Traveling by Train Across Java, Indonesia

To buy your ticket, we recommend doing it online at Tiket, which lets you see schedules and prices and pay by credit card. We used it and it worked perfectly. We had a problem paying with our credit card, so we emailed them and they sorted it out right away.

On Java's trains, there are 2 categories:

• Economy class (Ekonomi Class – Eksekutif Class): It's a fine way to travel, but keep in mind that distances tend to be long, and the seats face each other and don't recline, so legroom is limited.
• Business class (Bisnis Class): Tickets sometimes cost double what economy does (they're not expensive), but the seats recline and you get more legroom, so it's worth spending a little more, especially if you're traveling overnight.

We tried both classes, and we think it's worth spending a little more to travel in Business class.

The train also has a dining car, and every so often a cart comes through selling food and drinks!

The train leaves from Pasar Senen station in Jakarta and arrives at Lempuyangan station in Yogyakarta. (There are several stations in Yogyakarta and this is the most central one, so when you buy your ticket, pay attention to which station it arrives at.)

We did this leg in Executive class and it cost us US$20 each.

We did this leg in economy class and it took 7 hours. The hours felt longer, since we could really tell the difference between economy and Executive class. What we did like was traveling surrounded by locals, chatting with them and having a different kind of experience.

The ticket cost us US$7 per person.