4d3n Getaway to Bandung, Indonesia (Itinerary!)

Date travelled: August 2015

As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, this was a pretty last minute plan for the SG50 holidays last year. Because everything was fully booked or way too expensive by the time we got around to planning the trip (even Bintan was crazy), we were resigned to doing a staycation in Singapore. However, after chancing upon this article online, we got really inspired to explore Bandung, Indonesia.

Tickets were $200/pax (last minute prices) and most of the hotels mentioned in the article were fully booked, so we made do with a comfortable one in the city area – Hyatt Regency Hotel. This meant that we would have to take long rides up to the volcanoes, but it also meant that we could take some time to explore the outlets, cafes and food!

So here’s my itinerary overview:

Day 1:

• Morning flight via AirAsia straight to Bandung
• Checked in to Hyatt Regency Hotel
• Visited adjacent mall Bandung Indah Plaza for food & a short walk
• Planned the next few days (because we were such lazy asses to do any planning beforehand)
• Massage at Ola Spa (recommended!)
  
• Room service for dinner (lazy, again)

Day 2

• 8am departure on a hired car to Tangkuban Perahu, one of Bandung’s Volcanoes (2hr car ride)
• Ciater Hot Spring, Lembang
• Floating Market, Lembang
• Rumah Mode Outlet Shopping
• Back to the hotel for a quick rest & dip in the pool
• Out to the streets for some local food

Day 3

• 6am departure on a hired car to Kawah Putih, the other Volcano
• Ria Ayam Penyet for lunch (tasted pretty much the same as in Singapore)
• Outlet shopping at Polo Ralph Lauren (Jalan. Ir. H. Juanda 151 Bdg) and neighboring outlets – this shop is quite good, would recommend it for shopping!
• Dropped JD at the airport
• Visited Jalan Braga – tourist spot with many live bars and restaurants!

Day 4

• Café searching (Two Cents Coffee found! Click to read post)
• Quick stop at The Secret Outlet – meh fashion :/
• Flight back to Singapore!

Hopefully this is helpful with your trip-planning! I’ll be posting more details on the hotel, Ola Spa, Two Cents Cafe & the volcanoes separately, and these posts will be linked here below:

• Hyatt Regency Hotel
• Two Cents Cafe
• Tangkuban Perahu, Ciater Hot Spring & Floating Market (Lembang)
• Kawah Putih
• Ola Spa

Additional Information on Transportation

So this is where it gets tricky – I booked transport through the hotel using Golden Bird Car Rental from the airport to the hotel (about 20 minutes away) and that cost us IDR 175,000. When we tried to ask him to drop JD at the nearby Fave hotel (barely 5-10 minutes away) he wanted to charge an extra IDR175,000. When we refused, he quickly dropped it to IDR 90,000 which we accepted, because we didn’t know better. When we found out that it would have cost less than IDR35,000 using a metered taxi, I decided we weren’t going to use Golden Bird anymore.

I requested the hotel to give me some alternatives for our next few days’ road trips to the volcanoes, because

• Golden bird was charging about IDR1,250,000 for 12 hours
• I didn’t trust them anymore.

Thankfully they found a great deal for us, through this guy called Indra who charged IDR750,000 for 10 hours, which was enough for us.

The rest of the time, we used metered taxis, which we soon realized had minimum fees (IDR35,000 for Bluebird taxis, IDR25,000 for others), not that worth it for super short distances.

JD then discovered angkots – green mini vans which would drive normally at the side of the roads. If you are travelling a short distance, just flag any of them down, and tell the driver where you want to go. If it’s on the way, they’ll let you in. They usually pick up passengers as they drive, so its sort of “public transport” for them. Cost ranges from IDR2,000 to IDR4,000. If you are travelling in a group or pair, give it a shot. But I wouldn’t recommend it for girls travelling alone (be safe ya?)

Other than that, Bandung is really a beautiful place to visit and have some relaxation time. Air tickets and accommodation are all very affordable so keep this place in mind for your next getaway!

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