Is Surabaya Worth Visiting? – Budget Travel In Indonesia

Visit Surabaya, Java’s second most populated city, to experience a historical city with heritage buildings and a beach.

So far, our Indonesian adventure had included a disastrous start in Jakarta, 5 wonderful nights in Yogyakarta and 2 chilled nights in Surakarta. We were expecting things to lively up a little once we reached Surabaya. Research had shown that, whilst the city didn’t have a great deal to offer tourists, it was nevertheless a busy city (capital of east Java).

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Arriving In Surabaya

We had to take an early train from Surakarta as most trains were sold out due to it being the end of Ramadan. It was a 4 hour train journey and we pulled into ‘Surabaya Gubeng’ (map) just before midday.

As we were early for check-in, we decided to walk and take in some of the local sights. Seeing numerous mosques was completely expected; seeing a Russian submarine, less so.

Where To Stay In Surabaya

CLICK HERE FOR ALL ACCOMMODATION IN SURABAYA!

These are some of the best budget hostels in Surabaya, according to user reviews. These are affiliate links to the Agoda web site. I found Agoda to be much better than booking.com in Southeast Asia. I receive a small amount for any bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you.

• Livinn Hostels City Centre Surabaya
• My Studio Hotel City Center
• OYO 1293 Claudya Residence
• West Surabaya Homey
• House of Dharmawan

Favehotel MEX Surabaya

We booked a 2 night stay at ‘favehotel MEX Surabaya’. The photos on the booking site made it look quite fancy, but it was cheap so we figured there must be some kind of catch. We arrived earlier than check-in but our room was ready.

The room was clean, comfortable and with decent WiFi. The bathroom was a bit of a shambles though. There was a glass panel at only one side of the shower which was pretty pointless as, when you took a shower, water pretty much went everywhere. The toilet roll holder was screwed into the wall so low, it was almost on the floor!

There was a food court on level 1 of the building but it was closed for Ramadan.

The hotel was fine for a short stay. Though the bathroom was a bit annoying, it did provide us with our first hot shower in a week!

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We paid £27 for two nights in a double room with en-suite bathroom.

Click here to stay at ‘favehotel MEX Surabaya’.

Exploring Surabaya

We were pretty tired so we decided to eat as close as possible to the hotel. There wasn’t much other than the big chains (McD, BK, KFC, PH) but we were very close to ‘Tunjungen Plaza’ (map). We knew there was a food court here that would sell cheap, local dishes. The only problem was finding it! Tunjungen is a huge mall and there are no information displays! After wandering for about 10 minutes, we finally found the court and had a decent lunch from a Japanese vendor.

Streets Of Surabaya During Eid

On our only full day in Surabaya, we had planned to walk to the ‘old town’, then on to ‘Chinatown’ before taking a taxi to the coast. First, we walked to a coffee shop located down a quiet street only to find it closed. We decided to head back to the mall for coffee and breakfast, only to find that was closed too. It seemed pointless heading to places recommended by Google as the chances were they would also be closed. Today marked the first day of Eid and there was literally nothing open!

Surabaya Old Town

We reached the old town which turned out to be just as quiet as anywhere else. We stopped and looked at the ‘Heroes Monument’ (map) before deciding to move on to ‘Chinatown’. Our thinking was that we would be more likely to find something to eat in the non-Muslim area. We did come across something called ‘Surabaya Kilometer Zero Monument’ (map) which was pretty cool but, apart from that, the old town was a bit of a let-down.

Surabaya Chinatown

We reached Chinatown and was disappointed to find that, with the exception of a temple, there was nothing really Chinese about the area. And worse than that, everything was closed. This was a real ghost town.

Pasar Atom Shopping Mall

Google Maps informed us that we were very close to ‘Pasar Atom’ (map), a 1970’s shopping mall. I had heard that there was good, local food to be found here so we headed in that direction. We found it closed.

ITC Surabaya Mall

It was now early afternoon and we had still not eaten or had coffee. As we walked on, a man who had been watching us from afar pointed towards a run-down building which we realised was a cafe. Thanking the man, we entered the cafe to find it completely full and there was no room for us. I think the waitress just didn’t want the hassle of trying to explain the menu to two western tourists.

We headed towards a vegetarian restaurant that Google Maps had found, knowing it would be closed, when we came across another mall. ‘ITC Surabaya’ (map) seemed to have people going in and out. We decided to check it out and we found it open! And it had a food mall (albeit with only a few stalls actually open). Joanna ordered a vegetarian meal that came with chicken and I had the world’s biggest plate of noodles!

After this, we decided to take our full bellies back to the hotel for lots of laying around.

In the evening, Joanna couldn’t even be bothered going out looking for food again. I went and found the mall was now open but the food court was packed. I ended up at KFC which pretty much summed up our Surabaya experience.

Is Surabaya Worth Visiting?

When we checked into the hotel, we thought we had booked for three nights and not two. All I can say is, I am glad it was for two. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with Surabaya city and I’m sure we could have found things to do if we had stayed a third night. However, we were both happy to be moving on.