Palembang

Introduction

Palembang is the capital of the South Sumatra province on Sumatra, Indonesia and has around 1.5 million inhabitants.

Neighbourhoods

• Lubuk Linggau
• Pagar Alam
• Lahat
• Curup
• Bengkulu

Sights and Activities

• The bridge of Ampera - This bridge (also called Musi Bridge) is a nice sight when visiting Palembang city. The bridge is spanned over the biggest river in Sumatra. Take a tour around on the river Musi by traditional boat.
• Masjid Agung Palembang - This grand mosque has been renovated a few times already. Now it is a very large and beautiful mosque. In some sections of the mosque you can see old Sriwijayan style architecture. It is located in front of the main roundabout in Palembang which you will pass coming from the Musi Bridge.
• Benteng Kuto Besak - The old fort located on Musi riverbank.
• Museum Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II - Located near Benteng Kuto Besak, the museum building is in Palembang Limasan traditional architecture, displaying the history of Palembang city, from the era of Buddhist Srivijaya empire to Palembang Sultanate and colonial era.
• Train Trip to Lubuk Linggau - This trip is a great train tour experience on Sumatra. Plan to take this tour when you are spending enough time in Palembang. It is suggested you take a train during the day. Depart from Kertapati (Train station) to Lubuk Linggau. You will spend all day long for this trip, but there is so much things you will see during this trip. Arrival in Lubuk Linggau, spend 2 days to do trekking to the Hill (Bukit Sulap), swimming on the river with car's tyres, fishing, and explore some plantations. Continue to swim in the hot water (Curup) also to Bengkulu city. Here, visit some Dutch buildings and the beach. There's a lot traditional Gold mining, petrol, giant flower (Rafflesia Arnoldi).
• Train Trip to Bandar Lampung - From here you can continue to Jakarta. Bandar Lampung to Jakarta is 8 hours driving, including 4 hours on the erry to Merak. Arrive in Bandar Lampung direct to Metro, Lampung Tengah. It is a safe place to stay, and easy to go to Way Kambas where you will visit Sumatra's Elephant habitat. Address: Metro, Lampung Tengah

Weather

Palembang has a tropical rainforest climate with relatively high humidity and high temperatures throughout the year. Average highs are mostly around 30 °C, while nights are a balmy 25 °C. The average annual amount of precipitation is about 2,500 mm with most of that falling between November and April. May and October are still fairly wet, while June to September is the driest time of the year, but still with around 100 mm of rain a month.

Getting There

By Plane

Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport (PLM) offers flights to Bandung, Jakarta, Batam and Singapore, among a few other smaller cities.

By Bus

Palembang is connected by inland buses to other cities on Sumatra like Jambi, Padang, Pekanbaru, Medan and Lampung and also to Jakarta crossing the Sunda strait by ferry.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

It is quite easy to get around in Palembang since there are a lot of public busses, modified vans (Angkots or Angkutan Kota) and for short distances there is always becak.

Sleep

Budget

• Soemadi Rito
• Jalan Tapak Lebar I/III
• Kampung Sidorejo
• Lubuk Linggau

Keep Connected

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

Pos Indonesia provides the postal service in Indonesia. Pos Indonesia is government-owned and offers services ranging from sending letters and packages to money transfers (usually to remote areas which have no bank branch/ATM nearby) and selling postcards and stamps.

It is recommended to send letters from a Pos Indonesia branch, not by putting it inside orange mailbox (called Bis Surat) in the roadside, because some of the mailboxes are in very bad condition and aren't checked regularly by Pos Indonesia. Opening times of post offices usually tend to follow general business hours: Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm (sometimes shorter hours on Fridays), Saturdays from 8:00am to 1:00pm, closed on Sundays. Bigger cities, tourist areas and central post offices tend to keep longer hours, into the evenings.
Sending a postcards, letter or parcel is relatively expensive, but fairly reliable. It takes several days at least to send it within Indonesia, at least a week internationally.

Private postal services based in Indonesia include CV Titipan Kilat (CV TIKI), Jalur Nugraha Ekaputra (JNE), Caraka, and RPX. There are also foreign postal services that have branches in Indonesia, including DHL, TNT, UPS, and FedEx.

External Links

• Official Website