I was in Indonesia between the 21st of December 2022 and the 15th of January 2023. The currency in Indonesia is the Rupiah and prices are very cheap. For a backpacker’s budget for Indonesia, you need between 15 and 30 euro per day.
Accommodation
There are hostels pretty much everywhere in Indonesia. Hostels go for between 3 and 8 euro per night, depending on the size of the room and if there’s AC inside.
Usually, Japanese-style hostels with cabins/capsules are a bit more expensive than shared rooms with regular bunk beds.
Hotels are cheap too, especially if you secure promotions on Booking.com – between 5 and 12 euro for a double room.
Always book online in Indonesia. For some unknown to me reason, booking online is always cheaper than in person.
Total accommodation cost came to exactly 200 euro making the average 7.69 euro per night.
Food and Drinks
Food in Indonesia is incredibly cheap.
Street food stalls called warungs and angrinkans are ubiquitous – pretty much around every corner.
Simple meals like fried rice with veggies (nasi goreng) and fried noodles (mee goreng) cost between 0.5 and 1 euro.
Fried chicken ala KFC is quite common and very cheap too – between 0.4 and 0.7 euro per piece of chicken.
Western food establishments are a bit more expensive, even though the quality of food is not up to par with expectations. A meal in McDonalds or Burger King would cost around 3-4 euros, while a pizza from Pizza Hut could be as much as 6 euros.
There are a variety of Indonesian snacks sold on the street, both sweet and savory. They are quite cheap too – between 0.06 euro for a stick of fried egg (telur gulung) to 0.6 euro for mini pancakes or gaufrettes.
Non-alcoholic drinks are very cheap too – iced tea is around 0.2 euros and fruit juices go for ~1 euro for a large (0.5 L, sometimes more) cup down to 0.4 euro for a small cup (0.25 L).
Alcohol is rare and expensive, even by Western standards – a can of beer from the supermarket is ~2.5 euros.
In total, I spent 131 euro making the average 5.04 euro per day. Incredibly cheap, considering I ate like a king.
Transport
Transport is easy in Indonesia. Between cities on Java, the train is the best option.
An 8-hour public train between Bandung and Yogyakarta is only 12 euro, while a 3 hour top-quality train from Jakarta to Bandung is ~15 euro.
Inside the cities, Grab and GoJek provide easy and cheap transportation, especially if you use their motorbike options – a 5km ride on a motorbike taxi is around 0.8 euro.
Intercity buses are a bit more expensive, for example, Yogyakarta to Semarang is around 6 euros (3h, 150 km).
Let me note here, that I have been to Indonesia before and this time I came mostly to relax in one place. Thus, I didn’t pay that much for transport.
In total, I paid 69 euro for transport. The average daily cost came out to 2.66 euro.
Culture and Activities
Most museums in Indonesia use discriminatory pricing.
Sometimes it’s quite extreme and the price for a foreigner is 100 times that of a local. For example, the popular Borobodur Temple costs 25 USD for foreigners (and there are plans to make it 100 USD) and less than 1 euro for locals.
I’ve been to both Borobodur and Prambanan (same pricing policy) so I opted not to go this time.
Still, I visited quite a lot of museums in several cities. If you go to popular temples and volcano tours (Bromo, Kawah Ijen) the costs will mount up.
Total cost: 15 euro. The average cost per day came to 0.58 euro.
Visa
There’s a visa on arrival for most nationalities when entering Indonesia. It costs 500.000 IDR (33 USD), but you’re asked for 35 USD (unless you miraculously have IDR on you before customs) and is paid only in cash.
Recently a new option has become available – an e-visa from the official Immigration Portal. After you pay online, the visa is issued immediately and it saves you from queueing at the border.
Other
As I spent almost a month in Indonesia, I had other costs like laundry (~0.7 euro per kg), mobile net (~6 euro for 30 GB for a month), toiletries (toothpaste = 2 euro, small shampoo = 1.5 euro, shaving razors =0.6 euro each), a new t-shirt (3 euro), etc.
In total, I paid 36.5 euro for other expenses.
A Backpacker’s Budget for Indonesia
| Accommodation | 200 euro |
| Food | 131 euro |
| Transport | 69 euro |
| Culture | 15 euro |
| Visa | 31 euro |
| Other | 36.5 euro |
| TOTAL | 523.5 euro |
In total, I spent 482.5 euro for 26 days, which makes the average 18.56 euro per day.
