Why Bandung? Bandung, the capital city of West Java, is the fourth biggest city in Indonesia which offers you a cool climate and great tourism sites. It’s not hard to reach Bandung since Cipularang toll road was finished in 2005. By Cipularang toll road, Bandung can be reached in 2 hours from Jakarta, while normally it takes 3-4 hours via Puncak and Cikampek. But if you don’t like traveling by cars, trains and planes are also available from Jakarta.

Because it is located on the foot of Tangkuban Perahu Mountain, Lembang is colder than Bandung and its soil is fertile. That’s why agriculture side is growing there. There are a lot of strawberry field you can visit and self-picking the strawberries. Not only strawberry fields, but also flowers and vegetables fields are grooming there.
If you don’t like agriculture, astronomy maybe will attract you. Boscha Observatorium (right), the only one observatorium in Indonesia, located in Lembang too.


For culinary lovers, Bandung is their heaven. Try traditional foods like peuyeum (fermented cassava), colenak (peuyeum with kinca sauce and coconut grates -- see picture below),
batagor (soybean curd filled with tenggiri fish fickle), or surabi (pan cake made from coconut milk). Besides traditional food, there are modern foods too -- although many of them are just modified from their origins. Like Steamed Brownies (Amanda is the first brand for it) and Pisang Bolen (banana rolled by pastry -- Kartikasari Cake Shop is the “inventor”).


When the night falls, go to the north of Bandung like Dago Atas, Cigadung, or Lembang. Those sites will entertain your eyes with a panoramic night view of Bandung.

Night at Dago
Not enough? Many cafes and restaurants there will provide you great taste of their foods, complete with romantic candles on their tables and Bandung view.