Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[kimrox]

Hi there,

My sister and I are off to Indonesia in May and not only are we getting v. excited but I'm finiding more things I want to do and not enough time to do it in.. well unless one of us goes south and the other north.. hmmm

Would anyone be able to tell me how easy it is getting transport from Semarang to Yogyajakarta? Are there a mass of tour companies around like in Thailand?!

Thanks very much and any other gems of advice and pearls of wisdom you'd like to hand out we'll gratefully catch them all.

[starlagurl]

In the travel wiki, it says that Semarang is not connected to Yogyakarta by train, so that's out...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Semarang

But it looks like most people get to Semarang from Jakarta

Same with Yogyakarta:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Yogyakarta

You could probably rent a car or hire a driver to get you in between the two though.

I don't know much about tourguides...

[ppamela]

Hi,
If I was you I would get the train from Semerang to Surabaya. Stay the night - nice old hotel is the Paveljohn, and next morning get the train at about 9am to Probolinngo railway station. Good idea to book bisnis or eskutif class the day before.
From there get a local bus to the bus terminal in Probolinggo and get a bus up to Cemoro Lawang. Do not be talked into getting a tourist bus- it simply does not exist- just another way of separating you from your money.
If you stay in Cemoro Lawang at Lava Cafe, you can book a jeep for about 50,000 rupiah at the cafe next door with other travellers for a 5.30 am start to see the sun rise. You go up to the viewing platform to see the wonderful Gunung Bromo and all the surrounding mountains.
My photos of Bromo http://travel.webshots.com/album/556530994AliQiY

Then from Cemoro Lawang get a bus back down to Probolinggo and then a long bus ride to Yogjakarta to see the Borobudur, Prambanan and possibly a trip to Dieng Plateau.
How long are you planning on staying in Indonesia? If you need to have a visa to enter Indonesia do know you can only get 30 day visa on arrival. Any longer and you need to apply at the Indonesian Consulate in your home country or in one of the Asian cities like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Singapore.
Pamela.

[starlagurl]

Thanks for the detailed instructions Pamela! That should help kim out a lot!

[ppamela]

Kimrox,
If I was you I would steer clear of any of those tour groups. Many travellers have written on various forums over the years being thoroughly disappointed by many of them.
I have suggested to travellers to get a Bromo tour from Yogjakarta and then head onto Bali, but there have been negative comments about them as well.
Go independently and you will have the most magic time.
By the way I do not speak Indonesian, kow a few words but that has never stopped me from visiting anywhere in Indonesia-even remote places.
Pamela.