Surabaya

Introduction

the mist roll out bromo

© ukirsari

Surabaya (formerly Soerabaja) is the second largest city in Indonesia and East Java's capital. It is one of the country's busiest ports and is home to approximately 3 million people.

The name 'Surabaya' came from the word sura or suro (shark) and baya or boyo (crocodile), two creatures which, in local myth, fought each other to gain the title of 'the strongest and most powerful animal'. Now the two animals are used as the city's logo. You can see the statue of sura and baya next to the zoo of Surabaya.

Sights and Activities

• BRI Tower, BII Tower, and Graha Pena are the three largest towers in Surabaya. Graha Pena Tower is the headquarter of a newspaper in Surabaya, Jawa Pos and the roof of it is shaped like a pen.
• Plaza Surabaya, Tunjungan Plaza, Royal Plaza, and Galaxy Mall - Are the most famous shopping centers in Surabaya. But the best shopping center of them all is Galaxy Mall and Tunjungan Plaza, which offers some of designer boutiques like GAP, Aigner, and Zara.
• The Submarine Monument - Contains the real retired Russian submarine, Pasopati that was converted to a museum ship in the center of the city, near Plaza Surabaya.
• The Heroic Monument - the main symbol of Surabaya and one of the attractive tourist destinations in Surabaya and Southeast Asia. It was built to remember the warriors who fought in the November 10th battle.

Other Sights and Activities

• Mpu Tantular Museum - Has a lot collection of Javanese artifacts
• Grand Mosque of Surabaya - The largest mosque in East Java
• Cheng Ho Mosque - The first mosque in Indonesia built with a Chinese style architecture.

Weather

Getting There

By Plane

Juanda International Airport (SUB) serves as the main gateway with almost 20 airlines flying to/from Surabaya. Destinations include Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, Johor Bahru, Yogyakarta, Taipei, Hong Kong, Bali, Bandung and Bandar Seri Begawan.

DAMRI Buses are available to transport passengers from the airport to Purabaya Terminal, a bus terminal located not far from the airport. Taxis are widebly available outside the terminal building and can bring you anywhere in and around Surabaya.

Sleep

Upscale

You can use the form below to search for availability (Travellerspoint receives a commission for bookings made through the form)

Learn

• University of Surabaya

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet is becoming more widely used in Indonesia, and warung Internet (warnet) - Internet cafés - are emerging everywhere. A lot of restaurants and cafés in big cities normally have wireless internet available for free. Internet connection speed in Indonesia varies between ISP and location. Prices vary considerably, and as usual you tend to get what you pay for, but you'll usually be looking at around Rp3,000 to Rp5,000 per hour with faster access than from your own mobile phone. In large cities, there are free WiFi hotspots in many shopping malls, McDonald restaurants, Starbucks cafes, 7 Eleven convenience stores, and in some restaurants and bars. Some hotels provide free hotspots in the lobby and/or in their restaurants and even in your rooms.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

You can use 112 as an emergency number through mobile phones. Other numbers include 110 (police), 113 (fire) and 118 (ambulance).
The international phone code is 62.

If you have GSM cellular phone, ask your local provider about "roaming agreement/facility" with local GSM operators in Indonesia (i.e.: PT Indosat, PT Telkomsel, PT XL Axiata). The cheapest way is buying a local SIM card, which would be much cheaper to call and especially use internet compared to your own cell phone's sim card.

The Indonesian mobile phone market is heavily competitive and prices are low: you can pick up a prepaid SIM card for less than Rp 10,000 and calls may cost as little as Rp 300 a minute to some other countries using certain carriers (subject to the usual host of restrictions). SMS (text message) service is generally very cheap, with local SMS as low as Rp129-165, and international SMS for Rp400-600. Indonesia is also the world's largest market for used phones, and basic models start from Rp 150,000, with used ones being even cheaper.

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. 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. 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.

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 Governmental Website