During Sep 2017 school holiday, we went to Bandung for one week family vacation.
This time, we wanted to enjoy our holiday and took everything slow. The main focus will be for our children happiness.
We used two hotels for this trip: Best Western Premier La Grande hotel at Bandung and Villa Chava Minerva Bambu at Cikole Village.
Below shows our 8D7N itinerary:
DAY 1 ~ Arrival Day
Today, we went to Bandung for 1 week holiday. We booked Silkair flight this time because there was 50% Krisflyer discount promotion from Singapore Airlines.
We departed from home very early in the morning because the flight will depart on 8.30 am.
Unfortunately, the flight was delayed and we only arrived at Husein Sastranegara airport at 10am local time.
The airport and the custom immigration area is very small but luckyly, the speed of immigration clearance was very quick so we did not need to wait so long.
Outside the airport, we took photos with Bandros (Bandung city tour bus) replica and quickly booked a taxi to go to our hotel. There are a lot of people offering a private taxi but at the end, we chose the legal metered taxi.
After we dropped our luggages at the hotel, we quickly booked Uber taxi to bring us to Taman Dewi Sartika for us to board the Bandros. To our surprise, the place indicated in google map is wrong and we can’t board Bandros for the city tour. We decided to try it again on the next days and board the bus nearby the hotel.
Since all of us were very hungry, we went to Ayam Geprek Bensu for lunch. Ayam Geprek Bensu is a restaurant owned by Indonesian celebrity. Detail review of this restaurant can be found here
It was a tiring day for our children, so we decided to go back to our hotel and have a relaxing day at swimming pool.
For dinner, we visited the famous Iga Sapi Pak Jangkung (Mr Jangkung Grilled Beef Rib) and there was a lot of people had dinner there. The taste of grilled beef rib is very nice and we really enjoy our dinner. Detail review can be found here
With full tummy, we walked to nearby Cihampelas Walk mall and we bought glow in the dark T-shirt in this shopping mall. Before we went back to the hotel, we also tried Bakso Boejangan (Indonesian Beef Ball Boejangan), one of the famous Indonesian Beef Ball in Bandung. Please click this link for our review
Cihampelas Walk Mall
Jl. Cihampelas No. 160, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40131
That’s the end of day 1
DAY 2 ~ Paskal Hypersquare and Paskal Food Market
We woke up a bit late on Sunday morning because it’s quite a tiring day on Saturday.
After took shower, we quickly took our breakfast provided by Best Western Premier La Grande hotel. The breakfast spread is quite massive. On top of usual American breakfast, the hotel provided nice Indonesian breakfast and traditional Bandung food like Empal Gentong and Bandung Kocok Noodle.
We quickly walked to the park nearby hotel to board the Bandung City Tour Bus (Bandros) but to our surprise, the bus was fully booked and we need to wait for about one and half hour. In order not to lose so much time, we decided not to board Bandros but we straight away went to Paskal Hypersquare.
We arrived at Paskal Hypersquare around 11am and we quickly went to nearby Bethel Indonesia Church for our Sunday service. Everytime we went for holiday, we never forget to have our Sunday service at nearby local church.
We went to Paskal Food Market and had our lunch there. Paskal Food Market is a huge outdoor food market and there are a lot of food carts selling variety of food.
With full tummy, we were ready to explore Paskal Hypersquare Mall. There are a lot of branded clothes in the mall like Zara, Bershka, Giordano etc. As per our kids request, we visited Game Master Entertainment Centre for our kids to play.
Paskal Hypersquare Mall
Jalan Pasir Kaliki No 25-27, Bandung, Jawa Barat
Our next stop will be Paris Van Java shopping mall. However, due to heavy traffic, we cancelled it and ask the taxi driver to drive us back to our hotel.
The kids visited the swimming pool and this time round, daddy also went in to the pool and played with the girls.
For dinner, we visited Bandung Indah Plaza mall which located across the hotel. We tried the famous Bandung Siewmay for our dinner and it tasted delicious.
DAY 3 ~ Paris Van Java and Trans Studio Bandung
Day 3 was a playday for the kids. In the morning, we visited Paris Van Java (PVJ) shopping mall. Actually, we wanted to visit PVJ mall yesterday but due to heavy traffic jam, we cancelled it.
PVJ mall is a modern shopping mall and you can find a lot of branded stuff here. Some sections of the mall resembles Bugis Junction mall in Singapore where it uses transparent ceiling glass and the lighting comes directly from outside sunshine.
In this mall, I looked for a comfortable running shoes and after exploring different shoes store like Sketcher, Puma, New Balance and Nike, I fall in love with Adidas shoes.
Paris Van Java
Jl. Sukajadi No. 131 – 139, Cipedes, Sukajadi, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat 40162, Indonesia
For lunch, the kids chose AW (American Fast Food Chain) and had their Fried Chicken meal. For adults, we bought Chicken Martabak at Sagoo Kitchen & Kopi Lay located next to AW outlet.
The taste of martabak is very nice. However, you need to eat together with rice since it is a bit too salty if you eat it for snack/side dish.
Our next stop was Trans Studio Bandung since today was a play day for the kids.
Ticket price for weekday is Rp 180,000 per person.
Trans Studio Bandung is divided into 3 zones: Studio Central, Lost City and Magic corner.
Trans Studio Bandung
Jalan Jendral Gatot Subroto No.289, Cibangkong, Batununggal, Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat 40273, Indonesia
There are 4 major attractions in Trans Studio Bandung with minimum height restriction 130cm-135 cm. The major attractions are:
-Giant Swing
-Vertigo
-Jelajah
-Raksasa
Studio Central is an area designed like Hollywood. Interesting play in Studio Central are Super Heroes 4D, Vertigo, Giant Swing and Trans City Theatre.
Magic corner is an area designed for visitors to feel fantastical magic and fulfil the curiosity in the world of magic. Interesting play are Special Effects Action, Dunia Lain and Raksasa.
Lost city resembles Indiana Jones world. Interesting play are Jelajah, Kong Climb and Sky pirate ship.
Do not forget to watch the Parade which I also find interesting.
Even tough Trans Studio Bandung is not big, but we need one whole day to try all attractions on a weekday. On the weekend, it will be difficult to ride all attractions since the queue will be very long.
It’s definitely well spend play day at Trans Studio Bandung and the kids love it so much.
To close the day, we had dinner at Kafe Betawi inside Trans Studio shopping mall. Detail review of this restaurant can be found here
DAY 4 ~ Patenggang Lake, Kawah Putih and Ranca Upas
On Day 4, we went to South of Bandung. We hired a local driver+car and took 12 hours package. The journey took about 2.5 hours and we reached our first destination: Patenggang Lake.
Patenggang Lake is a small lake located in Ciwidey village and the air quality is so refreshing. The lake itself is quite small and nearby the lake, there is wooden ship used as a restaurant called Pinisi Resto.
Visitors can took pictures as well with small tea plantation around the lake. Visitors can also hire a boat to bring them tour around the lake. However, minimum 10 persons applied for every sailing. Price per person is IDR 25,000. If there is not enough persons, visitors need to wait until 10 persons are reached.
We had lunch at Pinisi Resto but we was disappointed with the food. The food was cold, expensive and the taste is bad. It’s better to eat at the other place.
Situ Patenggang Lake
Jalan Raya Ciwidey-Rancabali, Desa Patengan, Kecamatan Rancabali, Kabupaten Bandung, Jawa Barat 40973 – Indonesia.
Our next stop was Kawah Putih and it’s located nearby Patenggang Lake. Kawah Putih is a sizeable highly acid lake (pH 0.5-1.3) which changes colour from bluish to whitish green, or brown, depending on the concentration of sulfur and the temperature or the oxidation state. The sand and rocks surrounding the lake have been also leached into whitish colours through interaction with the acidic lake waters (with possible mineral precipitation as well).
Our driver dropped us at Kawah Putih parking lot nearby the ticketing counter. The entrance fee is IDR 20,000 per person and we need to pay additional IDR 15,000 per person for Ontang Anting (a mini van to bring visitors go up to the top). The mini van quality is quite poor and the mini van only depart when minimum 8 person reached.
Note: In my opinion, it’s better to pay IDR 150,000 for car entrance fee and ask your driver to drive you to the top, instead of keep waiting for Ontang Anting especially when your time is limited.
At the top, visitors can also bought a mask before entering the area. Mask price is IDR 5,000 per piece. The view from the top is breathtaking and gorgeous. It’s very beautiful. From afar, it appears like a giant puddle of milk — thanks to its turbidity — which makes a visit to the site quite a surreal experience.
There are a lot of photographers offering their service and we decided to hire one of them. The photo result is quite nice and it’s only IDR 20,000 per photo. The price also includes the photo soft copy which will be transferred via bluetooth to our handphone
Kawah Putih
Jl. Raya Soreang, Ciwidey, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Our next stop is nearby Ranca Upas, 10 minutes driving from Kawah Putih. In Ranca Upas, the kids had fun feeding the deer. Visitors just need to buy the vegetables (IDR 10,000) to feed the deers. Visitors can feed the deers from the available platform. Visitors can also go down to the deer area and stand among the deers to feed them and take a lot of photos.
It was a fun and full of laugh experience for our girls. They even requested us to buy one more portion of vegetables.
Ranca Upas
Jalan Ciwidey-Patengan Km. 11, Patengan, Rancabali, Patengan, Rancabali, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40973, Indonesia
For dinner, we visited Sindang Reret restaurant, The Touch of Parahyangan Culture. Detail review of Sindang Reret can be found on our food stories on this link
Sindang Reret was our last stop and we went back to our hotel in Bandung.
DAY 5 ~ Farmhouse Susu Lembang, Kota Mini and Lembang Floating Market
On Day 5, we went to Lembang (North of Bandung) and it took about 30 minutes to reach Lembang. The weather in Lembang is colder than Bandung.
Our first stop of the day is Farmhouse Susu Lembang. Farmhouse Susu Lembang is a family friendly attraction and will give your children hours of fun.
Entrance fee per person is IDR 20,000 per person. Visitors will get a IDR 20,000 voucher which can be exchanged into Chocolate or Strawberry milk produced by the farm or use it in the restaurant located inside the farm.
There are many photos spot in Farmhouse Susu Lembang and almost all area designed like European architecture. Visitors can also rent European national costume for 1 hour and we did that. We took a lot of photos and our daughters really liked the costumes.
There are also small Petting Zoo area in Farmhouse Susu Lembang and visitors can feed carrot to the sheep or rabbits. However, in our opinion, the carrot price is a bit steep and the portion is very small.
Farmhouse Susu Lembang
Jl. Raya Lembang No.108, Gudangkahuripan, Lembang, Kabupaten Bandung Barat, Jawa Barat 40391, Indonesia
After spent for almost 2 hours in Farmhouse Susu Lembang, we had our lunch at traditional Sundanese restaurant called Kampung Daun. Our experience at Kampung Daun can be found here.
Our next stop was Kota Mini, side to side with Floating Market Lembang. Kota Mini is specially designed for kids, almost similar like Kidszania. In Kota Mini, there are 10 activities available for your kids. They can become a police, fire fighter, baker, nurse etc. It takes about 20-30 minutes to complete one activity.
Visitors have freedom to choose which activity they want to do and only pay for the activities that they choose. If you want to do all 10 activities, the package price is IDR 150,000 per child.
However, please be reminded that you will need minimum 2 hours to complete all 10 activities.
Floating Market Lembang was our next stop before dinner.
As expected from the place name, many vendors are selling products from the little boat and mostly of them are foods. If you want to try Indonesian traditional food, then this place is a must go for you.
The purchasing system in Floating Market Lembang is by coins. You have to purchase coins first in order to buy food or do water sport activities. However, please be reminded, you cannot refund the ‘Floating Market Lembang’ coins back into cash. So, just buy the coins as much as you need.
Floating Market Lembang
Jalan Grand Hotel No.33E, Lembang, Kabupaten Bandung Barat, Jawa Barat 40391, Indonesia
We visited The Peak restaurant for our romantic dinner. Since it’s location is quite high above sea level, the weather is very cool and we can view Bandung city from this restaurant. Please visit our food stories to read our opinion about The Peak Bandung restaurant.
After dinner, we went to Cikole Village and spend a night at Villa Chava Minerva Bamboe to experience sleeping in village setting and sleeping in accommodation made by bamboe.
DAY 6 ~ Grafika Cikole & Tangkuban Perahu
Day 6 started with outbound activities at Grafika Cikole. Grafika Cikole not only provide outbound activities for kids but also outbound activities and camping for adults. Set up in Cikole village, Grafika Cikole offers beautiful forest setting which also frequently used for pre-wedding photos.
We spent 2 hours at Grafika Cikole. We took Rumah Pohon outbound package (IDR 50,000 per person) for our kids and the package consists of:
-Flying fox
-1 glass natural strawberry juice
-Rumah Pohon (aka Tree House)
-Suspension bridge
-Oval bridge
-Rocking bridge
-Spider web
-Wall climbing
After finished their outbound package, our kids took ATV (All Terrain Vehicle). All Terrain Vehicle is a four-wheeled motor that can be used in all fields. The price is IDR 30,000 per kid and they rode it together with the trainer on the nearby pathways for two rounds.
While the kids played their outbound activities, the parents looked around the camping area and took a lot of photos he he he.
Terminal Wisata Grafika Cikole
Jl. Tangkuban Perahu Raya KM.8, Cikole, Lembang, Kabupaten Bandung Barat, Jawa Barat 40391, Indonesia
For lunch, we visited nearby Sundanese restaurant Gubug Mang Engking. Our review for Gubug Mang Engking can be found here.
Tangkuban Perahu was our next destination and the journey took for about an hour from Cikole village.
Tangkuban Perahu is a stratovolcano 30 km north of the city of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. It erupted in 1826, 1829, 1842, 1846, 1896, 1910, 1926, 1929, 1952, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1983, and 2013. It is a popular tourist attraction where tourists can hike or ride to the edge of the crater to view the hot water springs, applying sulfuric muds and boiling eggs on hot water springs.[Wikipedia]
The entrance fee at Tangkuban Perahu is IDR 20,000 per person for lokal Indonesian. For tourist, the entrance fee is IDR 200,000 per person.
There are 3 craters at Tangkuban Perahu: Kawah Ratu (“Queen Crater”), Kawah Domas (“Domas Crater”), and Kawah Upas (“Upas Crater”). We visited two of them: Queen Crater and Domas crater.
Queen Crater is located at the top, near car parking space. It was not allowed for tourist to go down to Queen Crater so we only took photos of the crater with the help of local guide.
We engaged a local guide to bring us down to Domas crater and it cost us IDR 200,000. The journey down to Domas crater took about 45 minutes and along the journey, the guide told us a lot of stories about the area and he helped us to take a lot of photos.
To our suprise, there were few mens joining us and they sold souvenirs. Based on the rule (according to what they said), they only show the souvenirs when we reached the Domas crater and that’s the only time they can approached us. We were not suspicious at all and let them to follow us.
There is a small drink store nearby Domas crater and we bought 1 egg (IDR 4,000) to be boiled in hot water springs.
There are 4 hot water springs on Domas crater. We boiled the egg at the top one. The temperature at the second water spring is around 30 degree Celcius. We tried the third one and it end up to be the hottest one (40 degree celcius). We soaked our feet for a while and we decided to move to the fourth one. Temperature of the fourth water spring is just nice (around 20 degree celcius) and we soaked our feet while taking selfie together with my hubby.
After satisfied soaking up our feet inside hot water spring, we took a rest at the drink store while our kids enjoyed the boiled egg. The souvenir sellers started offering their souvenirs and the price is very expensive. We started to bargain by cutting the price by 60% but it is not successful. The sellers started to say that they already took a long way together with us and asking us to consider their effort. At the end, we increase our offer slightly higher and they agree to sell two wooden carve of Owl to us.
Note: if you do not intend to buy souvenirs, in our opinion, it’s better to inform the guide about your preference at the beginning. So, the souvenirs sellers do not need to follow you go down to Domas crater and you do need to feel pity on them and it makes you try to push yourself to buy the souvenirs.
For the return leg, the road is going up and luckily, after hike up for about 10 minutes, there are nearby exit where our driver already wait for us there.
The whole journey to Domas crater took about 2 hours. Although it’s very tiring, but it was a memorable journey for us and our kids.
Tangkuban Perahu, Cikahuripan, Lembang, West Bandung Regency, West Java, Indonesia
The driver drove us to Dusun Bambu for dinner. The entrance ticket is IDR 15,000 per person and visitors will get 1 voucher for exchange. Visitors can exchange the vouchers with mineral water (2 vouchers can be exchange with one small bottle of mineral water).
After passed the entrance gate, the visitors need to use the provided shuttle bus to go to main area of Dusun Bambu.
Dusun Bambu has 4 dining areas:
1. Lutung Kasarung
Fancy dining inside a bird’s nest hung from nearby trees? Here is the place. You can rent one of these nests on an hourly rate: small nests occupy maximum 5 people for IDR125K per hour and big nest occupies 10 for IDR150K hourly. These charges exclude food and drinks.
2. Purbasari Restaurant
We were interested to have dinner at private cabana nearby lakeside at Purbasari Restaurant but since the price is very expensive and we had to take package for four of us, we cancelled it. We think that the food is quite a lot for us and it will be a waste if we can’t finished it.
3. Burangrang Cafe
Burangrang cafe is located higher than the rest of dining areas so visitors can enjoy aerial views of the surrounding lake and greenery.
4. Pasar Khatulistiwa Food Court
We finally decided to have dinner at Pasar Khatulistiwa food court because our kids want to play at a playground located next to the food courts. In this food court, visitors need to buy paper money created by Dusun Bambu. As long as visitors keep the purchase receipt, visitors can go to refund counter and get the remaining money back.
Dusun Bambu
Jl. Kolonel Masturi KM 11,, Cisarua, Lembang, Kabupaten Bandung Barat, Jawa Barat 40551, Indonesia
At around 6.30 pm, we went back to the parking lot to find our driver. We went straight away back to Bandung and take a good rest at Best Western Hotel Bandung.
Day 7 & 8 ~ Bandros and Rumah Mode Factory Outlet
On our last day in Bandung, we wanted to be relax and just explore Bandung from morning until afternoon.
We woke up around 6am, quickly took shower and had breakfast at hotel. Around 7.30 am, we walked to nearby Taman Dewi Sartika (about 10 minutes walk) and boarded Bandros (Bandung City Tour Bus). Ticket fee is IDR 10,000 per person and each person will get one bottle of drink.
Since it was still early morning, we waited for about 15-20 minutes until minimum 10 persons were reached.
The journey with Bandros was interesting. The tour guide was funny and she explained the history of places and roads throughout the journey with Bandros. The city bus tour journey duration was around 45 minutes.
Note: Since the bus is semi open bus concept, it’s better to bring your jacket because it’s quite windy.
After completed Bandung city bus tour, we quickly booked Uber taxi to bring us to Rumah Mode Factory Outlet and we arrived at 10.30am.
There were not so many visitors since it’s quite early. The architecture of Rumah Mode was Balinese style (if I am not wrong) and the atmosphere outside the shop was relaxing and calming. Instead of the main clothes shop, there are also bakery shop and a small food court in Rumah Mode Factory Outlet. So, when visitors tired of shopping, they can rest for a while at food court area. What a briliant idea!
The collection at Rumah Mode is quite complete. We found H&M, GAP, ZARA collection here and the quality is much better compare to other factory outlet. We bought clothes and jeans for our daughters.
For lunch, we visited nearby food court. We ordered combination of bread, cake and heavy food for lunch. My husband had his cheese bread while I ordered a cheese cake for our eldest daughter. For the heavy food, we ordered Mie Goreng Mamak (spicy and tasty) and Nasi Capjay.
After completed our lunch, we went back to our hotel. Our daughters once again went to swimming pool and enjoying their fun time there.
For dinner, we patronized KFC restaurant which located at the same building with Best Western hotel.
We woke up quite early on the next day and took our last breakfast before we went to Husein Sastranegara airport for our trip back to Singapore.
Explore the world with the kids 😊 