In my previous 4d3n Bandung Itinerary post, I mentioned these places as the main activities for Day 2. They were actually planned out for us by the friendly staff at Hyatt Regency Hotel (thumbs up!) – since these three places were along the same route.
We managed to also get a great deal for transport – Indra who charged IDR750,000 for 10 hours. Unfortunately I did not get his contact details, as the hotel staff did all the liaising for me! (Tip: if possible, ask the concierge for more options when choosing transport, as they usually recommend Golden bird – which charges about IDR1,250,000 for 12 hours)
So was it worth the while? Let me share some details with you, and you can decide for yourself.
First stop: Tangkuban Perahu
NOTE: Entrance fees are IDR 200,000 per person (while for locals it’s only IDR 20,000). We grumbled a little since we did pay IDR 750,000 for the car ride, but as we were already there, it would be silly to waste it all.
This was actually our main reason for traveling to Bandung – it did seem like a pretty cool thing to see a volcano, especially one that just erupted in 2013!
My, the view was undeniably breathtaking, worth the entrance fee in my opinion. We were really lucky that there was not too many tourists there, so it was a relaxing time for us – no squeezing to get beautiful photos.
Difficulty level: easy.
Climbing up the steps wasn’t difficult at all, and pretty much a stroll whilst enjoying the view. As you can see, there are many peddlers loitering around, waiting to con/persuade tourists into buying all sorts of things – from volcano sand to animal hats and trinkets. They can be extremely persistent, so do be careful.
You can also find vendors selling food and drinks there, and we did buy some grilled corn because it looked so bright and tasty. Let’s just say it looked a lot better than it tasted, haha! After walking the trail, you will find a little marketplace with vendors selling food, snacks and more trinkets – the stuff there looked less dubious than the ones from the street peddlers.
Conclusion: Worth it? Yes, I think so! It would be such a shame to leave Bandung without experiencing this magnificent work of nature, regardless of entrance fees.
Second stop: Ciater Hot Springs
Entrance fee: IDR 27,000 / person
The place that they brought us to was “Sari Ater Hotel & Resort“. It was frankly not what I had in mind of a hot spring – not in a good way.
The entrance fee gives you access to this entire place of different family-friendly activities, from ATV to golf. It was technically more like a recreational park than a hot springs place. Since we did have a schedule to stick to, and none of the other activities seemed appealing, we headed straight to look for hot springs.
There were a couple of options – if you wanted to soak in the hot spring (full-body), you’d have to pay extra to gain access to “hot spring” pools which looked like swimming pools. Again – they looked like swimming pools, and didn’t look particularly relaxing, so we opted not to pay any more.
The free options were 2 shallow pools side-by-side (with different temperatures) where you could soak your feet in, or if you were more adventurous, try to lie or sit in.
There were (persistent) people offering foot massages/scrubs too. I can’t really remember the price, but I don’t think it was very reasonable since we turned them down.
The water was hot, nice and quite relaxing though – really made me wish for a proper hot spring to soak in and enjoy! Nevertheless, there was only so much foot-soaking we could do, and so we were off in less than 30 minutes in total.
Conclusion: Find another hot spring to soak in, or just skip it altogether. This was not really worth the entrance fee, nor the travel time!
Third stop: Floating Market (Lembang)
Of course, the 2 guys were starving by this time, so we quickly headed to the Floating Market in search for some good local food.
Entrance fee: IDR 20,000/ person (comes with 1 free machine drink)
I was starting to get used to entrance fees by then, so pay loh. After paying entrance fees, we had to exchange money for tokens to buy food with (Note: don’t change too much, it’s not refundable. There are more kiosks inside to change again if you need to!)
Other than floating food vendors, there were also boat rides on an artificial lake (so pretty), an expensive-looking massage place, and several restaurants.
It must have been an off-peak season, since the place was very quiet. Thank goodness for that! A portion of food costs around IDR 15,000 and up, that was pretty reasonably-priced for a tourist attraction. Apart from cute cartoon buns and these MUST-EAT SATAY (situated near the entrance of the floating market food vendors), the rest of the food we tried was so-so only.
*Don’t order hot coffee – not sure why whenever we ordered hot coffee (other than machine ones) the coffee powder would not dissolve properly, so we were left with powdery gross liquid.
Conclusion: It was still a great experience even though we were not fully satisfied by the meal. Definitely stop by this place to soak in the atmosphere and culture!
Heading to Bandung soon? Check out my other posts:
- 4d3n Bandung Itinerary
- Hotel Aryaduta Bandung (Previously Hyatt Regency)
- Two Cents Cafe Bandung
- The White Crater, Indonesia (Wanderlust-worthy!)
- Ola Spa
If you have any more recommendations, do drop me a comment! I’d love to hear from you (:
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