Indonesia : Jakarta to Bandung by train

In an attempt to be adventurous (and to cut cost), I chose train for the mode of transportation from Jakarta to Bandung. The main station in Jakarta is Stasiun Gambir, located near MONAS.

Went straight to the ticket counter. Luckily since it was Monday morning, there weren't many people around.

There are 2 types of train to Bandung from Jakarta, Argo Gede and Parahyangan. Argo Gede is first class coach while Parahyangan is business class.

Bought the train ticket at 2.30pm so that I have a short time jalan2 kat Jakarta and then enjoy the view at Puncak during the journey.

--> Train schedule

Harga tiket tak jauh beza. For Argo Gede it's only rp50000 and for Parahyangan it's rp40000.

After settling everything, pergi cari locker simpan bag. Since I only have a backpack, penitipan 1 barang aja, rp1000/jam. Murah benar dong.

I walked out of the station not knowing where to go. It was already 9 something and my train was at 2.30pm, so I only have around 5 hours to spend. Taman Mini Indonesia Indah was quite far and Ancol needed at least 1 day to cover so both were out of my option. After some thinking, I decided that I'd better just spend the time with shopping. During my last trip to Jakarta, I already went to Plaza Indonesia, Plaza EX, Tanah Abang and some malls that I forgot the name so this time around, I wanna go to those that I haven't go yet. Was planning to walk to the nearest busway station, when I saw the Blue Bird counter.

At that time, time management was really important. 5 hours! What could you do. Sebab taknak buang masa berjalan kaki and wait for the busway, I joined the queue for the taxi. Although the queue was quite long, the waiting time was only around 5-10 minutes as there were a lot of taxis on standby.

I asked the driver to drop me off at Mangga Dua area and had my own sweet time window shopping/shopping. Around 1pm, ingatkan nak lunch siap2 kat Mangga Dua and then terus pergi train station. Tapi tiba2 teringat that it was lunch hour for sure macet gile nanti. Sebab takut lambat terus naik Blue Bird to Gambir. The fare from Mangga Dua to Gambir and vice versa was around rp30000.

Arrived at Gambir around 1.45pm, had lunch at Dunkin Donuts and it was time to go.

The Argo Gede

Inside the coach. Very comfortable seat with ample leg space.

Complimentary mineral water and a bun.

Oh ye.. dia ada pramugari untuk amik order makanan so you don't have to walk to the canteen.

Disebabkan my camera tak berapa best, tak dapat nak amik gambar view kat Puncak. But seriously, it's beautiful! Macam kat Cameron la.

After 3 hours journey, I arrived at my destination, Stasiun Bandung.