Java and Bali Travel Planning made easy and stress-free

So, after all those trips to Japan, I felt it was time to visit somewhere else. And to be honest, I had wanted to visit Indonesia for a long time… for about fifteen years. That’s how old my guide book is now. So, this post is on Java and Bali Travel Planning as I prepared to visit a country new to me as a tourist.

But Indonesia is a very large country, and my annual leave allowance is thirty days. I know, it’s very generous compared to most parts of the world, but still not enough for a comprehensive Indonesia trip.

So – I don’t have tons of time, which is a good first-time trip to Indonesia? I wanted to visit somewhere that was relatively easy to reach from Europe, with good transport, culture, nature, and easy for a solo traveller.

Technically, this was not my first trip to Indonesia. I have not written about it here, but I visited Indonesia in 2024 – on a work trip. It was a medical evacuation trip to Bali and back. So, not really expecting much of Bali, I flew in, slept, had breakfast, had a massage, bought batik, did my job, flew back.

However… the few hours I spent wandering round Kuta which is perhaps the most touristy, most maligned bit of Bali, actually made me fall in love with Indonesia. People were friendly, it was totally fine to walk around on my own, there were little temples everywhere, and my hotel cost about 20 Euro a night and had a pool and was a lovely place to relax.

So, I vowed to return, maybe visit Bali and Lombok. Then, I consumed maybe a bit too much social media, and combined with the observation that everyone and their dog is heading to Bali, including plenty people I would not voluntarily hang out with, I didn’t want to be a lemming and go where everyone goes.

At first, I thought, maybe Raja Ampat or some similarly nice diving place. But Raja Ampat is far away, expensive, and let’s not start on essential infrastructure. Sumatra? Too large, and wasn’t there some really strict Islamic parts, too?

Then, it fell like scales from my eyes. Flights from Europe usually go to Jakarta or Denpasar, with Jakarta flights usually way cheaper. Why not visit Java? The island was said to be open, modern, not too big, excellent trains network… and sights over sights, culture, and some very impressive volcanoes and national parks… what better place to pick for quasi first time solo trip to Indonesia? What really swung it round for me in the end was Borobodur, and the fact that Java has an excellent train network.

Getting to Indonesia

Finding a reasonably priced flight from Europe to Java was easy. I monitored flights for a while on Skyscanner, then booked a flight via Istanbul on one of my favourite airlines, Turkish Airlines. Yes, they are owned partially by the government, while about half are publicly traded.

Turkish Airlines is considered a safe airline, receiving full marks on AirlineRatings and is in 2025 allegedly considered the safest European Airline… higher than my recent flies, Finnair and KLM, haha. In comparison to KLM and Finnair, Turkish Airlines also has a much better website, much better ticketing conditions (many tickets can be refundable for a fee) and the only airline that actually had a functioning phone customer service line that I could just phone up in recent years.

Add to that the relatively nice aircraft (mix of Boeing and Airbus), the feast they feed you evenin Economy and the relatively hassle-free transfers at the new istanbul Airport, Turkish Airlines is one of my favourite airlines. So I bought an Economy Class ticket directly from their website. I have their app, and am signed up with their pretty good loyalty programme, too.

What I want to do

You might think yeah, out of the comfort zone there, with my most recent trips being very much centred on Japan or Western and Central Asia. But it was photographs of Borobodur and Mount Bromo that first made me consider Indonesia, along with some stunning underwater photographs of Raja Ampat.

So, my wishes for this Indonesia trip are as follows

• Visit Borobodur, Prambanan and Taman Sari in Yogyakarta
• See Gunung Merapi near Yogyakarta
• See Gunung Bromo in Eastern Java, and Gunung Ijen if I have time
• See some Batik – and probably buy loads, see how Batik is made in Solo
• Drink some good coffee, visit coffee roasters, expand my coffee knowledge
• Have a lot of massages. I had a great one as a walk- in in a random shop in Bali… I want more!
• Enjoy good (vegetarian) food, eat tons of fresh fruit, cook Indonesian food
• Swim, snorkel – and a bonus fun dive would be lovely

Java and Bali Travel Planning Itinerary

Based on what I want to do, and the tie I have, just under two weeks, I drew up my itinerary. Lots of nice things I had to leave out, but I can never really take more than two weeks off. Its very culture- and city-biased, but yup that’s me.

• Day 1: Arrive in Jakarta in the evening, go to my hostel, drink coffee, have a massage.
• Day 2: Early morning train to Yogyakarta. Taman Sari, bit of walking. 3 nights in Yogyakarta
• Day 3: Borobodur and Prambanan, probably will join a tour – or taxi it. It will be busy anyway.
• Day 4: Gunung Merapi if I have time. Or day trip to Solo for batik. Or combine both – they’re close.
• Day 5: Move to Blitar. Solo It’s 300km, so will take a while. 2 nights in Blitar.
• Day 6: I heard Blitar is quiet- maybe coffee plantation, maybe Gunung Kelud, a couple temples (tour)
• Day 7: Short hop to Malang – I have 2-3 nights! Sort my Bromo and Ijen tours, drink coffee.
• Day 8: Bromo
• Day 9: Visit Gunung Ijen if I can find a tour locally, or hang around and drink coffee
• Day 10: Mt Ijen/shift to Bali/buffer day. Some operators offer Bromo /Ijen tours that finish in close to the Bali ferry
• Day 11: Shift to Bali. It will take 7 hours just to the ferry port alone… Three nights in Pemuteran, Bali.
• Day 12-13 Bali
• Day 14 Return from Bali to Jakarta – that’s about 17 hours on the train, train from Ketapang 15.00-ish
• Day 15 Arrive in Jakarta, fly home from Jakarta in the evening

Before travel

I checked entry requirements before even booking my flight. For arrival in Jakarta Airport (Soekharno Hatto) I will be eligible for a paid visa on arrival. An alternative would be the Electronic Visa on Arrival (eVOA) which needs to be applied for at least 48hours in advance and can be applied through the official website. Also, you will need to complete a health declaration and will be issued a QR Code on the SATUSEHAT Health pass website.

I ended up not getting the Visa in advance, just did the health declaration, and then applied and paid for the Visa on Arrival in Immigration – a quick and easy process. I was in front of the airplane and one of the first to get off the plane – there was a pretty long queue when I left, so getting the eVOA will probably save you time.

About six weeks before my trip, I checked my vaccination status – always best to seek a medical professional guidance on this, if you can, consider visiting a travel clinic. Java is malaria-free, but has a relatively high incidence of Dengue, and other vector-transmitted illnesses like Zika or Chikungunya are also prevalent. So, off to the hops I went to buy a mosquito repellent for tropical use, and sunscreen – reef safe if you plan to swim in the sea.

I realised that my very minimal packing for Japan probably would not cut it here, so in went plenty of plain cotton and linen clothes in light colours, as the daytime Aedes species that transmit Dengue aren’t interested in beige. Since Java is mostly Muslim island, I was planning to dress modestly anyway. In went sunglasses, sun hat, spare clothes, medical kit, and the usual: passport, two credit cards, emergency cash, (travel) health insurance card, house keys, camera gear…

Language

I started some basic Bahasa Indonesia lessons on Duolingo but found them not very useful for basic tourist communication.

So, I took a closer look at the language section of my guidebook, to know at least some basic greetings and questions out of politeness, and crossing my fingers people will understand English. It’s pretty amazing that Bahasa Indonesia os actually a very “young” language, not even 100 years old, but is based on Malay which has been spoken on Sumatra and Malaysia for centuries.

In the end, I managed to cobble together some very basic tourist Bahasa Indonesia in order to extend greeting, ask for things, thank people, order food and asking whether food was vegetarian. And, very importantly, that I like cats! Everything else, I used Google Translate. In Javanese cities, quite a few people spoke some English, and in local restaurants and shops, I just dug out my minuscule Bahasa Indonesia skills. I never felt a huge language barrier, and felt I was able to communicate fairly well, and it helped that locals were generally very open and friendly.

Transport in Indonesia

With safety being paramount, and suffering from moderate travel sickness, using trains to travel around Java was a no-brainer. I preliminary tacked on a few days of relaxation in Northern Bali, and even from there, it is relatively easy to return to JAkarta for my flight home by train.

Once I had established that train travel was the way to go, I scouted around Seat61 for information on Indonesian trains. Yes, it’s an old web site, looks like Methusalem wrote it, but its Indonesia section has fairly up-to-date information, and no annoying ads. So, after perusing Seat61 and a couple Youtube videos on train classes in Indonesia, I downloaded the “tiket” app to my phone and purchased my first long distance train ticket, an “Executive Class” ticket from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, for the princely sum of 30 Euro. My German issue VISA card worked well, transaction looked secure. My dream to travel on the Eksekutif Luxury Compartment Suites will have to wait for another trip, but both “Ekonomi” and “Eksekutif” train classes were really comfortable, and trains were pretty much on time on each trip I took.

Whether I will continue using my VISA card on Internet that I have no control over, I am not sure, but I may purchase the bulk of my tickets a few days in advance directly from train stations or Indomaret and Alpha convenience stores – or use the help at my guesthouse – one reason not to stay in super fancy places. And in fact, I bought some further tickets from guest houses and at train stations, although the station ticket office only sells tickets from the very same city, which was massively inconvenient, so most of my tickets were purchased through guest houses, simply because I dod not feel like logging into my internet banking on a foreign network.

I hoped to cycle here and there if safe, but I didn’t think I would be renting a scooter. I have a licence, but I am not used to Indonesian road traffic, and I have dealt with too many incidents where tourists rented scooters. I actually managed to cycle once, but let me say… there are not many places that rent out bicycles. Motorcycles are much more common. My compromise? Taking motorcycle taxis. Drivers were excellent and at least they know how to deal with Indonesian traffic. They always supplied a helmet, and even waterproof gear for the frequent tropical showers.

I also used taxis when it was  feasible to walk to my accommodation. Bluebird ( I use their app) worked a treat in Bali last year except for airport transfers, and I have been told it works well in urban Java, too.

I actually used Grab as my main app to hail taxis, mostly motorcycle taxis. Bluebird didn’t work that well, and Grab offered many more option, different sized cars, option of normal motorcycles, bigger motorcycles, even the option of sharing with another passenger! Grab worked everywhere except in Northern Bali, where I stayed far down some lane away from the main road.

Where to Stay in Java, Indonesia

My experience with Booking.com last year in Bali was very good, so I booked everything on Booking.com. I started off with some stately heritage hotels like the Phoenix Yogyakarta or the Shalimar Boutique Hotel in Malang. For less than 50 Euro per night, these four- and five-star hotels offer incredible value compared to stay in Europe. Later on, I discovered, that you can find some very good mid-range hotels and guesthouses for the fraction of the price, although I kept a couple of my original bookings so now I will truly stay everywhere from a one-star hostel to the five-star hotel. More details and reviews of my hotel stays, as always, will follow.

In fact, I booked one hotel on Agoda, one hostel directly on WhatsApp, everything else on Booking.com. It worked really well, especially when I had to change accommodation in Bali and had to find something with a few hours notice.

Money

Those who know this blog know that I never travel on a huge budget. Safety, cultural experiences, decent (vegetarian) food and supporting local businesses mean the most to me, so I don’t spend big on hotels or fancy experiences.

My tried-and-trusted setup for all my travels is two credit cards that have no foreign commission fee, and 300-1000 Euro in cash. The amount of cash I take depends on how well I trust to be able to withdraw local currency and how common paying by credit card is. I remember I paid for a lot in Bali using my credit card last year.

I make a mental note on the exchange rate, too. At present, you get a little under 20k Indonesian Rupiah for one Euro.

It turns out that ATM were plentiful and I never had an issue getting cash. I use one card for payments and the other primarily for withdrawing cash. There were ATM accepting foreign cards in banks, train stations, shopping centres and next to tourist sites.

Health and Safety

I keep copies of my air ticket, passport and contact details of all accommodation with a trusted person at home, usually my husband. I keep a passport copy and some emergency cash hidden in my luggage.

Health-wise, I checked that all my routine vaccinations recommended in Germany are up to date. I am also vaccinated against Hepatitis A and B, Rabies and Japanese Encephalitis. I also consider getting the Dengue Fever vaccine – my trip is very short, but I will spend a lot of time outside, I am not a diligent applier of insect repellent, and, who wants to get sick on holiday? Altogether, i consideration of one’s health, travel style and level of safety required, I always recommend seeking advice from a travel health physician regarding this.

I carry my first aid kit and enough funds should I need hospitalisation and pre-payment and, of course, I have the appropriate travel health insurance – the one I have offers some medical assistance and also can handle payments abroad should I incur a large treatment bill.

And here, I am glad to report, there were no issues either. I got sick only once with some freak gastrointestinal bug which cleared itself after twelve hours and all I had to do it help along with some fluids and electrolytes, and the usual tropical temperatures and UV exposition that I am not used to. I did not get the Dengue vaccine in the end because it’s a live vaccine and I had a protracted cold before travelling, so there was never a good time to get the vaccine.

Anything I missed? 

So far, so good, that was half a day of planning well spent! I contacted a couple of the hostels/guesthouses to ask about tours, and studied some of the online listings of third party tour operators/consolidators like Klook and GetyourGuide to get a rough idea on prices for tours, as well as transport options.

I booked a tour of Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen through the guesthouse I stayed at in Malang, just reserved my place and paid in cash on the day of my arrival. This worked really well, and although the Bromo tour was full on the day I went due to a national holiday, often hostels do their best to arrange tours for guests and sometimes even non-guests at very short notice, especially Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen which are extremely popular with foreign visitors.

Conclusion

Now that I am back, I feel that half a day or so spent in preparation was tie well spent. I felt that Java was mostly very easy and a wonderful destination for a first trip to Indonesia and for a solo female traveller.

I was delighted to find how safe it was. From arriving at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport to walking around at night in several cities and doing some smaller hikes, never once did I feel unsafe or threatened.

People were friendly, helpful, and very polite.

In retrospect, Java is a wonderful all-round destination for a first trip to Indonesia, and it is much less visited than neighbouring Bali. I recommend Java especially if you wish to learn about Indonesian history and culture – central Java around Yogyakarta is perfect for this, and you can see some varied landscapes including active volcanoes in Eastern Java. I did add a few days in Northern Bali, and it is easily do-able if you have two weeks, but do not expect to see all of Bali in such a short period

The Small Print

This post was started in preparation for as solo self-organised trip to Java (with a few days in Northwest Bali) in spring 2025. As always, I am paying for my own flights, accommodation and travel arrangements, no gifted stays, totally unbiased opinion. After returning, I have revised this post to keep only the most relevant information in. This post also includes one links to Booking.com, which is an affiliate link. There are many blogs that do Indonesia better, often by people who are living in Indonesia, but here is my mid-budget, culture biased, first timers experience. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or advice!

Pin It