Jawa Timur, Indonesia — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Jawa Timur known for?

Mount Bromo smokes inside a vast sand sea, Semeru towers as the highest peak on the island of Java, and the acid crater of Ijen burns with blue sulphur flames after dark in Banyuwangi. Surabaya anchors the north coast as Indonesia's second city and busiest eastern port. Inland, the ruins at Trowulan mark where the Majapahit empire once ruled much of the archipelago.

Madura Island lies just across the strait, reached now by a long bridge from Surabaya.

Where is Jawa Timur?

Jawa Timur occupies the eastern third of Java, the last stretch of the island before it breaks into the sea. Central Java borders it to the west. The Java Sea washes the northern shore, the Indian Ocean rolls against the south, and the narrow Bali Strait separates its eastern tip from the island of Bali. Offshore lie Madura Island and a scatter of smaller isles, among them Bawean far out in the Java Sea.

Surabaya sits on the northern coast, at the mouth of the delta where the Brantas River finishes its long curve to the sea. A chain of volcanoes runs down the spine of the province. The Tengger massif holds Mount Bromo inside a broad caldera of grey ash, while Semeru rises beyond it as the highest summit on Java, venting smoke every hour.

Further east stands Ijen, its crater cradling a turquoise lake of acid. The Brantas is the great river here, looping from the slopes near Malang through Kediri before reaching Surabaya. South of the mountains the land drops to a drier limestone coast along the Indian Ocean.

Rice terraces and cane fields fill the valleys between. It is a land built by fire and water alike.

What is Jawa Timur like?

Two peoples shape Jawa Timur. The Javanese fill most of the mainland, while the Madurese hold Madura Island and much of the northern coast, giving the province two mother tongues beside the national Indonesian. Surabaya speaks its own blunt, egalitarian dialect of Javanese, dropping the elaborate court politeness of the old royal towns to the west.

Most of the province is Muslim. Yet in the Tengger highlands around Mount Bromo a Hindu community endures, and each year at the Kasada festival its people climb the crater rim to throw rice, fruit and livestock into the smoking vent in tribute. The stage traditions are loud and comic.

Ludruk, a Surabaya folk theatre, mixes slapstick, song and sharp social commentary, its actors often men playing every part. Ponorogo gives the province Reog, a masked dance led by a towering tiger-and-peacock headdress that can weigh as much as a grown man. Madura races bulls.

The kerapan sapi sends paired oxen thundering down a track before roaring crowds. Food runs dark and bold: rawon, a black beef soup coloured by keluak nut, and rujak cingur, a Surabaya salad bound with pungent shrimp paste. Even a bowl of bakso from Malang carries the region's appetite for strong, direct flavour.

What is the history of Jawa Timur?

Eastern Java cradled the island's first kingdoms. Singhasari rose here in 1222 under the adventurer Ken Arok, and from its ruins Raden Wijaya founded Majapahit in 1293. Ruled from Trowulan, Majapahit grew into the greatest empire the archipelago has known, its reach stretched across the seas by the minister Gajah Mada during the reign of Hayam Wuruk.

The empire faded, Islam spread along the coast, and the Dutch later built Surabaya into a great colonial port. Jawa Timur took its present shape as a province in 1950.

What is the climate of Jawa Timur?

Jawa Timur runs hotter and drier than the rest of Java. A long dry season holds from about May to October, when the volcanoes clear and the crater trails firm up; the wet monsoon returns from November through April. The coast around Surabaya stays humid and sweltering all year.

Climb inland to Malang and the air cools with every hundred metres of altitude. On the Tengger sand sea below Bromo, dawn temperatures can fall near freezing, and frost sometimes silvers the highland grass. Bring a jacket for the summits.

How do you get to Jawa Timur?

Most travellers land at Juanda International Airport, just south of Surabaya and among the busiest in Indonesia, then drive two to three hours up to the ashy rim of Mount Bromo. East Java's railways handle the rest. They run the length of the province, linking Surabaya with Malang in the highlands and Banyuwangi in the far east.

Many visitors arrive from the opposite direction, crossing the Bali Strait by ferry from Gilimanuk on Bali to the docks at Banyuwangi. Toll roads and buses tie the cities together.