Trip Report: 10 days in Indonesia (July 2025): Yogyakarta, Malang, Surabaya

**Background:** - 25 year old female - East Asian descent - only my second real solo trip, though I’ve moved abroad by myself several times - working in person full time, so I’m limited to a maximum of four two-week trips a year - Priorities: culture, people, history, nature (I like to make sure I have a good mix of nature and city in my trips) - Pace: I don’t like to keep my itinerary jam-packed, and usually leave one day in each city where nothing is planned to wander around - Accommodation preferences: I’m a private-room-in-hostel kind of traveler. I like the social aspect of hostels but prefer to keep my personal space if possible. **Trip Itinerary:** - Flight to Yogyakarta (transfer in Singapore), 3 nights * Borobudur, Prambanan - Train to Malang, 3 nights * Mount Bromo, Tumpak Sewu - Bus to Surabaya, 2 nights - Flight from Surabaya (transfer in Singapore) **Why I chose Java, Indonesia:** - I wanted to go to any country I haven’t yet been to in SEA, but avoid the rainy season. After some research, I found that the best place to go in late June/early July in terms of weather is Indonesia. - With my limited travel time, I had to narrow down my travels to one part of indonesia. Since I do not have an international license, it was important that wherever I went had decent infrastructure for transport. That narrowed down my search to Java and Bali. - I try to avoid places that are overly touristy, so did not prioritize Bali. When researching Java, Yogyakarta immediately caught my attention with Prambanan, Borobudur, and the cultural heritage associated with the city. - Since Yogyakarta was going to be my main “city destination”, now I needed a “nature destination”. I chose Malang because of its proximity to two main nature spots. - Surabaya was my next stop only because I needed an airport to fly out from. **Accommodation:** - Snooze Yogyakarta * The hostel was clean, beautiful, and well taken care of. They offered amazing, homemade breakfast every morning with a choice between sweet and savory. Staff were super helpful and had lots of great local tips. Would 100% recommend! * However, not super social. - Snooze Malang * Snooze Malang was also a great stay! I actually found the facilities (room, bed, common spaces) to be even better than the Snooze in Jogja. People were also more social since many people go on tours during the day and get to know each other. * However, no breakfast. But I understand why, since people are usually just there for a short time and away all day and night on tours. - Bumi Surabaya City Resort * Decided to stay in a hotel in Surabaya since there didn’t seem to be good hostel options here. The hotel was nice, no complaints. Close and walkable to Tunjungan Plaza, which was convenient. **Transportation:** - Finding transport was pretty easy! - I made sure to book the train from Yogyakarta to Malang early on Traveloka, and I’m glad I did. I heard from others later that tickets were all sold out because of peak season with local tourists. The train ride was around 6.5 hours (Malioboro Ekspres, 10:10 departure) and cost 400k IDR for a seat in the executive car. The ride was scenic and comfortable. - From Malang to Surabaya, I did not pre-book since the distance is shorter. I had originally planned to take the train, but tickets were sold out. I bought a Daytrans bus ticket the night before I was set to leave via Traveloka. The Daytrans bus was a mini-van with 14 seats if I’m not mistaken. The bus took quite a few stops so the drive took 3 hours, but it was comfortable and dropped me off directly in Surabaya city. It was also only 72.5k IDR! Highly recommend. **Safety:** - As a female solo traveler, I did not feel unsafe at any point. The locals were super kind. I did not stay out late and was usually back at my accommodation by 7, 8pm every night so cannot say much about late night safety. - The main safety risk I can think of is the traffic. In each city I visited, traffic was pretty heavy and they do not stop for pedestrians. Crossing the street requires a bit of commitment. I walked around quite a bit but honestly should have just called a gojek/grab bike in some places. - Water safety is also a concern. I made sure to only drink bottled drinks when eating out and to brush my teeth with bottled water just to be safe. **Budget:** - My main costs were tickets to tourist spots and other tours. * 1mil IDR for tours (for Mount Bromo and Tumpak Sewu, which included transport, tickets, drivers, guides) * ~1 mil IDR for entrance tickets (Prambanan and Borobudur were especially pricey for foreigners) * 650k IDR for a full day driver to take me to Prambanan and Borobudur - Food was super affordable. I spent on average 50k IDR per meal. * ~1mil IDR on food for the entirety of my trip) - Transportation is also affordable. Rides from the airport to city center was usually around 100k IDR, and rides within the city were 20-30k (even cheaper if you call bikes). * my total spending on Gojek is approx 650k IDR. - Total spending (excluding accommodation and flights): ~4.3million IDR **Highlights:** - What left the biggest impression on me this entire trip was the kindness of the locals. I’ve exchanged so many smiles and random conversations with strangers. Despite the hustle and bustle of the cities, everyone seems to treat each other with so much warmth. - Yogyakarta is a very charming place. I enjoyed strolling down Malioboro (even though I was kind of scammed my first night there), having gelato in Prawirotaman, and visiting the Kraton. For authentic Batik, please consider visiting Batik Winotosastro. You can tour the production process and even make your own batik if you get there early in the morning! The nice lady there was telling me that their factory has downsized by a lot since COVID, so please visit and show your support for this beautiful local craft if you’re in Jogja! - Prambanan and Borobudur are doable in one day. Both were breathtaking but I preferred Borobudur. Definitely book the structure tickets ahead of time so you can actually climb up and see the view from above. I got the 3:30pm tickets and would recommend it since you can catch a bit of the sunset! - Mount Bromo was beautiful. The group left at midnight and got back to the hostel at around 11am, which meant almost no sleep. But it was worth it to see the sunrise! The climb to the Mount Bromo crater itself was a little disappointing since it was just a lot of stairs (and a lot of having to see horses suffering), but the view from the top was unreal. - Tumpak Sewu was sooo much fun. I almost didn’t do it because I saw quite a few sources saying that it was physically challenging and dangerous, but I did not think it was bad at all. Some parts of the trip definitely required careful stepping since you’re essentially walking on wet mossy rocks, but that was a huge part of the fun. My clothes were completely drenched from the waterfall splashes and sitting under flowing water. Seeing and experiencing the waterfall made me really appreciate nature. - I definitely recommend booking the tours if you can. It ensures that everything is taken care of and all that’s left to do is to enjoy what nature has to offer! - Malang city is worth a half-day stroll! I especially enjoyed the Heritage Village. - Food in Surabaya was good. It was a good city for a wind down. **Food (and restaurant) Recommendations:** - Spicy!!! Delicious!!! My favorite dishes and restaurants were: - Bakmi * A type of noodles. Each region has their own version of this. The one I had was a fried, Javanese version topped with chicken and fried shallots. * Bakmi Djowo Pendopo (Yogyakarta) - Soto Ayam * Chicken noodle soup, but flavorful! Lovely breakfast food that sits well in your stomach. I had this after my Mount Bromo tour (the lack of sleep and fatigue made it feel like a hangover day) and it was soo good. * Soto Ayam Lamongan Soetomo (Malang) * Soto Ayam Cak Pardi (Surabaya) - Rawon * My favorite!!! A dark beef soup made from a special nut called keluak. Eaten with rice (highly recommend mixing with telur asin - salted egg), bean sprouts, and sambal spice. * Rawon Rampal (Malang) * Rawon Setan (Surabaya) **Final Personal Reflections:** - I love traveling solo. It’s all about finding balance. Being cautious but not too cautious because then you shut yourself off from connections and experiences. Keeping busy but not too busy because then you can burn out and exhaust yourself. Planning properly but not over-planning because traveling always requires a degree of going with the flow in order for it to be enjoyable. Enjoying time by myself but welcoming company because people can be really cool. - It’s crazy how much nature Indonesia has. It’s really a reminder that we are nothing without nature and that we need to be doing so much more to preserve it. I am so lucky to have been able to experience a sliver of it. - I’ll definitely visit Indonesia again. Lombok is high on my list for my next trip. --- **Post Details:** - **Subreddit:** r/solotravel - **Author:** u/redbean99 - **Score:** 11 upvotes - **Upvote Ratio:** 88.0% - **Comments:** 5 - **Posted:** 7/9/2025 - **URL:** https://reddit.com/r/solotravel/comments/1lv6m8k/trip_report_10_days_in_indonesia_july_2025/