puncak

Quality Accommodations & Restaurants

Travel to Puncak at night, and one of the first abnormalities you will notice about the area is the countless guys hanging out on the side of the road blinking their flashlights at you. Be warned, these guys are often selling more than just villas! In my own experience, of all the resorts, accommodations and villas, there are only a few that are worthwhile to visit. These consist of the Mega Indah estates, the Taman Safari Hotel, the Puncak Pass Mountain Resort, Novus Hotel, and our favorite, the Pondok Daun Resort.

Searching for new places to stay on your own can be a frustrating experience; unless you’ve got a sure bet, try one of the above places on your next visit to avoid getting stuck at a dinky place, and to vastly improve your chances of experiencing the charms and beauties of this region.

• Raffles Restaurant – 5.8 km
  If weary from the drive, or just plain hungry, the Raffles restaurant is our first checkpoint and an excellent place stop. This is a large restaurant with comfortable facilities, a large selection of foods, a playground for the kids, and is slightly off the road so you can get a little peace and quiet. Stop here on the way up and/or on the way back.



• Villa, Mega Indah Estates – 7 km
  For the private villa experience, the Mega Indah estates register in at the top. Beautiful villas, adorned with comfy furniture and natural elements, usually a fireplace tucked in the living room for added coziness, and only a short trip on the main Puncak thoroughfare make this villa grouping a highly coveted place for weekend getaways. The caveat is that they are officially only available on a contract basis – JIS, for example, has a contract there. Many of the other villas are privately owned. The small road on the left as you head up that leads to the estates is dotted with company retreat villas and mansions, and is most easily recognized by the massive sign for the Unilever Training Center. You might get lucky negotiating with the local security guards, but to ensure your booking, give us a call to see if we have an opening in one of our villas. If available, these 2-5 bedroom villas are around 1.5 million per night. Their massive Olympic plus pool is more often used by local frogs than guests, and is accompanied by a sauna (no frogs there), a fitness center, squash courts, tennis courts, and a billiards room.



• Villa, Safari Garden Hotel – 15.5 km
  This can be a fun place to stay at, and is very close to one of Puncak’s main and best attractions – the Taman Safari Indonesia . The hotel / bungalow complex is spread over a very large tract of land, and boasts the widest range of facilities and attractions – tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts, badminton courts, playgrounds, a bird park, a mini golf course, a karaoke and billiards room, ping pong tables, a swimming pool, fishing ponds, a fitness center with a sauna, and several meeting rooms. On Saturday nights they have live music at their restaurant, and you can hop over to Taman Safari for the night safari and to explore the street circus-like atmosphere with elephants and llamas walking around, and Zoo staff carrying pythons and small tigers for you or your kids to play with! Rates at the Safari Garden range from about 350,000 per room to Rp. 1.3 million for a 3 bedroom bungalow (weekend rates).



• Raffles 2 – 19.3 km
  Another recommended restaurant if you need to stop around this area, but there are places with better views just a little higher up if you can wait.



• Melrimba Gardens – 31.3 km
  This little center of creativity is also a great resting spot and destination on its own. Keep an eye out on your left as you head up for the sign. There’s a full plant shop here with lots of orchids, and a wide garden to walk through. They also have cooking courses and a small restaurant. Unfortunately, the view at the restaurant is the parking lot, but otherwise it’s a nice place.



• Rindu Alam – 34 km
  This restaurant with a killer view is a definite top pick among locals. The food is delicious, inexpensive and quickly served and the view over the valley is unequalled by any other major restaurant. One can also find various souvenirs for sale by ‘hawkers’ out front – I found a good golok knife there that I still use for tromping through thick jungles to this day. For a crispy cool experience, sit outside and allow yourself to be enveloped in billowing fogs rolling up the hills.



• Puncak Pass Resort – 35 km
  For a resort, this is the Puncak classic experience. The place is famous, and for good reason – it’s been around since 1928, the food is delicious, and the rooms are well-appointed with fireplaces. It’s an ideal spot for a romantic getaway, but it’s usually booked out well in advance, so plan ahead. They’ve got a range of hotel style rooms nestled into the main restaurant/office area, and then bungalows and one bedroom apartment style blocks nestled against each other. As for facilities, they have meeting rooms, a two-story restaurant, a bar at the lobby, a swimming pool, tennis court, volley ball court, ping pong tables, jogging track, a football field, and a childrens playground. In the afternoons, a thick fog usually rolls in off the hills and into the restaurant lobby and around the resort grounds. You can often spot famous personalities stopping by the resort for their various yummy snacks; most recently I met the grandson of President Sukarno there, who is an old friend and a well-known DJ, and happened to be stopping off for Poffertjes with his adjutants. This place is top quality all-around. Order extra firewood for late-night romance! Room rates range from Rp 350, 000 for a ‘motel’ style room with a view to 500,000 for our basic recommended romance suite complete with fireplace and outdoor picnic table, to suites priced at 1, 45 million.



• Pondok Daun Resort – 43.3
  This place is one of Puncak’s best kept secrets. For longer stays, a sense of privacy, proximity to the National Park, yummy food and luxuriously appointed villas with attention to detail and great service, seek out this resort for a getaway. They’ve got a fantastic restaurant featuring individual open-air huts set in a luscious tropical garden with big cushions and low tables, and a fresh variety of Indonesian foods. They also happen to have a stable with real horses and four acres of open land to explore with an 800m jogging track and water lily ponds. Their pools are gorgeous and well-maintained, and each bungalow is designed so that you can enjoy the carefully manicured gardens and their pools. There’s also a spacious meeting room, a field large enough to play football on, and a factory outlet on the premises. To find this place, keep a look out for signs after Kota Bunga on the left side of the road towards the Cibodas National Gardens and the entrance to the Gunung Gede-Panggrano national park, and you will also see a wooden sign with Pondok Daun Café. The road heads up on the right hand side; continue along the road for a couple kilometers and you will see the entrance on your right. Rates here range from around Rp 750,000 – 1.5 million per night for a single room, but prices are negotiable. This is simply an excellent pick for a weekend getaway, in close proximity to an incredibly beautiful natural environment.



• Novus Resort and Spa – 44.5 km
  This large resort is relatively new to Puncak and is famous for its gorgeous suite rooms overlooking the valley with their own private Jacuzzis. Hmmm. Another great spot for romance here. The standard rooms are nothing special, although the pool is quite large and nice. The Spa has a good reputation, and has a tasteful, natural décor. If you are really ready to treat yourself to luxury in a nice mountain suite environment, try out the suites. The deluxe rooms are pretty cozy too and start out at Rp. 1 million net whereas the suites are 2.3 million net.