Home » Practical Information » Expat Living Outside Jakarta

Expat Living in Surakarta, Solo, Central Java

Solo, more formally known as Surakarta, is smack bang in the middle of the island of Java. It is one of the two major centres of Javanese culture (the other being Yogyakarta). Officially the city has a population of about 570,000, but this is only the innermost part of town. Most of the outer suburbs include parts of other regencies (Sukoharjo, Klaten, Boyolali and Karanganyar), so real metro population is more like 1,500,000.

The expat community in Solo is very small compared with nearby cities such as Yogyakarta and Semarang. One estimate is about 50 westerners. There is a similar number of Asian expats - Japanese, Koreans, Indians, and Chinese being the most prominent. Most of those working are employed in furniture or textile businesses. There are also a number of retirees living mainly in the countryside with their wives, and some foreign students studying Javanese culture, language, gamelan, etc. A high proportion of the expats living in Solo have been resident for a long time. It seems to be a place that once visited, is hard to leave.

Solo Expats Association holds a regular weekly social gathering (currently Thursday night), trips for members and their families, and programs to assist and stimulate life in Solo. There is a small but growing SEA library at Mama Titin’s restaurant. W&M's Solo Newsletter is a weekly publication giving the latest greatest information on events in Solo, and is completely free.

Recreation

Recreational opportunities are more limited than the bigger cities, but none-the-less available.

Beaches – Being stuck in the middle of the island, it’s a bit of a hike to the beaches. Nearest are the 3 triplets Baron, Kukup and Krakal, a little over 1 hour drive south. Some of us camp out on the floor of a friendly warung at Krakal some seaside fun. East a little is Dringi, but rumours say all the facilities have been wiped out by recently floods and high tides. Further east, and about 3 hours from Solo, is the little horseshoe bay of Pacitan, which has small beachside bungalows (Happy Bay Bungalows), with somewhat limited facilities. The fresh fish, body surfing, hundreds of caves and crab hunting make up for any discomforts.

Bowling – There is a good 10 pin bowling rink in Jl Cokroaminoto, Jebres.

Croquet – Allegedly there is a place in Cepogo, Boyolali where one can indulge in this ancient sport

Dance – There are a number of classical Javanese dance schools. Hotel Lor In has Latin dance lessons in Pipa’s Bar on Wednesday nights.

Every Wednesday morning from 9:30 until about mid-day the dancers of Soeryo Soemirat, the classical Javanese dance school that is part of the Mangkunegaran palace, rehearse Javanese court dances in the Pendopo accompanied by the meditative sounds of the royal gamelan orchestra.   The palace is on Jalan Ronggowarsito (just hop into a becak and say Mangkunegaran!) The palace has three entrances and if you are on foot or becak you can get in from the west, east, and south. If you arrive by car, drive in through the eastern entrance. The pendopo is in the central courtyard; you cannot miss it. Watching the dance rehearsals is free and open to anyone. If you are interested in a guided tour of the palace, there are English, German, Dutch and Japanese speaking guides available who will show you around for a small fee.

Fitness – There are well appointed fitness clubs/gyms at Hotel Novotel and Hotel Lor In. A new fitness centre has opened on Jl Raya Solo Baru, but with somewhat limited hours.

Football – Solo is football mad, and has a national league team Persis. When they play in the Manahan Stadium, the town erupts in red shirts, drum bands and enthusiastic youth.

Golf – The Adi Sumarmo golf course along side the Solo airport is 9 holes and very cheap. There is a driving range on Jl Adisucipto on the way to the airport from Solo. Yogya is not far away, and has a beautiful 18 hole course at Merapi on the slopes of the famous volcano, as well as another near Yogya airport, and a 9 hole course at Hyatt Hotel. There are also courses in Semarang that apparently have some of the prettiest caddies in Indonesia.

Horse Riding – is available in most of the mountain tourist spots. The ponies are small, but quite strong. Tawangmangu has rides from a quick turn around the block, to a 5 hour trip to Gua Maria cave. You can even arrange a trip to the summit of Mt Lawu. A little further afield horses are available in the market towns of Kopeng on the slopes of Mt Merbabu and Bandungan on Mt Unguran.

Indoor Tennis – GOR Solo Baru has courts, as does the GOR behind Sriwedari in Jl Penumping Kidul.

Manahan Stadium – This, the largest of the stadia in Solo, is a very popular spot for sports, especially Sunday mornings. Unfortunately, most of the expats in Solo are not early risers on Sunday mornings.

Movies – Solo Grand Mall has a Grand21 four cinema multiplex, and the latest movies are not long behind Jakarta. Another is located in the Matahari Singosaren building. There is also a smaller, older complex Fajar near the Town Hall (Walikota).

Swimming – There are good pools at most of the big hotels. Quality has a half Olympic, a paddlers and a middle-sized (sometimes) heated pool. Lor In has one of the most spectacular pools, with Jacuzzi/whirlpool that is well worth a visit. Sahid Kusuma has a large pool, but sometimes over chlorinated. Agas has the hottest (temperature-wise) pool in town, but is often very crowded. In Solo Baru they have been building a Water World amusement park for about 4 years. It looks like at least another 10 years to completion.

Timezone – For those with small kids, a desire to ride motorbike simulators and a lot of money to waste, Timezone has 2 locations – Solo Grand Mall and Matahari Singosaren.

Walking – There are very nice walks in the 3 mountains surrounding Solo. Merapi and Merbabu to the west have various trails to their summits. Mt Lawu to the east has summit trails, as well as the popular Candi Sukuh to Tawangmangu hike (about 2-3 hours), and Candi Cetho to Candi Sukuh (4-5 hours). Cool pine forests, spectacular views and tiny mountain villages. Pity about the sore feet.

White Water Rafting – best in the wet season, otherwise there is a lot of paddling. There are 2 businesses based in Mendut near Borobudur temple, 1½ hours from Solo. They are both very professional, with experienced raft captains, proper helmets and life jackets etc. The 4 separate voyages are of varying degrees of screamingness; the easier ones are good for kids.

Shopping

Life in Solo changed a couple of years ago with the opening of Solo Grand Mall, and a few months later Solo Square. These are both located on Jl Slamet Riyadi, the main street. It is still hard to get the following in Solo:

Clothes and shoes for people of larger size (most of us), though there are good tailors and cobblers in town.
Meat, sausages and other foodstuffs - some of the expats have shipments regularly from Bali.
Wine. Like hen’s teeth in Solo. What is buyable here is very, very expensive and very, very average.

Solo Grand Mall is by most standards not so grand, but it is a mall, and as such has become the focal point and favorite haunt of every Solonese teenager. It is anchored by a Hypermart supermarket in the basement, a Matahari department store and numerous fast food stores such as KFC, Texas Chicken, Pizza Hut. Upstairs on the third floor is a reasonable food court, and the smaller fourth floor houses the Grand21 cinema complex and a large billiard hall. There is also a Breadtalk bakery on the ground floor with good cakes and reasonable bread.

Solo Square is not quite as popular, but has some of the best Chinese food in town according to some of the expert expats.
Matahari Singosaren complex in Jl Rajiman has a Matahari department store and supermarket, Timezone, cinema complex and a lot of small specialty shops. Nearby there is a McDonalds and a lot of shoe shops and fabric stores.

Pasar Triwindu in Jl Diponegoro is famous for its “antiques” – bronzes, old batiks, glass jars, ceramics. Occasionally there really are some old things. Watch your head on the rusty tin roof overhangs, especially if you are taller. Its open 10am to 3pm, 7 days a week and is a great way to spend a few hours. You are expected to bargain.

Pasar Klewer is one of the biggest batik markets in Indonesia, and therefore by extension the world. It is 2 stories of hot, crowded, cramped humanity. There are great bargains if you bargain – prices less than half of those in Jakarta and elsewhere.

Macro, on the corner of Jl Bharangkara and Jl Veteran sells in bulk. It is less popular to a lot of Solonese because of its practice of “adding on” PPN (VAT tax) and cost of plastic bags. However, it does have some hard to get foodstuffs at reasonable prices.

Gramedia Bookstore on Jl Slamet Riyadi is a welcome new addition and by far the best source of books. They often hold art exhibitions in foyer of the old entrance building.

Dining

Dining in Solo. There is a wide range of Indonesian and Chinese food in Solo, but western cuisine is limited.

Javanese food – Rasa Mirasa on Jl Slamet Riyadi at Pabelan (on the western road in from Yogya), or Pecel Solo on Jl Supomo.

Sundanese food – Mama Titin’s Sunda Kitchen, 512 Jl Rajiman has authentic Sundanese (West Java) food, and a limited western menu. Soon to be established in the back section a bar, jazz club cum music room, and mini art picture theatre. Also houses the SEA library.

Padang food – Sederhana on Jl Slamet Riyadi has nice Padang (West Sumatran) food. It is clean an airconditoned.

Chinese food – try Hi Lai, Jl Adi Sucipto on the way to the airport (expensive, but nice food and an amazing ceiling in the restaurant), Diamond on Jl Slamet Riyadi (big, medium priced), Rado on Jl Raya Solo Baru (small, but allegedly the best dimsum in Solo). My favorite, Tio Ciu, just around the corner from the Novotel on Slamet Riyadi has great food at very reasonable prices and the cheapest beer in town.

Indian Food – Manir’s Happy Restaurant, on Jl Hasanuddin has Indian food, cold beer, a computer hot spot and sports TV.

Japanese Food – upstairs on the mezzanine floor of Quality Hotel. Great suchi.

Italian food – Osolomio, Jl Slamet Riyadi right opposite Hotel Novotel. Look for the yellow gates, the yellow flags and the yellow becaks. Undoubtedly one of the best restaurants in Solo, with a full bar license, real oven pizzas, friendly and efficient staff and great food.

Seafood – Newly opened, a little tricky to find, Bale Padi is stuck way out in the padi fields in Baki, about 15 minutes south of Solo. Pick you fish, shrimp, squid or whatever, and the staff will grill, fry, barbeque to your taste.

Sort of Western food – Bima Restaurant on the corner of Jl Slamet Riyadi and Jl Diponegoro has western type food and Indonesian food at very reasonable prices in smallish portions. It’s airconditioned, fast service and a welcome respite after a hot trek through Pasar Triwindu antique market.

Western food – The restaurant at Novotel Hotel is the best place for western food. Their smorgasbord is good value.

Nightlife

Nightlife in Solo is pretty limited. Most of the expats who drink hang out at Mama Titin’s, Manir’s Happy Restaurant, or Saraswati Bar at the Novotel. Check with W&M's Solo Newsletter as to what is going on. There are a number of smaller places that are less frequently visited – Music Room downstairs at Hotel Quality, Gamelan Café and Lumba Lumba Café (both in Jl Slamet Riyadi), Holland Bakery and Hi Lai , the latter being very Chinese orientated. There are a few extremely seedy discos, which are rarely visited.

Housing

Housing is extremely varied, and expats are scattered widely over the city. Most expats rent, though a few of the more established residents with local wives have bought or built their own houses. Renting is comparatively much, much cheaper. At the Colomadu Sugar Mill out near the airport there are some huge and magnificent old mansions built by the Dutch a million years ago. They have enormous grounds, and are a challenge to renovate, but where else in the world could you rent almost an acre for under US$4000 per annum. Solo Baru to the south has a lot of modern one and two storied modern places for rent – usually in the US$2,000-4,000 range. Nice medium size local houses run at about US$1000-2000 per annum. Rental is usually paid in full and in advance for the whole rental period. You can get a room only for about $20 per month, but it’s very small. Solo is very cheap.

Medical

Medical facilities are quite good, with Dr Oen in Solo Baru being the most popular. It has nice garden vistas, and friendly staff. There is a very good orthopedic hospital. For more serious problems, we usually go to Singapore, Bangkok or home to our own countries. Dentistry is both good quality and a fraction of the cost of western countries. Dr Bambang, Dr Shirley and Dr Christine are three who have very modern facilities. There are a number of good optometrists around Alun Alun Lor, and glasses and contact lenses are extremely cheap.

A community newsletter - W&M's Solo Newsletter

From time there are advertisements or requests for help from various members. It is 100% free to anyone who is interested. At present we have a mailing list of 70+ and growing fast. The last two months editions of the newsletter can be view on the W&M's Solo Newsletter website.

To subscribe, write to Michael at michael@armadaorient.com.

A story from an expat family who lives in Solo

Newcomers – One Year On

We left Yogya after the earthquake in 2006, house gone, business gone, nerve all but gone, certainly very broke, not much to hang onto except a chance to earn some commissions from some friendly factory owners with whom I had worked before. Sink or swim, to stay in Indonesia or to go, that was the question.

Solo was the choice because one of us had to work in Yogya and the other had to get to Salatiga.

Finding a house wasn’t that easy, we are a bit quirky and prefer older houses with character and there are lots of these in Solo but nothing seemed to be for rent, we got pretty desperate and accepted a house which was totally wrong for us, paid for it stupidly before checking the plumbing, which turned out to be really furred up, the landlords idea of fixing it was to run ugly plastic pipes all around the place. We started to realize that properties here seem less likely to be advertised or have a ‘to rent’ sign on them, and the best policy was to just ask if a house seemed empty. The Solopos has a regular section for renting but the best way is word of mouth.

That was how we found our lovely old place out at Colomadu near the airport, a rambling Old Dutch style house belonging to the sugar factory with a huge garden. Like idiots we fell in love with it and went through the pain of renovating it to an acceptable standard. The place had nothing left inside, no door handles no toilets no light switches, it had been stripped bare! It had been empty for a good few years, and was knee deep in some pretty unspeakable stuff.

We found a local guy to do the garden and our beloved housekeeper who has been with us for 13 years started coming from Yogya 4 days a week by bus, because she refused to sleep in the house as it was too full of ghosts for her taste.

Having lived in Yogya for so long we always thought that Solo was a bit scary, during the 1998 troubles Solo had been in the news more than Yogya and seemed to have more than it’s fair share of angry extremists. More buildings had been burned and stories abounded around Yogya of how difficult it was in Solo.

We have discovered that image to be far from the truth, the people in Solo go about their religious and civic lives in a perfectly normal, reasonable way.

Additionally the very first time we went out shopping we couldn’t believe how un-molested we were, no one said ‘Hello Mister’ no one tried to get us to go and see a ‘Batik Exhibition’ and the becak drivers are totally laidback compared to Yogya. Even our first sortie into the more obviously touristy area near the Kraton was a delight, no one seemed to pay any attention, the wurungs were a delight and the local people seemed content to let whosoever wander around and do their own thing without comment. It’s more anonymous. The Antique Market at Triwindu is as near as it gets to being pushy, but after all they are there to sell, and if you think about Bali and Yogya or Surabaya Street in Jakarta it’s downright relaxed.

Compared to Yogya the traffic is a lot less hectic, mainly as there are less student on motorbikes.

The history and culture of the city has such depth that it is an endless fascination. We feel that here in Solo we are really in Old Java, tradition here seems impervious to outside influence and less self conscious. We are converted Solo-ites now, we really enjoy the city, there may be less restaurants and places designed for Ex-pats, but the places we tend to hang out in are very comfortable and easy going. The Ex-pat community that we have met are very friendly, amusing ordinary people, unpretentious and genuinely desirous of helping each other and the community. When the Solo Expats Association was first suggested it was as a means of exchanging information and welcoming new comers, supporting each other and each others families and also supporting various community projects within Solo to help the local population understand us, and to help us to understand them. We call that just being neighbourly.

Our first year in Solo has been probably one of the most enjoyable of all our years in Indonesia, even after the traumatic start we can honestly say that we’ve made more friends, had more laughs and felt more relaxed living in Solo that just about anywhere, which is amazing coming from a Brit and a Yank who find it hard enough just living with each other!

The Soviks. Colomadu, Solo

Our thanks to Michael Micklem, Mo Woodgate, Nord Sovik, Steve Beeson, and Norman Masters of Solo for providing this information on Expat Living in Solo - September 2007

Practical Information  |  Expat Forum  |  Site Map  |  Search  |  Home Page  |  Contact

Copyright © 1997-2012, Expat Web Site Association Jakarta, Indonesia http://www.expat.or.id All rights reserved. The information on Living in Indonesia, A Site for Expatriates may not be retransmitted or reproduced in any form without permission. This information has been compiled from sources which we, the Expat Web Site Association and volunteers related to this site, believe to be reliable. While reasonable care has been taken to ensure that the facts are accurate and up-to-date, opinions and commentary are fair and reasonable, we accept no responsibility for them. The information contained does not make any recommendation upon which you can rely without further personal consideration and is not an offer or a solicitation to buy any products or services from us. Opinions and statements constitute the judgment of the contributors to this web site at the time the information was written and may change without notice.