Java is a beautiful Indonesian island to travel round (see our Java itinerary for more info), and there are many public buses which take backpackers up and down the island, making travel from hub to hub relatively cheap and straight forward. You will most likely want to combine a trip to Java with some of the other Indonesian islands such as Lombok, Sumatra, Flores, Komodo and Bali, in which case flying from Jakarta or Yogyakarta is your best bet. Combining buses with a ferry from island to island is also an option which would work quite well.
Many of the local tour operators will have minibuses in which they will organise pick up and drop off to your accommodation. Travelling about by road is generally quite pleasant as the roads in Java are in decent condition and some of the views across the countryside, carved into thousands of rice terraces, are excellent. Around Jakarta the traffic is horrendous however, as the city population doubles during the day with commuters travelling to and from the city to work.
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