In Reply to: Road Trip - Jakarta, Borobodur and Bali posted by hoary on Sunday, 15. February 2009 at 08:40 Bali Time:
We've done the Jakarta - Jogja road trip 5 times now. If you dont plan on stopping all the time for photos' etc... it will take you 12 hours. (approx 650kms) We only stop for a meal once and refueling the car.
I really suggest you DONT GET THE BUS.. we have had soo many close calls with those buses by only inches... seriously I'd never go by bus after what I have seen.
The best route to take from Jakarta is head south towards Bandung (usually the new toll road - reach bandung in 1.5hours) then over the mountains at tasikmalaya then down thru the towns thru southern west and central Java.
The northern route pantai utara or shortened to PANTURA... is very boring and just flat ..not much scenery at all. This way you have to deal with more trucks and pot holes rather than the buses. Again the trucks are way overloaded and real slow, and difficult to pass, especially when you have to avoid pot holes or other cars trying to overtake at the same time.
If you dont choose going by car... get the train :) Much better and I bet safer :) Usually leave jakarta 8pm and arrive in Jogja early the next morning..I think executive class tickets are about 200 thousand one way.