Surabaya, Indonesia 2 Day Itinerary
Indonesia’s second-largest city spends too much time in Bali’s shadow. Surabaya has a colonial Dutch quarter, an Arab quarter built around the tomb of one of the nine saints who brought Islam to Java, a colonial-era tobacco museum where workers still hand-roll clove cigarettes, and some of the most singular beef soup on the planet. Two days will not exhaust it but will give you enough to know whether you want to come back.
Getting In
Juanda International Airport sits about 27 km south of the city centre. A metered airport taxi to central Surabaya takes 40 minutes in normal traffic and costs around IDR 100,000 (under USD 7). The DAMRI public bus runs every hour from 5am to 9pm for a fraction of that price, but it makes multiple stops and adds 20 to 30 minutes. Grab and Gojek (Indonesia’s ride-hailing apps) have designated pickup zones just outside the arrivals hall. Download Gojek before you land; it is slightly more reliable than Grab in Surabaya and is what locals use.
Where to Stay
The Genteng and Gubernur Suryo area in central Surabaya puts you within walking distance of the old colonial precinct. Mid-range hotels here run IDR 400,000 to IDR 700,000 per night. The JW Marriott area in the newer business district is more comfortable but isolates you from everything interesting. Opt for central; use Grab for longer trips.
Day 1: The Colonial Quarter and the Old City
Go straight to the House of Sampoerna in the morning, ideally by 9am when the air is still tolerable and the factory workers are active. This colonial-Dutch building houses a museum on the Sampoerna family’s clove cigarette empire, but the real draw is the factory floor visible through glass, where rows of workers hand-roll kreteks at extraordinary speed. Entry is free. The museum’s free Surabaya Heritage Track bus departs three times daily Tuesday through Sunday and links the major colonial-era sites: take it to see the red-brick facades of the former Dutch administrative quarter without baking in midday heat.
From the museum, walk north into the Arab quarter, locally called Ampel. The area centres on the mosque and tomb of Sunan Ampel, one of the Wali Songo (nine saints credited with Islamising Java). The lanes around the mosque are packed with shops selling dried dates, Arabic perfumes, prayer beads, and spiced tea. Dress modestly, cover shoulders and knees, and time your visit to avoid the Friday midday prayer when the surrounding streets fill to capacity. This is the neighbourhood that most tourist itineraries drop in favour of another shopping mall, and it is the better call.
Lunch: walk back toward Jalan Karet and find a warung serving lontong balap. This is Surabaya’s distinctive dish: rice cakes, fried tofu, lentho (a fried mung bean and coconut cake), bean sprouts, and a ladle of sweet soy-spiked broth. Lontong Balap Asli Pak Gendut has been operating since the late 1950s; it is not scenic, but a full portion costs around IDR 18,000 and tastes like it has been perfected by decades of repetition.
Afternoon: walk or Grab to the Heroes Monument (Tugu Pahlawan), a 41-metre obelisk commemorating the 10 November 1945 battle in which Surabaya’s residents fought Dutch and British forces. The adjacent museum has good English signage on the Indonesian revolution; it is uncrowded and takes about 45 minutes.
Evening: dinner at Rawon Setan near the JW Marriott. Rawon is black beef soup darkened by kluwak nut paste, with rice, bean sprouts, salted duck egg, and shrimp crackers on the side. The name means “Devil’s Rawon” because it traditionally opens late. The broth is richly savoury in a way that takes a moment to place, then becomes the flavour you associate with Surabaya for the rest of your trip. Budget IDR 60,000 to IDR 80,000 per person.
Day 2: Sacred Sites and the Strait
Start at Sunan Ampel’s tomb early if you missed it on Day 1, or use the morning to explore the Cheng Hoo Mosque in Chinatown, a striking red-and-gold Chinese-Islamic hybrid built in 2002 that has become a genuine local landmark despite its youth.
Mid-morning, take a Grab to Kenjeran area on the eastern coast. Benteng Kenjeran is a modest Dutch-era fortification, but the surrounding coastal stretch gives a rare view of the Madura Strait and the distant towers of the Suramadu Bridge, the longest bridge in Indonesia at 5.4 km. The area gets busy on weekends; visit on a weekday to enjoy it with fishing boats rather than food-stall crowds.
Lunch: the seafood warungs in the Kenjeran harbour area serve fresh grilled fish and prawn by weight. This is where Surabaya locals eat, not the tourist restaurants. Point at what you want; the bill will be IDR 40,000 to IDR 70,000 per person.
Afternoon: take a Grab back through the city to the Surabaya Zoo (Kebun Binatang Surabaya) if you have children in tow, though note the facility has faced criticism for animal welfare conditions. A better alternative is the Museum Mpu Tantular in Sidoarjo, which holds an extensive East Java archaeological collection including Majapahit-era bronze sculpture. It is 30 minutes south by Grab and much less crowded than anything in the centre.
Evening: the city’s Genteng night food area comes alive after 7pm with stalls selling nasi goreng, bakso (meat-ball soup), and sate. Soto Ambengan Pak Sadi on Jalan Ambengan is the address for chicken soto ayam, a turmeric-yellow broth soup that is a reasonable rival to rawon for Surabaya’s best casual meal. Finish with a walk along Jalan Tunjungan, the former Dutch shopping boulevard now partly restored, to see what the city looked like in 1920.
Transport
There is no metro in Surabaya. Grab and Gojek are the practical options for all inter-district movement: fares for a typical city-centre journey run IDR 15,000 to IDR 35,000. The TransJakarta-style Suroboyo Bus runs on fixed routes and costs IDR 5,000 per trip with an e-money card, but the network is limited and routes change; useful for the Heroes Monument to House of Sampoerna corridor.
Practical notes
Cash remains dominant in the older markets and warungs. ATMs are plentiful in malls and at major intersections. The dry season (May to September) is significantly more comfortable than the wet months. Surabaya in January or February is doable but expect afternoon downpours that ground outdoor plans for an hour or two.
The best single thing you can do is skip the Surabaya Zoo entirely and spend that time in Ampel instead. The Arab quarter is exactly the kind of dense, living historical neighbourhood that most Indonesian cities have demolished or turned into a theme park, and Surabaya’s has stayed real.