Understand
The spine of East Java is dominated by a series of rugged, spectacular volcanic peaks. The most famous of these are in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park and Semeru and Bromo together make up one of the great iconic images of Indonesia. There are four volcanic peaks higher than 3,000 m in the region. This volcanic activity has created a largely fertile area and verdant agriculture is a prominent feature of the area.
Both the north and south coasts offer some beautiful, deep, fine sand beaches and these are another key attraction of the region.
The two large southern national parks of Alas Purwo and Meru Betiri are remote and sparsely populated and represent the nearest thing to a wilderness experience that you will find on Java. In the north-east, Baluran National Park recalls African Savannah plains.
The island of Madura sits off the north eastern coast of the region and is as off-the-beaten-track as you can get in this part of Indonesia. That is slowly changing as the road bridge linking Surabaya to Madura opened in mid-2009.
Surabaya is the capital city and Indonesia's second largest. It is though largely bereft of attractions, over-crowded, polluted and supports sprawling industry. Few visitors stay in Surabaya for reasons of tourism. Malang is the second city of the region and a bigger contrast to Surabaya could not be imagined. It is a clean, airy city with an important and interesting history.
