Advices for 10 days holidays to travel in Indonesia

[Maëlle]

Hi everybody,

I will take at least 10 days holidays to travel a bit in indonesia with my mother, in July.

Do you have any ideas, advice?

Does it sound a good idea to rent a car to drive between Jakarta and Lombok ? Do we need a driver ? Is it better to take the train? Do you have better trip to propose? Sites to see absolutely? Knowing that we have already seen Jogjakarta...

Thank you.

Maelle

[bad_azz]

I seriously think you will be pushing it to drive to and from Lombok if your starting and finishing point is Jakarta... with only 10 days for the trip ... hmmm.
I hope you are aware that Lombok is an island and that you will need to get a ferry (or your car might get a bit water-logged hehehe).
Personally I would advise flying to a city nearer to the East of Java and then hiring a car from there so that you still get that 'road-trip' feeling... however I am sure that other members can give far better advice than me.
Best of luck and enjoy - whatever you choose to do

[Jaime C]

I would fly to Lombok or Bali (Denpasar), if that's what you're interested in. Generally Jakarta is very crowded, and in my opinion, has limited tourism appeal.

Ramadan is also starting in July, so that might crimp your trip if you're traveling in Muslim areas. I think Lombok and Bali are all Hindu, so shouldn't be a problem there.

[a.nugraha83]

I agree with both of them, with only 10 days flying is the best option. And yes, July is the month of ramadhan. Which means that if you want to go to Jakarta, you won't have the nightlife experience. Because that's what jkt is famous for. There's a lot of tourism in indonesia, its just not promoted as well as it should be. There's bunaken, komodo island, surabaya, padang, pulau seribu, red light district, bandung, mt. Bromo. Bogor, and the list goes on. You have to first figure out what type of travel are you looking for? Fun nightlife girls sex and booze, or relaxing by the beach, culinary, camping, what?

[kingwilly]

Given that he/she's travelling with his/her mother, I doubt nightlife, girls and sex are particularly high on the list of things to do.

[bad_azz]

Given that he/she's travelling with his/her mother, I doubt nightlife, girls and sex are particularly high on the list of things to do.

... Or may be the mother is not so staid ... we don't know for sure my friend

[Davita]

You might find a train trip interesting from a scenery viewpoint.
My wife and I recently took the executive train journey from Bandung to Yogjakarta. It was 7 hours and about the max for me but, the train was comfortable, the scenery remarkable but the food terrible....bring your own snacks.
A shorter trip would be Jakarta to Bandung, which we did a couple of years ago and takes only a couple of hours. The train leaves Gambir station in Mid-Jakarta and meanders thru' some of the worst slums imaginable...how people can live so close to the railway track astounds me, but they do....after that the scenery opens to industrial factories before seeing any agriculture like rice fields. The bridges are a bit scary as they were originallly built by the Dutch and now look rickety

[S.Bawono]

hi maeelle,

i t depend ur interest in ur holiday.. do u like sightseeing, nature, history, temple/candi , people and etc or do you just like city and shindy (for example) . if the first you prefer ( nature sightseeing), i think go from jakarta to lombok via car is quite interesting idea, coz there is a lot of place, sites, beach and cities you can see..
from jakarta to bali, there is 2 course:
south course or north course.

If you use south course, you can go via bandung (often call as kota kembang/flower city), and garut (you can rest at kampungsampireun resort and spa), than to ciamis (harbor city) or
pangandaran beach, than straight to Yogyakarta and Solo, i read you have already visit Jogya, so i assume you already visit borobudur and prambanan temple and parang tritis beach, and you can see merapi mountain (the MT that not long a go have erupt) , a long south coast , there is a lot of exotic beach and caves, then place u cant miss, is bromo mountain , then bali.

if you go via north course, u can go via Cirebon , then stop by at Kuningan City (well-known with natural hot water/onsen), than straight to semarang (harbor city with china town and old city), then Jepara, and stop by to Karimun jawa Island, than straight to Surabaya (another harbor city, and you can say it 2nd biggest city in Indonesia after Jakarta) , you can see jembatan suramadu and sight seeing madura island, after that you can see Malang city, then bromo then bali.
if about natural sightseeing, Indonesia very resourcefull-ness

Hi everybody

I will take at least 10 days holidays to travel a bit in indonesia with my mother, in July.

Do you have any ideas, advice?

Does it sound a good idea to rent a car to drive between Jakarta and Lombok ? Do we need a driver ? Is it better to take the train? Do you have better trip to propose? Sites to see absolutely? Knowing that we have already seen Jogjakarta...

Thank you.

Maelle

[Addee]

If you do end up getting a car a driver would probably be the best option. Driving in Indonesia is not particularly relaxing, you could end up more stressed then before you left.

[Felicity]

I will recommend Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air rather than Lombok. Bali? No No.
Those are more beautiful, peaceful, and no pollution, no police, no law. You can cross one to another like 30 mins, by boat ofcourse. The land transportation there is only "Cidomo" like four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses or one. Theres no law, but its more like norms. When people do criminal, they get expelled from the island. Its not a really big island, so all the people are like know each other.

Last month i went there, the tourists were like 90% non-Indonesian. You can have your own beach backyard, very private (hmm..). But youre going on vacation with your mom..oh well.. enjoy lol

anyway,for place to stay, non-hotel, the range is about Rp.200k-Rp.400k per night for standard type. and for meal start at 15k. well, this is kinda backpacker's advice actually. lol

Theres no flight straightforward to these islands. You can cross from Bali with the speedboat, cost about Rp.400k (last month). or you can start from Lombok, go to Bangsal harbor and cross to Gili Trawangan (the outermost island) for 250k.



Gili Trawangan


Gili Meno Beach


Gili Air