Bandung
Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia.
Located on the western highland of Java island, it has one of the coolest climates compared to other provincial capitals in Indonesia, situated 708 meters above sea level, approximately 145 kilometres southeast of Jakarta. Bandung lies in a river basin surrounded by volcanic mountains that provide a natural defense system, which was the primary reason for the Dutch East Indies government's plan to move the capital from Batavia to Bandung.
Getting to Bandung
Bandung is in the central highlands of Parahyangan. It can be reached from Jakarta via the toll road or by train. Many buses and minivans connect Jakarta and Bandung. An alternative to the toll road is the winding road via the Puncak mountain pass. The route through Puncak is quite scenic but on weekends and public holidays the traffic is congested.
Worth seeing
With Bandung being one of the main cities of the Dutch East Indies, many colonial buildings were built in the city in the second half of the 19th century, and especially the first half of the 20th century. Most of the colonial buildings can be found in the city centre, as well as in the Dago area where extensive expansions of the city took place in the early 20th century.
Things to do
There are many activities that you can do in the city or outside the city. As Bandung highland is surrounded by a string of mountains, activities in the outskirts of the city are centred about the mountain resorts, adventure activities and outdoor sports. In the city, you can have savor the culinary diversity (see the Eat section), shop at the cheap outlets and distros (see the Buy section) or just hang around.
Where to eat
Bandung is a heaven for food lovers who enjoy new experiences. There is a huge variety of places to eat, ranging from thousands of travelling hawkers and warung food stalls to high-end restaurants. Prices vary equally, but are generally lower than in Jakarta.
Getting around Bandung the local way
- 29 Rute Angkot 29. Mengger - Abdul Muis
- 29 Rute Angkot 29. Abdul Muis - Mengger
- Ciburial-Ciroyom Rute Angkot Ciburial (Dago Atas) -- Ciroyom
OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Get inMany buses and minivans connect Jakarta and Bandung.
- Get inWith 7-10 seater minivans leaving every few minutes, the shuttle bus market between Jakarta and Bandung is fiercely competitive.
- Get inRoughly speaking, services can be categorised as either door to door in a chartered car or van that takes your group exactly where you want to go, for around US$50–75, or point to point from its pools to another, for under US$10.
- Get inDue to competition, all shuttles now only have 2 prices, for 8-11 seats Rp80,000 (Star Shuttle) to Rp85,000 (Baraya) and for 6-7 seats Rp90,000 to Rp110,000 in a minibus.
- Get inA door-to-door travel with cars, mostly sedans instead of a minibus, runs between Bogor and Bandung and limited to 3 passengers per car.
- Get inAngkot can be found at a small terminal about 100 from the south entrance and also in the front of the north entrance.
- Get aroundLocals travel using small public minibuses, known as angkot from angkutan city.
- Get aroundThis option has only origin and destination names on top, sometimes with a description of which street they pass if there is more than one angkot route for a certain origin-destination route.
From Wikivoyage: Bandung, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.