Getting around
Most travellers going through Java follow the well-worn route of Jakarta–Bogor–Bandung–Pangandaran–Yogyakarta–Solo–Surabaya–Gunung Bromo, and on to Bali, with short diversions from points along that route.
Contents
Boat
Ferries ply the water between Java and Madura and to the island groups Pulau Seribu and Karimunjawa. There is also a ferry linking Cilacap and Majingklak, and a few random excursion spots, such as Krakatau, can be reached by boat.
Bus & tram
Bus
Buses are the main form of transport in Java. The normal practice is simply to front up at a bus terminal and catch the first one out; you shouldn’t have to wait more than half an hour for services between cities and towns. Services range from public, economy-class buses to super-luxury coaches.
Tickets for buses are purchased on board, although tickets for patas (express) and luxury buses can be bought in advance at bus terminals, bus agents in the city centres, and sometimes hotels.
Small minibuses that cover shorter routes and back runs are commonly called Colts (after the Mitsubishi Colt) and shouldn’t be confused with door-to-door minibuses (travel). The latter are (usually) air-con minibuses that travel all over Java and pick you up at your hotel and drop you off wherever you want to go in the destination city.
Note that many terminals (in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bandung for instance) are located a long way from the centre of town. In these cities, the train is a better alternative.
Car & motorcycle
Driving in Java is not for the faint-hearted; most big cities are constantly macet (gridlocked) and main routes can be hellishly clogged. Accidents often result in large pay-offs or pricey lawsuits and a number of drivers are killed every year by angry crowds exacting mob justice following an accident.
If you’re still keen, self-drive cars can be hired in most of the major cities, with rates hovering around 930,000Rp per day. Another option is to hire a car and driver, which can save a lot of headache and money. Private operators can be as low as 350,000Rp per day, but the average price is 500,000Rp (petrol may or may not be included). This is also a good option for taking in the best of a city in one day.
Scooters are the favoured mode of transport for the Javanese, and hiring one yourself can be a good idea for the island’s quieter corners. Rental prices start at around 30,000Rp per day, and should include a proper helmet (not the illegal horse-riding variety normally handed out). Note that Java’s roads are no place to try your hand at riding for the first time.
Train
Java has a good rail service running right across the island. It connects with the ferry to Bali (Ketapang/Banyuwangi) and with the ferry to Sumatra (Merak). The service is well maintained and while long overruns do occur, they’re fast becoming a thing of the past.
A complete train timetable to Java, the InfoKA, is supposedly available from the larger train stations, but we’ve never seen one. A better option is to check timetables online at www.infoka.kereta-api.com (Bahasa Indonesia only). Timetables are displayed on boards at stations and printed jadwal (timetables) are available at main stations (for that station).
It’s an idea to select a train that begins in the city you are departing from, thus guaranteeing a seat; obtaining a seat on through-trains can sometimes prove difficult.
Classes
Java’s most popular class with the masses is economy (ekonomi). Cheap, basic, slow, excessively crowded, and a riot of livestock, hawkers, musicians and all manner of produce, these chicken trains move the country around and halt at every stop (except, quite often, a city’s central one). Seats on these trains are hard (literally) to get and cannot be booked. Some, however, have been upgraded – designated ‘economy plus’– and are limited express with padded seats that can be booked.
One giant step up from economy are the express trains, which offer business-class (bisnis) and executive-class (eksekutif) carriages. Comfortable seats with plenty of leg room are guaranteed in both, but while business class has fans, executive class offers air-con, reclining seats, video (maybe) and a snack.
Top of the range are the fast luxury trains that operate from Jakarta. Usually indicated by Argo at the head of the name, they have everything an executive-class carriage offers, plus business services.
Travel documents
Reservations
Purchasing tickets at ticket windows is usually straightforward, but sometimes queues become mosh pits, especially for economy trains. The bigger cities have helpful information desks; otherwise, information is usually handed out with authority by the kepala stasiun (station master) or one of his cohorts.
For basic economy-class trains, tickets go on sale an hour before departure – just front up, buy a ticket and hope that you can get a seat. The better economy-class services can be booked up to a week in advance for a small extra fee.
Business- and executive-class trains can be booked weeks in advance at the appropriate ticket window, and a few travel agencies and hotels may also buy tickets for you.
Note that though it’s often possible to get a ticket in any class on the day of departure, seats are hard to get on weekends and during holiday periods when enterprising calo (scalpers) buy large numbers of tickets and fob them off to desperate passengers at a hefty mark-up. It’s best to book a few days in advance during these times. Avoid planning a trip during the Idul Fitri public holiday, when the entire island is on the move and tickets are as rare as an honest Yogya batik seller.
Air
If time is short, domestic flights can be a good option, but Java is small enough to get around using trains and buses. Plus, by taking land or sea transport you’ll be minimising damage to the environment through carbon emission.
Note that Jakarta is the hub of the domestic airline network.
Java
- Java Overview
- Places in Java
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Getting there & around
- History
- Work & study
