Situated on a narrow isthmus, with a broad sweep of sand on either side and a thickly forested national park on the nearby headland, Pangandaran is Java’s premier beach resort. While it can never compete with Bali’s pristine white sands or party atmosphere, it is nevertheless an attractive, friendly and peaceful – or lively, if you’re here during Indonesia’s school holidays – spot to recuperate before pushing onto sights inland.
Of all the 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia, Java is king. It may not have the beaches of Bali, the jungles of Kalimantan, or the remoteness of Papua, but it’s the heart of the country, a heart with more drive and energy than any other island in this vast archipelago. With 120 million people crammed into an area half the size of Great Britain, Java is one populated place. And with such unfathomable human resources, it’s no wonder that the nation’s political and economic past, present and future are decided within its shores. For many, Indonesia quite simply begins and ends with Java.
Gunung Bromo is nature’s Borobudur; it’s a landscape that’s as evocative and resonant as any in Southeast Asia, and is the raw material for countless legends and as many picture postcards.
The lofty plateau of Dieng (2093m above sea level) is home to the oldest Hindu temples in Java. Its name comes from Di-Hyang (Abode of the Gods), and it’s thought that this was once the site of a flourishing temple-city of priests.
Cibodas, the next village over the Puncak Pass, is home to billions of pot plants for sale and the beautiful high-altitude extension of the Bogor botanical gardens, the Kebun Raya Cibodas (admission per person/per car 4000/6500Rp; 8am-6pm). It’s surrounded by thick tropical jungle on the slopes of the twin volcanoes of Gunung Gede and Gunung Pangrango. The gardens, which are bigger than Bogor’s, were originally planted in 1860 and now contain 1014 species. Beside the entrance to the gardens is the entrance to the Gede Pangrango National Park.
There’s no denying that Surabaya is big, noisy, polluted and intimidating. As Indonesia’s second-largest city and the home of the country’s navy, Surabaya is a colossal port peppered with cranes, corporate buildings and crowded spaces. Against the calm of rural East Java, it is pandemonium writ large.
Like Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Bagan in Myanmar, Java’s Borobudur makes the rest of Southeast Asia’s spectacular sites seem almost incidental. Looming out of a patchwork of bottle-green paddies and swaying palm tops, this colossal Buddhist relic is one of Southeast Asia’s marvels, surviving Gunung Merapi’s ash flows, terrorist bombs, and the wear and tear of a million pairs of tourist flip-flops (thongs) to remain as enigmatic and beautiful as it must have been 1200 years ago.
‘A romantic little village’ is how Sir Stamford Raffles described Bogor when he made it his country home during the British interregnum. As an oasis of unpredictable European weather – it is credited with 322 thunderstorms a year – cool, quiet Bogor was long the chosen retreat of starch-collared colonials escaping the stifling and crowded capital.
If Jakarta is Java’s financial and industrial powerhouse, Yogyakarta is its soul. Central to the island’s artistic and intellectual heritage, Yogyakarta (pronounced ‘Jogjakarta’), called Yogya for short, is where the Javanese language is at its purest, Java’s arts at their brightest and its traditions at their most visible.
Solo, a traditional and unhurried city 65km northeast of Yogyakarta, often plays second fiddle to its more conspicuous neighbour. But this is just plain unfair. With its backstreet kampung, wide thoroughfares, laid-back locals and rich cultural heritage, Solo has more than enough to warrant at least an overnight visit. Plus the usual cries of ‘Hello mister’, ‘Becak, becak’ and ‘Come to my gallery’ – so ingrained in many of Java’s cities – are less frequent here, as are the tourists; more often than not you won’t bump into another traveller as you wander the alleyways and markets of this attractive city.