Surabaya - Singapore Short Getaway Series

This post is the 1st post of our Singapore Short Getaway series. In this series, we will review some of the short getaway places that you can visit from Singapore.

DESTINATION - SURABAYA

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 3.1 million (5.6 million in the metropolitan area), and the capital of the province of East Java. It is located on the northern shore of eastern Java at the mouth of the Mas River and along the edge of the Madura Strait. (Credit: Wikipedia).

The Legend of Surabaya (Credits: grhapakadit.blogspot.com)

 

How to Go

By Flight

There are 5 to 6 flights per day from Singapore to Surabaya Juanda International Airport.
- Operated by Silkair, Mandala, Jetstar Asia (Valuair), Lion and China Airlines.
- Flight time is around 2h 20 mins.

Flight times as follows:

7:50 am    →    9:10 am    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Silkair 222
11:25 am    →    12:50 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Mandala 881
11:40 am    →    12:55 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    -    T    F    S    Valuair 247
12:10 pm    →    1:30 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Lion 105
4:30 pm    →    5:50 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Silkair 226
9:45 pm    →    11:00 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    China Airlines 751

Information correct as of 5 May 2013. For latest updates on Flight Schedules, Type Singapore to Surbaya in Google search engine.

We took Silkair from Singapore to Surabaya for our 4D3N Trip.
Do check out our review of the flight here.

Surabaya Juanda International Airport (Credits: commons.wikimedia.org)

When to Go

Temperature in Surabaya varies slightly throughout the year with temperature ranges from 23°C and 33°C.

Surabaya Weather (Credits: www.weather-and-climate.com)

There are two seasons in Surabaya: the Wet season (November to June) and the Dry season (July to October). The months of December to March have the highest rainfalls with January the wettest month. For Singaporeans, July to September might be the best time to visit as the city has a reduced level of rainfall.

Where to Stay

We stayed in Sheraton Surabaya Hotels & Towers, which is just next to Tunjungan Plaza, a mega shopping mall. Do read our review of the hotel here. We would highly recommend the hotel after an enjoyable time there.

Other 5 star hotels that ranked highly in Tripadvisor include Hotel Majapahit Surabaya, Shangri-La Hotel Surabaya and JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya.

For the budget conscious travellers, there are good options like the Midtown Hotel Surabaya, ELMI Hotel and Hotel Santika Surabaya.


For more options, check out the list of hotels in Hotels Combined here.

What to Do

1. Explore Mount Bromo, the most well-known active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia.  The volcano belongs to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park with its name of Bromo derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god.

Mount Bromo (Credits: indonesia.gunadarma.ac.id)

2. Visit Museum Sempoerna, rated #1 in Tripadvisor. By the end of your visit, you would be able to relate the story of the founding family after watching a real hand-roll production facility with an unforgettable experience of rolling a stick of Dji Sam Soe cigarette yourself.

Museum Sempoerna (Credits: architectureforthefuture.blogspot.com)

3. Check out the Suramadu National Bridge, the longest bridge in Indonesia. Connected between MADURA and SURABAYA. The beauty of the bridge can be watch along of Kenjeran beach area in Surabaya.

Suramadu National Bridge (Credits: saraung.blogspot.com)

4. Have a fun day with animals @ Taman Safari II. Check out our review of the Safari in a two-part series here.

5. Go shopping at Tunjungan Plaza, the biggest Plaza in Surabaya. The complex is integrated with Sheraton Surabaya Hotels & Towers, 1 Office building, and include 2 mega department stores, SOGO and Matahari. Do remember to buy some batik back as they are considered quite cheap for their good quality.

Interested in Travelling to Surabaya? Read our Reviews!

What Airline? - Silkair Flight Review
Where We Stay? Sheraton Surabaya Hotels & Towers Review, Dining Options @ Hotel
What We Did? Shopping @ Tanjungan Plaza, Fun Day @ Taman Safari II Part 1, 2

We hope you enjoyed reading the 1st post of our Singapore Short Getaway series. Do check out the next post on Langkawi in the series!

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Fun day with animals @ Taman Safari II, Surabaya ( Part 2 of 2)

Surabaya . 2012 . Nov 18 - 21

This post is a continuation of our previous post on Fun day with animals @ Taman Safari II, Surabaya ( Part 1 of 2).

After visiting the Lion's Den, it was time to have some fun with the orang utans.

The Orang Utan playground.  These playful creatures look like they are performing a  trapeze for us!

Trees are covered with a layer of metal gauze to prevent the animals from chewing on the tree bark and injuring themselves.

 Bambi!!!!!

Lot and lots of Bambi!

Can’t remember the name of this species, but they belong to the deer family as well.

This is a very good example of how animals blend in with their environment either for defence or to catch their prey.  Can you spot what is lurking in the shadows?

 Did you manage to spot the Leopard?

How about this one? Clue: Look closely at the bushes....

This one is more difficult...its the Monitor Lizard!

 Beware of Crocodiles!

We saw some rhinos as well.

And some zebras..

 This Zebra seems to have missed his bus....just joking.. :)

The Eland, a member of either species of the Taurotragus genus of antelope.

The Elephant Habitat.  Most of the elephants here are female, judging from the fact that most of them do not have tusks.

Last look at the Elephants before we leave their habitat..

It was time to look at some humps...the camels!

 Crossing the river.

and we saw a hidden hippo...

This are the tallest feeding huts in the safari, for they are for the giraffes.

Out of the Safari and into the Baby Zoo

Taman Safari consists of not just the safari area, but educational shows, stuntman shows, and a safari elephant tracking ride amongst others.

We dropped by the baby zoo to look at some cuddly animals.  Photo-opportunities are available, but we had to pay for the ticket to do so.

From what we have learnt from the keepers, there are always 2 different baby animals every day for photo-taking.  These animals vary from day to day to give them sufficient rest.   We had a baby orang utan and a baby white tiger on our day!

The baby orang utan is pretty tame and easy to handle!  If you are lucky, he'll also look at you endearingly just like a human!

Kenzo the male white tiger is merely 7 months old, but he already weighs much more than me.

Kenzo became impatient and irritated after a day of photo-taking and I was somewhat apprehensive when it was my turn.  It didn’t help that the keeper kept making noise to wake him up for the photoshoot.  Although the keeper kept reassuring me that it was safe to be near the tiger, it was a pretty scary experience I will never want to do this again.

For those who are interested, Kenzo’s parents are kept in a sanctuary just behind his enclosure.

Overall, we had a GREAT time at Taman Safari II!. So the next time you visit Surabaya, we would recommend that you make a visit to the Safari.

If you had come to this page through a search engine, you might want to read Part 1 of this post for our complete review.

Taman Safari Indonesia II

Opens every day from 08:30 until 17:00.
Ticket Price: Foreign Tourist Rp 100.000
Website:  http://tamansafari2.net/

Guide Map (From Taman Safari II Website)
Click on the map to view a larger image. 

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Fun day with animals @ Taman Safari II, Surabaya ( Part 1 of 2)

Surabaya . 2012 . Nov 18 - 21

This post is a continuation of our previous post on Airline Review: Silkair Flight from Singapore to Surabaya.

Our short weekend getaway to Surabaya brings us to Taman Safari II, an animal conservatory.  Taman Safari II is about 1.5hrs by car from the city centre of Surabaya, Indonesia.  It is only 50km away from Juanda International Airport, and the easiest way to get here is by taxi. Traffic conditions in Surabaya can get quite bad, so do factor in ample time to cater for traffic jams.

Taman Safari II is located on the slope of Mount Arjuno and boosts a scenic journey of Padi fields and blue skies as your vehicle approaches the Safari.

The scenic backdrop of Mount Arjuno. Lovely sunny day..

The entrance to Taman Safari II.

Visitor Centre at Taman Safari II

There is a souvenir shop (in fact, it is the only souvenir shop in the Safari) at the Visitor Centre.  Lovers of plush toys will like this shop, because the cute furry friends sold here are so cheap!  It was love at first sight for me when I saw this trio..

15 inch Elephant: Rp135,000 (SGD $17)
10 inch Porcupine: Rp65,000 (SGD $8)
7 inch Giraffe: Rp45,000 (SGD $6)

General surroundings near the visitor centre. Lots of motor bikes parked, it is no wonder that motor bikes are a common sight in Surabaya.

Into the Safari

In the comfort of our tour bus, we were like the tourists in a cage while animals roam freely in their habitats.   Visitors are requested to keep the windows of their vehicles closed at all times, but this rule is not strictly enforced, for we see some guests feeding animals from their window.

The Safari is divided into 3 distinct zones separated by automated gates – The American-Europe zone, the Asian zone and the African zone.

Our first animal encounter at the American-Europe zone – the American Bisons at their feeding huts. 

Next up, the Lhama, originating from South America and related to the camel, raised for its soft, fleecy wool. 

The maned wolf, which resembles a large fox with reddish fur.  

The grizzly bear, also known as the Brown Bear.  It is such an irony that we travelled to a far off place called Alaska to look at bears from a distance, and barely a month later, here we are, back in Asia, gazing at a bear just a few metres away.  We were told that this particular animal was caught in Europe.  Although it’s natural diet consists mainly of fresh salmon, they are fed catfish instead as salmon are expensive in Asia.

Note the distinctive hump of the grizzly bear.  That's how they are differentiated from the black bears, something that we have learnt during the naturalist talk during our Alaska cruise.

It is an amazing experience to see animals charging towards you in the jungle, your heart freezes, only to realize in a few seconds that your position is safe in the vehicle.

Can you spot the tiger in the background?  This picture was taken from the window of our vehicle and although it is quite a distance away, the tiger still appear huge and intimidating!

A better look at the Malayan Tigers from the other side of the vehicle.

I wonder what happened to the driver of this vehicle.  Aha, just kidding.  It is just a prop for the tigers to rest on.  For some unknown reasons, they seem to like to rest on the top of vehicles.   

Onwards to the next zone. Beware of Lions!!

The lion Enclosure.  Madam and Mr Lion managed to carve some drawings at the back of their cave?

 Best time and safest place to capture a photo of a yawning lion...

Just like the tigers..the lions were also lazing on the vehicle...limited space though..one had to sleep on the grass...

 This is how close we got to observing the animals without the use of binoculars.

Mr Lion got bored of observing us in the vehicle.

That's all for Part 1 of our review of the Taman Safari II @ Surabaya.

Click here for Part 2 of our revew of the visit featuring the Orang Utans, Bambis, Elephants and much more!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To receive notifications on updates, subscribe to our blog via RSS feed and email.

Like us on Facebook @ Discover. Book . Travel and follow us on Twitter @Discoverbooktra!

Do check out our Flickr photos & Youtube videos too!