the middle of rice terraces)
- walk through rice terraces
- enjoy the pool with the best view
- visit the nearby village and primary school with Ferdi, the owner
- enjoy some really good food (soup, vegetables, tofu, tempeh, fruits, curry…)
The Ijen Hike, Day 11
At 0:30 am a pick up waited for us at Ijen Resort and Villas to drive us to the entry for hiking Mt. Ijen. On the way we bought some snacks at a little kiosk. At 1:30 am we arrived at the foot of Mt. Ijen and met our friends Marika & Henri (@frescape_). The tickets cost 150.000 IDR on weekends and 100.000 IDR on weekdays. For a gas mask you have to pay 40.000 IDR additionally. The hike up to the edge of the crater is exhausting, some tourists are even carried in a wheel barrow by locals… The starry night sky looked so beautiful. On the last meters we could smell the sulfur clearly.
We directly hiked down the crater for another 40 minutes to see the blue flames in the crater. We had to walk through some dense fog and the smell of sulfur was only bearable with the gas masks. Some mine workers passed with 90 kg Sulfur on their backs. Then we saw the incredible blue flames between the clouds of sulfur. Walk down there early, because a lot of tourists walked down and missed the sunrise, when we already walked up the crater. We enjoyed sunrise at the top of the volcano and suddenly noticed the clear blue lake in the crater with the increasing daylight. The clouds moved fast over the lake. We walked along the crater and explored all the viewpoints.
What to do on the Ijen hike
- Get a pick up at your hotel not later than 1 am
- Get tickets and gas masks at the foot of the volcano
- Walk up the volcano for around 1 hour under the starry sky
- on top you can walk down the crater for another 40 minutes to see the blue flames (only visible in the deep darkness). You can only walk down there with a gas mask!
- walk up to the edge of the volcano again and walk along the trail since you can see the sun coming up behind the horizon (you will need some warm clothes and good shoes)
- with the sun the blue lake gets visible in the middle of the crater
- explore the different viewpoints along the crater
Ferry from Java to the West of Bali, Day 11
After the Ijen hike we got back to our hotel and packed our things. We took a 45-minute drive for 200.000 IDR to the ferry terminal. Unfortunately you can only pay with a kind of prepaid card, but the supervisor helped us to pay with cash, also he organized a driver for us at the terminal in Bali. The ferry ride was very relaxing, there were around 3 other tourists and 20 locals. On the other side we were chased by the taxi mafia who provided a ride for extremely high prices. We were so lucky that we already had a driver. We even invited Say, a desperate girl from Munich who was fooled by the taxi drivers, to drive with us. The 4-hour drive to Canggu were perfect to exchange travel plans.
Good to know
- ferry from Java to Bali goes every hour (20.000 IDR per person)
- the controller in Java organizes a driver for Bali (650.000 IDR for 1 car from the ferry terminal in Bali to Canggu, same price as Grab). There is a huge taxi mafia in Bali who will ask for double the price.
About the warm-hearted people in Java
We will never forget this wonderful place with wonderful people! Be prepared that a lot of locals want to take pictures with you everywhere around the island.
Do you have more time left?
- Bukit Kuneer tea plantations near Malang (check if it’s open)
- Coban Putri and Coban Rondo waterfall near Malang
- Museum Angkut, Malang
- Coban Pelangi waterfall, near Bromo volcano
- Ngadas Village, Bromo
- Jawata Benculuk, the cypress tree tunnel in Banyuwangi
- Dieng Plateau which sits at an altitude of 2,100 meters
- climb Mount Merapi (check if it’s save at the time, because it’s an active volcano)
- Karimunjawa Islands
- Go surfing at Pelabuhan Ratu
Where to buy a SIM Card?
In Terminal A at the airport we found a café with Wifi, an ATM and some stores where you can buy a SIM card. We payed 120.000 IDR for a telkomsel card with 6,5 GB, which was way too expensive. We would recommend to drive to the center of Yogyakarta and visit the Loop Station. There you can get a SIM Card with 8 GB for 85.000 IDR + 50.000 IDR for calls.
How to get around?
For short drives in the centre of Yogyakarta or from the airport to the centre it’s the best to use the app Grab. There you can hire a driver and the price is already calculated on your phone. There is no taxi mafia in java which will stop you from getting in a Grab car. For longer day tours outside the city we would book a personal driver. We were more then happy with our english speaking driver Wawan (+62 813 92829082 booked with jogjakartadriver.com). For the Bromo and Ijen Tour we would book a tour package on some of the big tour company websites, depending on how much you want to do on your one. For example you can also drive with a bigger scooter through the desert to the foot of Mount Bromo or you take a 4×4 Jeep.
*Anzeige/ad Because this article contains names of tour companies and hotels. We collaborated with Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta on this trip. However the article represents our own and honest opinion.
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