For an island country like Indonesia, water transport is of particular importance. Indonesia has more than 300 passenger ports, 43 of which have international status. Passenger ferries and boats allow more than 14 million passengers to travel annually throughout Indonesia, as well as to neighboring countries - the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

In addition to sea routes, Indonesia has more than 10,000 km of river passenger routes along the country's 50 rivers. Most of their length is on the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra.

The largest ferry network between all the inhabited islands of Indonesia belongs to the state-owned company PELNI, which operates modern and spacious European-built vessels. Another leader in the country's passenger sea transport market is ASDP, which organizes high-speed boat flights between popular destinations around the country.

Indonesian ferries are often overloaded (sometimes up to 2-3 times),
which dramatically increases the chance of an accident during bad sea weather.
Therefore, before you travel on an Indonesian ferry, make sure that the weather will be calm during the journey.

Popular ferry routes in Indonesia

• Java-Sumatra (every hour, from Merak port to Bakauheni port)
• Java-Bali (every 15 minutes, from Ketapang port to Gilimanuk port)
• Bali-Lombok (every hour, from Padang Bai port to Lembar port)

The most important ports of Indonesia on the map

Water transport ticket classes in Indonesia

Depending on the amenities and level of service, ferry seats in Indonesia are sold in several categories:

• I class - cabin with 2 berths, with private bathroom, TV and air conditioning
• II class - cabin with 4 berths, with private bathroom, TV and air conditioning
• III class - cabin for 6 beds, with shared bathroom and air conditioning
• IV class - bed in a dormitory
• Economy class (ekonomi class) - shared cabin with unlimited passenger seats and a minimum of amenities

Travelers looking for an unusual experience will surely enjoy a trip on the traditional Pinisi schooners, on which members of the Bugis ethnic group have been traveling between the islands of Indonesia for many centuries. You can easily hire such an exotic vehicle in the largest port of Jakarta - Sunda Kelapa.

Tickets and prices

Passenger ferry tickets in Indonesia can be purchased at ticket offices at departure ports, carrier offices, post offices (Pos Indonesia) and travel agencies throughout the country. You can purchase ferry tickets in advance - a maximum of 21 days before departure.

The cost of ferry tickets in Indonesia depends on the travel distance and seat class. You can learn more about the cost of ferry tickets in Indonesia on the websites of transport companies and directly at port ticket offices.

The main highway of the country Bandar Aceh-Jakarta-Kupang passes through seven islands: Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Timor. This entire route is paved and full of cars. Ferries circulate between the islands.

Sumatra (Ketapang port) - Java (Merak port). There are at least seven huge ferries operating around the clock, departing every 15-25 minutes. They swim for less than an hour.

Java (port of Banyuwangi) – Bali (port of Gilmanyuk). Several huge ferries operate around the clock, every 20-30 minutes. They sail for less than an hour.

Bali – Lombok (Matarram port). Large ferries depart around the clock, approximately every hour, and sail for 6 hours.
Lombok - Sumbawa. Large ferries operate around the clock, once every hour or two, the journey takes about 6 hours.

Sumbawa (port of Sape) – Flores (port of Labuanbajo). There is one small ferry per day, in the morning at 8 am on each side, it takes about 8-9 hours. It may or may not stop at the intermediate island of Komodo. On each ferry from Flores you can see several trucks going all the way to Java, Surabaya or even Jakarta, via four ferries! The journey of such trucks takes 4-7 days!

Flores - Timor (Kupang). Ferry three times a week. Probably there are trans-Indonesian trucks on it, traveling for example from Jakarta to Dili (East Timor), but I have not checked this.

There are also ferries between some other islands. The cost of transporting passengers on them is low. People are expected to purchase a ticket from the ticket office before boarding the ferry. Tickets for popular crossings (between Sumatra and Java, between Java and Bali) cost about 6,000 rupees, less than a dollar. To Madura Island, a ferry from Surabaya costs 3,000 rupees (and they run every 15 minutes around the clock). For long distances, a ticket can cost 50,000 rupees. When entering the ferry, tickets are checked, sometimes two or three times in a row, but not very vigilantly, since the ferry receives the bulk of its money from cars, trucks and buses. Passengers of these travel on board for free, so you can board any vehicle, on a bus, or in the cab of a truck, or in the back. It is not difficult to choose a vehicle; they graze in abundance in front of the ferries, waiting for loading. On long-distance ferries (for example, Flores-Sumbawa), tickets can be checked again on board the ship.

The structure of the ferries is as follows: on the lower floor there are cars (sometimes even on the two lower floors), it is dirty, stuffy, and smells of urine and exhaust gas. On the top floor there are lounges for passengers, a deck, a prayer room, buffets, a VIP lounge with armchairs and a TV (entrance to it is for a small surcharge, for example 3000 rupees), a VIP lounge with lying down places (for a special surcharge). Toilets. You can find boiling water. You can climb out to the top floor at night and sleep under the stars if it’s not raining. Vendors often walk around all salons, offering coffee, food, newspapers, and other goods (inexpensive). Apart from the Sumbawa-Flores ferry, for some reason there are no sellers there; everything is monopolized by the ship's buffet.

The convenience of ferries is that during the voyage you can meet drivers of vehicles traveling quite far away. Look for them in the hold. Some trucks have a convenient empty body and travel hundreds of kilometers, at least to another ferry.

There are no ferries or passenger ships to Australia.

There are no ferries or passenger ships to the Philippines.

There are no steamship connections to Papua New Guinea from Indonesia.

I would like to talk separately about such a topic as transport in Indonesia - it deserves a separate post and mention!

In March 2016, we traveled around the island of Java, moving from the capital Jakarta east towards Bali, and managed to try almost all types of local ground transport, and we will tell you about our impressions here. All information will relate specifically to the island of Java; perhaps in other parts of the country the situation is slightly different.

Moving around Java is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent: for us it was sometimes fun, sometimes annoying, and sometimes downright scary :-)

Most tourists fly to the island of Bali, many limit themselves to it, but we still recommend taking a trip to other parts of the country, because Indonesia has 17,000 islands, many of which are completely uninhabited. At least Java has a developed transport system, and the easiest way to get there is from Bali.

You can also get to Indonesia by flying to large cities such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Medan from neighboring Asian countries on local airlines. The popular low-cost airline Air Asia has many flights from Malaysia and Thailand, where in turn there are many flights from Russia.

We are approaching Jakarta

How to get from Jakarta airport to the city?

If you have arrived in the capital, exit the airport building and go left. There you will see several buses and a ticket sales counter, the Damri company. The fare from the airport to Jakarta (central railway station) is 40,000 rupees. You can go to various parts of the city or to nearby cities, for example to Bogor.

Indonesia Trains

There are railway connections in Indonesia only on the islands of Java and Sumatra (they are not of particular interest here). Trains are a fairly fast and comfortable way to get around the island, but the prices are much more expensive than by bus.

There are 3 classes of Indonesian trains:

Executive (Eksecutif in local) - air-conditioned carriages with wide and soft seats, each with a power outlet, and plenty of legroom. The most comfortable and most expensive class.

Business (bisnis) - also an air-conditioned carriage, but without prior reservation of seats.

Economy (ekonomi) is a carriage without air conditioning with ordinary benches, like in electric trains. A lot of people with all their belongings.

Executive - class

The main trains in Indonesia are not numbered, but named. Another interesting feature is that in large cities there are several railway stations and different trains depart from different points. For example, in Jakarta, the Gambir Central Station operates expensive trains, while the other station, Pasar Senen, operates economy class trains.

Gambir railway station schedule

You can view the schedule and find out prices at. Enter in the right column from where to go, and all trains with prices will appear. You can buy it there, but you need an Indonesian SIM card and most likely a local bank card.

We simply bought tickets at the box office, having previously found out the price on the website. In Jakarta, we saw ticket machines and even used them (they don’t give change, you need a local SIM card!) It’s better to get train tickets at least a few days in advance, they run out quickly, especially on weekends.

Indonesian Railway Map

Indonesian Railways

Airplanes and domestic flights in Indonesia

The internal network of air traffic in Indonesia is quite well developed, and this is understandable - how long it takes to travel by land and by ferry from island to island! Often, an airplane is the only way to get to a particular island. Flights between major cities and to/from Bali are inexpensive and can cost the same as trains.

— Garuda Indonesia

— Sriwijaya Air

You can buy tickets on airline websites, although some either do not sell them online at all, or you need an Indonesian card. Travel agents and travel agencies can also help with tickets.

Luxurious Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali

Buses in Indonesia

Intercity buses are the main and most popular transport in Indonesia, well at least in Java. Moreover, they can walk not only within one island, but also on neighboring ones.

There are three classes exactly the same as for trains. The fastest and most comfortable Executive class buses are equipped with air conditioning and travel from start to finish without any special stops. And economy buses are many times worse and trashier.

Java has very dense traffic (140 million people on one island) and narrow roads, plus sometimes in the mountains, so all the buses are very slow. You can’t even imagine how long they can trudge, stopping at every pillar and picking up passengers. For example, we sat down in the city of Jember with the goal of getting to Banyuwangi (to the ferry in Bali) some measly 100 km. Well, we’ll get there in two or three hours, we naively thought. Ha! Seven! Our difficult journey that day took seven hours.

5 seats in a row - a regular Indonesian bus

On almost all of our trips, luggage could not be stored in a special compartment, so we had to keep our backpacks on our laps for several hours. Legroom is very limited and the seats are narrow and arranged three abreast rather than two.

But this is not all the delights of Indonesian bus transportation. When you enter the station, a whole company of men swarms at you asking “where are you going?” Once we were prompted to answer, we thought it was a station worker in uniform (well, in Thailand we are used to the fact that everything is arranged in a human way). He took us to the bus (which we could have found ourselves in 3 minutes) and told us to get on. A conductor in uniform immediately came up and took 50 thousand rupees each and issued tickets. Well, okay, we think, everything seems to be official, although it’s a little expensive, maybe inflation.

Already during the trip, we saw how the locals were giving a completely different amount, we began to ask them - it turned out that the fare costs 16 thousand. We're going to the conductor, why did you charge us more? He turned on the fool, they say, I don’t understand anything and in general “Offer” (deal). That is, he took three times as much from us, took some for himself, gave it back to that guy at the bus station, and now, of course, he can’t return it! Moreover, the locals sit and understand everything, but no one will say a word. It seems like the amount is small, but a residue remains...

We often found ourselves in such situations while moving around Indonesia on buses and bemos (minibuses).

The wheel is smoking - the pads are burning

Another way of scam: just the left person (taxi driver) gets on the bus and says that you have arrived, although in fact you have not yet. The conductor on the bus is silent and says nothing, although he understands everything. This is how you go out late in the evening and don’t understand where, and here’s a taxi :-) Use a map and GPS.

Plus to all this, Indonesians smoke a lot right on the bus, and it doesn’t matter that their own small child and wife are sitting next to them. Some smoke without stopping at all! At all intermediate stops, as well as at the initial and final stops, all kinds of sellers of everything in the world and musicians walk around the narrow interior of the bus. The latter act on the principle of “Give me money and I’ll leave” and sing terribly, playing broken, out-of-tune guitars. Interestingly, a trip on an expensive VIP bus will not get rid of all these characters! To get acquainted and immerse yourself in the local flavor, you can’t think of a better way than riding a local bus.

I apologize for the poor quality, but this is what riding a Bemo looks like from the inside, fun, but cramped.

Bus drivers drive straight into oncoming traffic, accelerating motorcyclists and dodging oncoming trucks. In general, it's still fun!

Boats and maritime transport

We didn’t go on boats, except for the ferry from Java to Bali, so I can’t say anything for sure about them. I know that maritime transport in Indonesia is quite well developed; most of the populated islands are connected by sea transport by the Pelni company. On their website you can see the schedule and cost of ferries. They don't run that often, so if you plan to travel between the islands by ferry, allow plenty of time. It is also better to book and buy tickets in advance.

About the ferry from Java to Bali

Getting from Java to Bali is very easy - the islands are separated by only about 5 km of strait, where ferries run very often. The easternmost point of Java is the city of Banyuwangi (ferry departs from the village of Ketapang), and the westernmost point of Bali is Gilimanuk.

You can get to Banyuwangi by bus from Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Probolinggo and some other cities in Java, or by train from Surabaya and Probolinggo.

The ferry itself costs 8,000 rupees per person and 18,000 rupees per motorbike. From Gilimanuk you can already drive to Denpasar (30-40 thousand rupees). We recommend taking a bus in Java directly to Denpasar, you and the bus will be loaded onto a ferry, and then you will travel around the island of Bali on the same bus.

Urban transport in Indonesia

City transport in general is difficult and unclear; only in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Solo (Surakarta) did we encounter a more or less clear bus system with routes and fixed prices.

Buses

There is no metro in the multimillion-dollar capital, but only trains to the suburbs from the Gambir central bus station. But there is a bus network, Trans Jakarta, with routes throughout the city. Buses run along a dedicated lane and stop at specially equipped pavilions. To get inside, you need to buy a ticket from the cashier, then go through the turnstile, and then sit on a bench to wait.

Yogyakarta and Solo have a similar system with similar names TransYogya and Batik Solo Trans. The fare is fixed and does not depend on the distance; you can travel like on the subway, jumping from line to line - quite convenient and inexpensive! All buses are equipped with air conditioning, although it is often not very cold inside and can be stuffy.

In addition to these buses, there are many others; in Jakarta there are generally a lot of different companies; it is quite difficult to understand their routes.

In all cities in Java we came across local minibuses; in different places they are called differently - bemo or angkot.

Bemos are very small minibuses that ply around the city and surrounding areas along a given route, but it is quite difficult for a foreigner to understand them, as they are not always signed. They pick up and drop off passengers anywhere, stand for a long time, gathering people, there are small benches for sitting inside and it’s very crowded. Drivers are constantly trying to deceive, calling the price 2-3 times higher than normal, it is better to find out in advance from the locals.

Often, a bemo is the only way to get somewhere, so you have to grit your teeth and put your feet under you and drive for more than one hour. For example, from Yogyakarta it took us a couple of hours to get to the volcanic lake Kawah Putih.

Bemo - Indonesian minibuses Bemo Indonesia

This is a simple motorcycle taxi, which is found everywhere in cities, mainly near markets, shopping centers, and major intersections. They will find you themselves (by the end of the trip their importunity even ceases to irritate you). It's fast, but it's inconvenient to travel with luggage. You can also travel by ojek outside the city; for example, they can take you to the nearest village.

Becak are three-wheeled pedicabs where the “basket” is located at the front and the driver pedals at the back. Drivers usually sleep lazily in the shade, waiting for you at hotels and guesthouses. The seat can accommodate two people, and quite slender ones at that :-) As a rule, travel is inexpensive if you bargain well, but in my opinion, there is little practicality in this transport, unless you travel for the sake of the exotic.

After three days spent in the town of Candidasa, I hit the road again, continuing to move to the east of Indonesia, from one island to another for the second month now in the cheapest way - by public transport. Now my path lies to the island.

From Bali to Lombok by ferry

The cheapest option to get to the island is by ferry or public ferry. This is public transport, only by sea. A ticket for an adult costs 40 thousand rupees. (then in 2013 there were 36 thousand). The ferry departs from the east coast of the island from the port of Padang bai Padangbai. According to the schedule, ferries run every day and every hour. Look on this map or on the main page of the site on the interactive Google map of my travels. Watch the short video at the end of this article.

In addition to this route, there are many others departing from other ports of the island, but they are more designed for tourists, so speed boats are more expensive, but also faster. You can also leave on a large ship from the port of Benoit, but only 2 times a month. More on this later.

I already told in a previous article about Candidasa how they wanted to deceive me, but I found out everything in advance and was sure.

How long it takes to travel from Bali to Lombok by public ferry or ferry depends on the weather. Minimum 4 hours, but I got 6 hours - the waves got in the way. Let me show you and tell you how it was.

At first everything was very beautiful and wonderful and I was almost happy that I left Bali, where almost every local wants to profit from you or deceive you.
I was looking at the sea and enjoying it, when suddenly I accidentally saw whales - for the first time in my life. No, they did not water spectacular fountains, as in the pictures, but simply three black whales floated along the waves at once, quite close to the ferry ship. But I photographed dolphins - completely by accident when I was filming a video.

There weren't many people on the ferry; there were only about five tourists, including me. All independent travelers. The inside of the ferry is quite decent and there is a cafe. You can sit and take a nap, but there are so many cockroaches there - it’s a nightmare. The locals don’t pay any attention to them at all and don’t even crush them, so it’s better to sit on the deck.

About two hours later very strong waves began. This is why it is difficult to predict the arrival time. As I was told, there are often waves in this area. At first I didn’t understand what this strange sound was, the grinding and some strange shaking of the ferry from time to time. I was in the salon. It all got in the way a little. It didn’t stop for a long time and I became worried. I went outside and there were waves, of course, we were floating on the ocean after all. I ask a local guy, he seems to be wearing an impressive looking suit)).

“Yes, it’s the ferry that hits the stones,” he answered. I went to the salon again, but this time with an idea of ​​how this heavy colossus, which also transports two loaded trucks, motorcycles and a bunch of other things, hits the bottom of the stones. And the noise, sounds and tremors only intensified.

- “Why is it that the captain really can’t choose the path and doesn’t know the bottom? This can't be! I decided to find out and walk along the ferry. Nothing special except for the strong waves. I observed and found out that all these “passion-faces” are a matter of waves. The wave hits the side and breaks into pieces, at this time the heavy ferry is not carried away by the wave, like small boats, it simply shudders. The sound, like the grinding of metal, is also from the waves. Once again, having concluded that there is no need to listen to anyone, because they themselves do not know, well, they are not that smart and meticulous. I took several photos.
This riot of waves lasted for an hour and a half, so it seemed to me, then everything calmed down and you could watch how beautiful the sun was setting.
Well, the sun has almost set, and we are all floating on the ocean. Again I arrive at night, as once in

Asian ferries

In Asia, the situation with ferries is quite complex and contradictory. While the world's largest archipelagos with thousands and tens of thousands of islands are located here, international ferry service - due to unresolved border conflicts between neighboring countries and poverty - is poorly developed. Indonesia and the Philippines, the most populous archipelagos on Earth, have a complex, well-developed and heavily used domestic ferry network. And at the same time, there is no international ferry service either between Indonesia and the Philippines, or between the Philippines and Malaysia. From Malaysia you can take a ferry to Thailand, Singapore and a number of Indonesian islands: Sumatra, Batam and Bintam (the last two are located in the Riau archipelago, in close proximity to Singapore). But you will have to get to the most densely populated Indonesian island of Java by land and by local ferries. Indonesia. “The Bali Strait is narrow but deadly” was the headline that caught my eye in an English-language Indonesian newspaper while I was waiting for the ferry to depart from Java to Lombok. The note reported that another ferry sank. The fact is that in Indonesia, old European ships written off for scrap are used as ferries, and they are also loaded to capacity, and often overloaded. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that they periodically go to the bottom. After another disaster, a total check of the entire fleet begins. This is when it is safest to use Indonesian ferries!

The most popular Indonesian ferry services connect the island of Java with the islands of Sumatra and Bali.

Malaysia. In terms of quality, safety, speed and comfort, Malayan ferries are far superior to Indonesian ones.

Penang Island is connected by ferry to the mainland (Georgetown - Butterworth line, departure daily, every hour, trip duration 40 minutes, fare $0.06 - the same as on the toll bridge). Ferries also run to the islands of Langkawi (daily, 1 hour 45 minutes, $8) and Tioman (daily, 2–3 hours, $6).

In Japan, all the largest islands are connected by tunnels and bridges; ferries are used only to get to the small islands in the southern part of the Japanese archipelago. The country is connected by international ferry service to Russia, South Korea (4–5 times a week, trip duration 3 hours, cost from $120), China and Taiwan.

South Korea is connected by ferries only to Japan (Busan - Hakata ferry, 4-5 times a week, trip duration 3 hours, cost from $120) and China (Incheon - Tainan ferry 2 times a week; Incheon - Qingdao ferry - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, the cost is approximately the same - from $120 (economy class).

Asian ferries

Beetle(Japan, South Korea): www.beetle.jrkyushu.co.jp

Weidong Ferry(China - South Korea): www.weidong.com

Bintan Resort Ferries(Singapore - Indonesia): www.brf.com.sg

Shanghai ferries(China): www.shanghai-feny.co.jp

From the book Secrets of Ancient Civilizations by Thorpe Nick

From the book How to Travel author Shanin Valery

European ferries European ferries resemble floating hotels. They have comfortable cabins and soft seats, TVs and cinemas, swimming pools and saunas, restaurants and bars, casinos and children's playgrounds, duty-free shops and exchange offices. Meals on board and prices

From the book 100 Great Adventures author Nepomnyashchiy Nikolai Nikolaevich

Ferries in Australia and Oceania There are no ferries between Australia and New Zealand, nor are there any between most of the islands of Oceania. Ferry services link the Australian continent with the island of Tasmania, the two largest islands of New Zealand and the South Island with the island

From the book Vacation without intermediaries author Romanovskaya Diana How ferries are arranged There are many decks, open and closed, observation platforms, areas with entertainment, restaurants, cafes, bars, spas, swimming pools, shops. Lots of entertainment for children: children's playgrounds, TVs with cartoons, animators, show programs. Also by ferry