Planning first trip to Indonesia for 15 days

Hi Giicko,

Here's my recommendation as the local cetizen,
Day 2. You better go to Wonosari to explore Gunung Kidul beaches, there are plenty of beautiful beach like Indrayanti, Pok Tunggal, Krakal etc. On your way there you could also visit Goa Pindul for body rafting activity. You could rent a car for around IDR 750k($50) include the driver and gasoline for 12 hours.
Day 3. Enjoy the sunrise at Borobudur(it's so hot and crowded at noon so you better come earlier). Head to Prambanan around 10 am and go to Candi Ratu Boko to enjoy the sunset.
Day 4. Explore the city. Shop around Malioboro street and Beringharjo market, learn javanese culture at Keraton and Taman Sari. It is easier to access the airport if you only going around the city.
Day 5. You better stay at Malang and join the open trip. The trip organizer will pick you from the hotel around 1 am. Have you book the sunrise trip? If you haven't, I recommend you to check bromomt instagram page. They offer cheap price and the crews are also fun.
Day 6. I never go to Kawah Ijen, but from what I know, people will stay at Banyuwangi.
Day 7,8 and 9. What kind of nature you would like to see? how much your budget?

I've never gone to Gili so i have no idea which place to visit and I've only visited Bali once and only visit Jimbaran area.

That's all. Hope this could help you.

Hi giicko,

On day 6 you will be at the eastern tip of Java. There is no major airport nearby*, so travelling to "Sumatra or Flores or Komodo or Raja Ampat" is not so easy. Actually I would choose neither of these destinations if you only have three days, as most of your time will be used for travelling.
- Raja Ampat: flights+ferry+local boat from Java takes probably about 24 hours. From Ijen certainly longer because you will have to go to an airport first.
- Sumatra: which part of Sumatra would you like to go? The island is larger than California.
- Flores/Komodo: the nearest destination and relatively easy to reach using flights from Bali Airport. However, I would only go there if you could extend it to about 5 days.

Personally, I would choose to take a bit more time for Java, and perhaps add Lombok. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok coast so you could easily add 2 or 3 days of Lombok in the end, and there are also direct flights from there back to Jakarta.

Cheers,

Erwin

*There is only Banyuwangi Airport at the eastern tip of Java, with a morning flight and an afternoon flight to Surabaya.

Hi miasentosa,

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply, it's really great to find others who are willing to help and share their knowledge.

Your recommendations seem look great. So regarding Mount Bromo, you are saying to fly to Malang better than Surabaya? by checking the map it seems that Malang is much closer to Mount Bromo, it's weird that many links recommended going to Surabaya!

As for my other interests, I love any type of nature, I want to experience different parts of Indonesia as much as possible, so whatever other areas you think might be nice to add would be great.

Thanks a lot

Hi Erwin,

Thanks a lot for replying. Regarding Sumatra, I didn't decide on the area, but since it's up north, so I was thinking to start my trip there, plane from jakarta to sumatra, spend 3 days then head to directly to Yogyakarta.

But you have a point, I am trying not to rush thru the trip and stay enough time in each place. What do you think about skipping Komodo and just go to flores for 3 days? would you prefer Sumatra or flores?

If you go to Flores I would not skip Komodo. Instead you may want to consider to skip Gili instead. Instead of Gili beach days in the end of your trip you can then have Flores beach days at the end. So then your trip would be Java > Bali > Flores. There are flights from Bali to several Flores airports, and also direct flights from Labuan Bajo in West Flores to Jakarta.

In general, keep in mind that travelling in Indonesia takes long and public transport may not everywhere be frequent (or easy to find if you don't speak the language). I think you will enjoy the trip more if you choose fewer destinations so that for example one delayed bus does not mess up your entire schedule.

uhm sorry, I missed the information that you will depart from Yogyakarta. There is no direct flight from Yogya to Malang. But you can travel by train but it takes 7 hours duration. So it is better for you to fly to Surabaya if you wanna save the time. Mount Bromo is located 2 hours by car from Malang and 3 hours from Surabaya. I recommend you to find the trip organizer first and hear their opinion where is the best place to pick you up.

Hey Erwin,

Looking more into Flores, seems interesting with good diving too, so I think I will cancel the Gilis and will stay 2 days Lombok then 5 days flores.

Here are couple of questions:
1) In Bali, I will stay one day in Pemuteran/Menjangan, then 2 days in Ubud. Is this little time for Bali, should I cancel Lombok and stay the 5 days total in Bali. I am not interested in the party seen so I won't check Kuta. I am more into authentic places/ nature.
2) Where should I stay in Flores? I am interested in diving and snorkeling and ideally I wanted to stay in one place for the 5 days if possible.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions!

thanks a lot miasentosa for the info, that was really helpful.

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