UK citizens need a visa for Indonesia. It can be
obtained on arrival at all major airports and some seaports, including
Belawan. See
www.indonesianembassy.org.uk.
Page last
updated:
26 May 2010
Ferries to Indonesia
Penang (Malaysia) - Medan
(Indonesia)
A daily ferry operates from Penang
in Malaysia to Belawan (the port of Medan) in Indonesia
(Sumatra, the northern island), sailing at 09:00 and
arriving 13:00. Returning, it sails from Belawan
(Medan) at 10:30 and arrives Penang at 14:30. The fare
is about 90 Ringgit (£15/$25). For more information,
see
www.langkawi-ferry.com.
Train travel in Indonesia
Sumatra
There are a few train services in
Sumatra, but no system covering the whole island. From
Medan to Panjang (for the twice-daily ferry to Merak on
Java) you will need a bus to Padang (730km, 28 hours, twice
daily), another from Padang to Palembang (900km, one bus
daily), then a train from Palembang (Kertapati station) to Panjang (daily, 8 hours daytime
train. Arrives at Tanjungkarang station, bus connection for
final 2 hours to Palembang ferry). Alternatively, you
can take a train from Medan to Kisaran, bus to Tanjungbalai,
then ferry to Batam and again from Batam to Palembang (3
weekly).
Java
A train system
links most main cities in Java, including Jakarta and
Surabaya via several different routes. Bookings are
computerised, and can be made up to 30 days in advance. For train times and fares
on Java, see
www.kereta-api.co.id or
this unofficial timetable site. Hints for using
this system:
There used to be
an English
button at bottom right, though the latest incarnation of
their site seems to be in Indonesian only.
The main
stations in Jakarta are Jakarta Kota, often written as
'Jakaratakota', closer to the old colonial city centre, and Jakarta Gambir, often just written as
'Gambir', closer to the centre of the modern city.
There are two
main stations in Surabaya, Surabaya Gubeng and Surabaya
Pasarturi. Gubeng is more central, Pasarturi is
slightly to the north.
Indonesian
trains have three classes, Executive (Eksecutif), Business (Bisnis) and Economy
(Ekonomi). Executive is spacious and air-conditioned,
seat reservation is compulsory. Business class is not
air-conditioned, seat reservation is compulsory.
Economy is not air-conditioned, it can be crowded, and seat
reservation is not possible, except on a handful of very
long-distance trains.
Trains are often
identified by name rather than number. Trains with
'Argo' in the name are the best services, and are Executive
class only.
Jakarta -
Surabaya trains...
Lots of trains
link Jakarta with Surabaya, via at least two major routes,
but the best
Jakarta-Surabaya train is the 'Argo Bromo Anggrek' service, which is
Executive class only, modern and air-conditioned, snacks and
mineral water included in the fare. It has comfortable reclining seats
with footrests. There is both a daytime service and a
time-effective overnight service. However, the night
trains no longer have sleepers, just seats.
Jakarta ► Surabaya
Surabaya ► Jakarta
Train number:
2
4
Train number:
1
3
Jakarta Gambir depart
09:30
21:30
Surabaya Pasarturi depart
08:00
20:00
Surabaya Pasarturi arrive
19:58
07:57
Jakarta Gambir arrive
18:37
06:31
Trains 1,
2, 3 & 4 are the 'Argo Bromo Anggrek', Executive class only,
fully air-conditioned.
The fare is about 200,000 Rupiah (£15 or $22) one-way,
snacks & mineral water included. Distance is 725 km (450
miles).
Jakarta - Bandung
trains...
There is a train
every hour or two from Jakarta Gambir station, with Executive & Business class, taking
about 3 hours for the 173 km, fare about 175,000 Rupiah (£13
or $20). See
www.kereta-api.co.id for more details.
Bandung - Surabaya trains...
Bandung ► Surabaya
Surabaya ► Bandung
Train number:
6
38
Train number:
5
37
Bandung
depart
07:00
19:00
Surabaya Gubeng depart
07:30
18:00
Surabaya Gubeng arrive
19:53
08:20
Bandung
arrive
19:56
07:10
Train 5/6 is the "Argo Wilis",
air-conditioned. Train 37/38 is also air-conditioned.
Distance 696km.
If you
have any more information or photos that would be useful for
this page to help other travellers, please
e-mail me!
Traveller Edmund Carew travelled Surabaya-Bandung on the
'Argo Wilis': "The aircon trains were only 50 to
75 per cent full: it was incredibly easy to book, with no
queues at Surabaya or Bandung. However, third class
trains around Surabaya were packed as were local trains on
the 'snappy' Bogor line from Jakartakota station.
The Indonesian railways make a real effort to run on
time. Mostly they seem to be no more than 15 minutes
late, which is good although schedules between Surabaya
and Bandung (hilly last bits) was only an average speed of
57 - 58 km/h."
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook Overseas timetable
has train, bus and ferry times for Indonesia and every country in the world
outside Europe plus currency and climate
information. It's essential for any serious
traveller, and an inspiration for armchair travellers!
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable
insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover
cancellation and loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings.
An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance..
Get a pre-paid currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX currency card, available in euros, dollars or the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' card.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up a £1,000 bill
in data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also works for laptop or PDA data
access. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
Overland travel by train & bus
around Southeast Asia is an essential part of the experience,
so once there, don't cheat and fly, stay on the ground!
But a long-haul flight might be unavoidable to reach Indonesia in
the first place. For flights to
Jakarta, start with
www.e-bookers.com. Seat61 gets a small commission through this link.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try
