Java guide: flights, sights, hotels and restaurants

Packages

Audley Travel (01993 838000; www.audleytravel.co.uk)
offers a 15-day Java’s Temples and Volcanoes trip from £2,480, including flights and six nights in Bali.

Pakettour.org -crew (+62-81310505162)
offers budget travel packages and services with special price and experienced local guide, including transport, meals, hotel or guesthouse etc.

Getting around

Getting around Java can be slow. However, Garuda Indonesia (www.garuda-indonesia.com) runs scheduled flights between the major cities. Jakarta to Yogyakarta costs £52.

Better still is the train service that links the major centres, although it is much slower. A typical journey (from Yogyakarta to Surabaya takes five hours, and costs around £10 in executive class). The trains are clean and air-conditioned, if a little tired.

Another alternative is cycling, although the traffic can be very
disconcerting. One quiet, 10-mile stretch is down the lower slopes of the Merapi volcano from Kaliadem to Prambanan. Bicycles, helmets and guides areprovided as part of the Audley tour. In town, rickshaws, or becaks, cost about £1 a hop.

When to go

Indonesia has a wet season from November to April, with the greatest downpours being in January and February.

The inside track

The ‘sunrise tour’, of Borobudur Temple (beginning at 4am), is a must, and can be arranged by hotels, local guides or in advance.

Mount Bromo volcano: jeep trips to the crater start early, at 4am, and note that dawn can be very cold. The mountain village of Wonotoro is the base for all trips. Stay at the modern gallery-hotel, Java Banana (335 541193; www.java-banana.com; doubles from £55 a night).

The Hotel Tugu Malang, Malang (see The Best Hotels, below) holds lessons in Javanese cookery. They begin with a rickshaw ride to the market, last about two hours, and include instruction in the creation of a sumptuous nasi goreng.

What to bring home

Batik clothing is on sale everywhere, and prices range from £2 for a shirt to several hundred pounds for the best work.

The famous wayang kulit puppets (made of buffalo skin) are surprisingly hard to get hold of, so, if you want one, buy the first one you see as you may not get another chance (they cost about £15 each). The more conventional wooden puppets (wayang golek) cost around £12, though the quality varies.

Other souvenirs include tiny, working bicycles (£9). For antiques (anything from brass diving-helmets to Neolithic axe-heads), visit Dr Setiady Widodo in Melang (by appointment only on 0341 568402).

Further reading

Indonesia’s modern history is brilliantly brought to life in Richard Lloyd
Parry’s In the Time of Madness. The geological story is described in Simon Winchester’s Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. For orientation, use the Periplus Java and Bali travel map (www.abebooks.com).

The best hotels

Phoenix Hotel, Yogyakarta ££
A Colonial landmark dating from 1918 in the centre of town (274 566617; www.accordhotels.com; doubles from £47).

Majapahit Hotel, Surabaya ££
Built in 1910; elegant with pretty landscaped gardens (31 545 4333; www.hotel-majapahit.com; from £71).

Hotel Tugu Malang, Malang ££
Most of the rooms at this ‘art hotel’ are moderately priced but if you want to push the boat out, got for the lavish Apsara suite – rich in ancient Hindu erotica, it has a bed 12ft wide and costs £632 a night (341 363891; www.tuguhotels.com; from £67).

Tanjung Lesung Bay Villas, ‘Baby’ Krakatoa £££
Java’s west coast was badly hit by the economic crash in 1999 – this is the one resort that survived more or less intact. Krakatoa is just visible on the horizon (25 380 2900; www.tanjunglesungbayvillas.com; from £157).

Dharmawangsa Hotel, Jakarta £££
Quiet luxury in the city’s most prestigious residential area (21 725 8181; www.the-dharmawangsa.com; from £215).

The Amanjiwo Hotel, Central Java ££££
An hour from Yogyakarta; ultra-luxurious hotel in a superb setting, facing Borobudor. (29 378 8333; www.amanresorts.com;
bb from £445).

The best restaurants

Bedhot Resto, Yogyakarta £ Hippyish place down an alley off the mainstreet, serving Indonesian and international cuisine. Try the snake curry at £10 (Sosrojijayan Westan GT 1/58A; 274 512452; www.bedhots.com)

House of Sampoerna, Surabaya
Art Deco café offering Indonesian and Western food, part of a compound housing a tobacco factory, museum and an art gallery. Main courses from £2 (Taman Sampeorna 6; 31 353 9000, www.houseofsampoerna.com)

Batavia Café, Jakarta
Forties-style café; good for a drink or dinner at around £25 a head (Taman Fatahillah; 21 691 5531; www.cafebatavia.com)

Bali extension

With few good beaches in Java, it is worth considering adding a few days in Bali. Flights from Surabaya with Garuda cost around £40. For five-star luxury right on the beach, stay at the Jimbaran Puri Bali Hotel (361
701605; www.jimbaranpuribali.com; doubles from £216 per night). Day trips can be arranged to the vertiginous Uluwatu Temple, the Jatiluwih rice terraces, or to the famous surfing beaches of Padang Padang and Dreamland

There are also some very chic restaurants in Seminyak, half an hour’s taxi ride away. One of the most stylish is Sarong (361 737809, www.sarongbali.com),specialising in Southeast Asian cuisine.

What to avoid

Don’t be taken in by Indonesian brochure-talk. The cities may be fun but they are never “cool and colonial”, as promised.

Imported wine is hideously expensive at around £50 a bottle in restaurants (whereas good beer, such as Bintang, is never more than £4).

Be careful of taxi prices. It’s often best to use Bluebird Taxis in the cities.

Be careful of the monkeys at Uluwatu Temple, Bali. Accomplished thieves, they will steal anything shiny, particularly spectacles. If you are robbed, a local guide will usually be able to retrieve items with a piece of cake.

Avoid shopping at Bali airport. Prices are often four times those outside.

Java, Indonesia: the sleeping giant

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