Travellers' Checks | Indonesia by rail – everything you need to know
Trips are cheap and journeys among the post picturesque in Asia, allowing you to a loop of the main island of Java in relaxed comfort; also in travel news, a two-night package to Bangkok and Japan’s new Ecbo Cloak left-luggage service
Although Dutch steam locomotives can no longer be heard whistling through the tropical Javanese night, the Indonesian island is still an interesting place to explore by rail. It’s cheap, too. An eksekutif-class ticket for the comfortable nine-hour journey from Jakarta to Surabaya can cost as little as 250,000 rupiah (HK$145) if booked in advance, and parts of the 12-hour southern rail route between Bandung and Surabaya are said to be among the most picturesque in Asia.
Both lines have day and night services, but sleeping cars sadly no longer exist. In air-conditioned eksekutif class, however, you at least get a reclining seat (unlike in bisnis and ekonomi classes, which should both be avoided on longer trips).
Using these routes, it’s easy to spend a few days looping the island, visiting the major sights, as well as a few offbeat places on the north coast such as Cirebon, Pekalongan and Semarang, which is home to a famously haunted Dutch-colonial building called Lawang Sewu. Also known as Thousand Doors, it was built early last century as the headquarters of the Dutch East Indies Railway Company.
