Jepara

Jepara is a coastal town in Central Java province, northeast of Semarang. It is well-known for its wood carvings and furniture industry. Jepara is one of the departure points for ferries going to Karimunjawa.

By bus
Small, mostly non air-conditioned, buses leave Semarang's Terboyo bus terminal daily 05:00–17:00 and cost Rp15,000–20,000. Expect to pay twice if you put your backpack on an empty seat (there are no luggage compartments on small buses).

There are more comfortable air-conditioned shuttle vans (known as travel) from Semarang, Yogyakarta, and Solo, mostly departing from the various agencies' offices. From Semarang the journey takes around 2 hours and costs around Rp25,000–35,000. These buses have departures later than the cheap intercity buses.



By taxi
From Semarang you can take a taxi and bargain a price of around Rp275,000. Even if they use the meter it should not be much more than that.

Get around
Taxis are a bit hard to find. Becak (rickshaw) is fairly easy. Motorbikes can be rented from some of the motorcycle dealers or at the Segoro Hotel.

If you know Indonesian, you can call Raja which is a taxi service using a normal SUV-type car. 085 225 111 234 or 081 705 62002.

If you don't speak or can't speak Indonesian, try going to Jepara Indah Hotel, or Kencana Hotel.

The Hotel Segoro at the north end of town (near the gas station) has a travel service and can also charter cars.

Ride-hailing services Gojek is available in Jepara.

Food souvenirs

 * Carang madu, a cracker sprinkled with liquid brown sugar.

Jepara cuisine

 * Blenyik/tempong, raw anchovies that are salted and formed into small fists and then dried.
 * Bongko mento, stir-fried shredded chicken breast mixed with ear mushrooms, glass noodles, and coconut milk, then wrapped in banana leaves.
 * Bontosan, the mashed grouper meat is mixed with rice flour and then wrapped in banana leaves, and then steamed.
 * Horok-horok, made from palm tree flour.
 * Moto belong, a snack made from plantain and sprinkled with grated coconut.
 * Pindang serani, fish soup.
 * Rondho royal, fermented cassava fritter.
 * Sayur betik, using unripe papaya and minced meat as the main ingredients.

Local drink
Try local drinks such as adon-adon coro, made from pandan, ground pepper, cinnamon, cloves, galangal, which is doused with coconut milk, ginger, brown sugar, and water and es gempol, consists of rice flour dough doused with coconut milk and sugar, and often add ice.

Connect
The telephone area code for Jepara is +62 291. For the Karimunjawa archipelago it is +62 297.

Go next
Head out to the Karimunjawa islands on the fast or slow ferry services that service the port.