Bumi Surabaya City Resort: A Peaceful Hotel With A Javanese Ambience

Green hotel in a central location

Bumi Surabaya City Resort is located in the heart of Surabaya, where international banks, offices, and Surabaya’s popular shopping malls like Tunjungan Plaza and BG Junction are just within walking distance. Like many other big cities in Indonesia, many parts of Surabaya lack space and greenery, let alone public gardens, so you can imagine what it is like staying in the area.

However, if you stay in central Surabaya and get tired of concrete jungle, then this hotel is the right one for you. From outside, this hotel looks really soothing, because in contrast to the hotel’s surroundings, which is packed with tall buildings, this hotel looks rich with greenery with lots of trees and plants growing in front of the hotel.

The artistic gardens

In this case, the exterior matches the interior. The hotel’s facade and exterior gardens make you feel relaxed, and inside, you will find that this hotel is truly an oasis in the middle of Surabaya City. As you enter the hotel’s grounds, you will walk past a big garden with big trees, springs and koi ponds, with many sculptures of Hindu Gods (e.g. Hanoman, the monkey king and Sita, a Hindu goddess), these unique features can only be found at the Bumi Surabaya Hotel.

Traditional meets luxury

As you enter the fully air-conditioned lobby area, you will be welcomed by the refreshing scent of lemongrass, which popular with locals, and the background sound of Javanese gamelan (tuned gongs) making you forget the stress of fighting the heavy traffic in the hot Surabaya. The staff will also give you a wet warm towel upon your arrival.

Again, different from any hotel lobbies in Surabaya, the fully marble, sparkling lobby also has a Hindu theme, with many replicas of Hindu temples, or ‘candi’, that can be found in other parts of Java (like Borobudur and Prambanan temples).

Rooms with many amenities

Regardless of your choice of room (rates start from 1,149,500 IDR, or 87.14 USD for a classic room), you will stay comfortably in this hotel. All rooms are not only spacious and clean, with fast Wi-Fi connection, but you will also be able to consume the food and beverages stored inside the room’s mini bar for free!

Enjoy the excellent view of Surabaya City from your room, due to the large window that spans the whole wall. Don’t worry though, the windows are thick and tightly closed, so the noise of traffic won’t disturb you.

Each bathroom is designed to enhance your bathing experience. You’ll find all the standard amenities you will need and you’ll even have a view of Surabaya from the window above the bathtub!

Buffet with traditional market concept

The biggest highlight of this hotel is the food. If you love experiencing local cuisine, this hotel is really for you. This hotel serves a buffet 3 times per day (breakfast is included in the rate, and it’s 200,000 IDR, or 15.15 USD for a lunch or a dinner buffet). The buffets are called ‘pasar’, which mean Indonesian traditional market, where a variety of merchants sell food and many other items in the same location. There is a large variety of food, but what makes the buffet impressive is that it is set in the hotel’s garden area, where you can choose to eat listening to soft gamelan music. Wouldn’t it be nice to start your day by having breakfast in the garden, surrounded by trees and koi ponds with springs?

A large array of Indonesian foods

The buffet serves local and international food from 3 of the hotel’s restaurants (‘Siti Inggil’ Indonesian restaurant, ‘Kizahashi’ Japanese restaurant and ‘Arumanis’ continental restaurant). If you want to eat Indonesian food in Surabaya, this is the place to go, because they serve many kinds of local foods. Indonesian food is known for its rich flavors due to traditional spices such as turmeric and galangal (ginger), and uniquely, the Indonesian food are served out of stalls, just like what you can find on many streets in Surabaya.

Among the choices are chicken satay (grilled skewered chicken), soto ayam (chicken soup with yellow herb), leker (crispy banana snack), and tahu campur (fried tofu with rice cake called ‘lontong’, beef and bean sprouts, which comes with black soup). Take advantage of enjoying the live satay cooking show, where the chef will fan the satay, allowing you to be able to enjoy the sweet satay aroma. You might not have the chance to smell this aroma in your home country!

For Japanese food, they serve many things from teppanyaki (meat, rice, and vegetables) to sushi rolls and fresh sashimi. They also have dim sum (I loved their chicken buns) and Western foods such as bread, pudding, and croissants.