Traveling on a Night Train from Bandung to Yogyakarta

If you have plenty of time exploring a certain country, traveling on a train overnight is one smart move. It does cut costs, not alone for your transportation, but also a big chunk on the accommodation. Sleeping on a train saves costs for a hotel.

Last January 19, I was heading to Yogyakarta from Bandung through the cheapest mode I knew, via a train. The train service for the 8PM schedule was Lodaya Malam (malam means night). I took the Business (adult) class for 110,000 rupiahs. Please check the Kereta Api website before traveling, because it's possible your target date could have no available train scheduled. Also, from there, you could already budget your transportation expenses  – posted there are the fares for every train service with different classes - Executive, Business, and/or Economy classes.

True to what Rick Warren tweeted, ‘I've heard 1000s of great singers traveling the globe but Indonesia & the Philippines seem to have the most.' At the waiting lounge of the train station, a band was playing not just local songs but also English ones. It’s a great treat for travelers bound for long distances at night.

Arrival time in Tugu Station, Yogyakarta or Jogjakarta or simply Jogja, as in my ticket, should have been 3:41AM, but with the frequent stopovers, as observed while half-asleep, we arrived at 5:45AM – two hours late than anticipated. But it’s alright, arriving in broad daylight only meant a safer road as I crept into the streets of the city before checking in the hotel.

My trip from Bandung to Yogyakarta is the longest travel by land I’ve ever had.