City walking tour in Bandung

Bandung oude gebouwen

City walk with guide in Bandung


The past revives

Bandung geschiedenis

Discovering the city of Bandung yourself is a great idea, but with the help of a local guide your city walk will be even better.
Through the stories your guide will tell you, you will see history coming back to life again.
Can you imagine how the city bustled a 100 years ago?
In colonial times, the elite, who had become rich because of the tea plantations, met here and shopped in abundance in the luxurious shopping street.

We would like to take you back in time. The stately Art Deco buildings are already waiting for you.


What’s the plan?

Kopi Aroma Bandung✔  We walk through the center of Bandung, through the old shopping streets. The city is modern and lively, and still attracts many people from all over the world to the many shops. Only now it is mainly people on a bargain hunt for cheap designer clothes.

✔ Along the way, the traces of the past are still clearly visible. The city has many Art Deco buildings. Walk the same streets as Charlie Chaplin. Think how the carriages stopped here in front of the classic hotels, so that the “lords of the tea” could enjoy an extensive “rice table” or spend the night in the old hotels that still welcome guests  today.

kopi aroma bandung✔ The most delicious coffee is made at “Kopi Aroma”. For more than 90 years, , the old family business has been selling the best coffee according to the original recipe. Look inside and you will feel like you step back in time.

✔ Since 1918 you can enjoy delicious food and coffee at Maison Bogerijen, the old patisserie of Mr L van Bogerijen. Even the governor general of the Dutch Indies used to eat here! Take a seat and taste the old Dutch pastry.


Back in time

3 hours full of history and culture
Art-deco, coffee and Sundanese hospitality


Good to know ✔

  • We welcome you in our beautiful city of Bandung
  • By doing the tour you will meet the past, and better understand the presence 😉
  • Private tour
  • If you have allergies or special wishes, please let me know in advance
  • For all ages

Practical information

Availability: Every day
We can start any time you like
Duration: 3 hours.
Included: guide
Languages: English
Limited places: check availability


Koloniale gebouwen in Bandung

What to bring ✔

Comfortable Clothes and shoes

Sun screen/ a hat or cap


What this history tour is about ✔

Bethel kerk Bandung

– A nice tour in the city centre

– Interesting stories

– Meet the past

– Learn about history and culture

– Try new things

– Share our passion

– Lots of fun and smiles

– Ask everything you like to know

– Pictures and memories


 

Tangkuban Perahu vulcano

Tangkuban Parahu bandung

Tangkuban Perahu “The upside down boat”

Tangkuban Perahu vulkaanThis volcano is about 2000 meters high.
The volcano’s name, Tangkuban Perahu, means “the  boat that lies upside-down” in Sundanese.


A sad love story

The story goes, that a long long time ago, the beautiful Dayang Sumbi lived here. She sent her son Sangkuriang away because he was not obedient. The gods took pity on her and gave her eternal youth.

After many years, her son decided to return. He met his mother, but did not recognize her (because of her youthful appearance). They fell in love and even had wedding plans. Then Dayang Sumbi recognizes her son by a scar. Dayang tries to stop the marriage and therefore asks her son, who still does not know that she is his mother, to complete what she considers an impossible task. She asks him to pick her up on the wedding day at her house, in a boat.
Since her house is on a hill, Sangkuriang has to build a dam in the river to allow the water to rise from the river up to Dayang’s house. He also has to build a big boat before the sun rises.
Sangkuriang is so eager to get married that he invokes mythical powers to help him. He cuts down a large tree and turns it into a beautiful ornate wedding boat. (The stump of this tree can still be seen. This is Mount Bukit Tunggul). Construction progresses quickly and Dayang Sumbi, fearful that her son will succeed in fulfilling her order, arranges for red cloths to be laid in the east, giving the impression that the sun is already rising. Her son, who indeed thinks that the sun is already rising and that he has failed, kicks the dam out of frustration. There is great flooding and the boat is left upside down.
The boat can still be seen today: the boat is upside down, on top of the volcano. And if you look down over the edge of the crater, you can still see the wedding fire glowing.



Visit the volcano

The volcano has three craters:

  • The Ratu crater is easy to reach. You can drive up to the top (1830 meters) by car.
  • The Domas crater is further down, after about an hour of walking you will reach this crater. You can take this walk (until 2 p.m.) with a local guide. This crater has a sulfur smell. With the guide you can get close to the crater and even boil an egg in the hot water.
  • Kawah Upas is the oldest crater. Poisonous gases come out of this crater and can therefore not be visited.

The Tangkuban Perahu volcano is popular and can be visited between 07:00 and 17:00. The view is best in the morning and it is still relatively quiet. You will also find many tenacious salesmen and self-proclaimed “guides” walking along unsolicited. It is good to know this in advance, so that you can pass this calmly.

Close to the mounain in the village Ciater you will find hotsprings and resorts.

Kawah Putih and the Patuha volcano

kawah putih Bandung

Kawah Putih, the “White Crater”

South of Bandung you find the Kawah Putih, which literally means “white crater”.
Compared to Tangkuban Perahu and the Ciater hot springs, Kawah Putih volcano and the Kawah Rengganis hot springs are less visited. Kawah Putih is a sulfur lake in one of the two craters of the Patuha volcano. Patuha stands for “pak tua” which means “old man”. In the villages around the Patuha it was believed that the Patuha is the oldest mountain and that the spirits of the ancestors gather here. The mountain is 2434meters high.

The colors of the landscape are unreal: the water is azure blue / turquoise and the sand is yellow. Because the lake is high in the mountains, it is cool here. You can walk in the lake on a wooden platform.

Due to the strong sulfur air, you cannot stay close to the lake for too long. The water contains so much sulfur that it is poisonous. In the past, sulfur was extracted here, remains of the old factory can still be found.
It is possible to climb up for a nice view. If you don’t feel like walking, it is (often) possible to be brought here on a motorcycle in exchange for a small fee. You can also make beautiful walks on the mountain.