Semarang Nightlife: Bars and Clubs (Updated 2021)
By
Tibs
→
Updated in April 2021: I removed Babyface (+ several other venues) and I added Blackroom. Semarang is the 5th largest city in Indonesia with almost 2 millions inhabitants. Yet, its nightlife is not very developed apart from a few male-oriented bars and clubs. As a friend from Semarang told me, the problem is that most young people fall into one of these categories: - They are single but they still live with parents - They are conservative or not interested with clubbing - They married young and already have kids - They left Semarang for Jakarta, Surabaya or Bali - They cannot afford partying In the end, the few people you see in clubs are local businessmen/government employees, some Indonesians on business trips or traveling, very few expats and occasionally, students.
I have always enjoyed Surabaya nightlife even though the options for nightclubs and bars are limited and somewhat provincial. 3 million people live there, making it the second largest city in Indonesia. Compared to Jakarta, it still feels laid-back and unsophisticated. The streets are rather clean, you can walk on the sidewalks and the traffic is not horrible. There are several modern malls, but none of them as chic as Plaza Indonesia or even Grand Indonesia. Few expats live in Surabaya and even fewer tourists visit it. As a result, you may get more attention than usual from locals. I remember being at McDonald's and people were pointing at me as if I was some sort of curiosity. Since COVID happened, a lot of places have closed down in the city and the opening times may be shorter now. It can be a good idea to make a phone call to the venue you want to visit beforehand. If you are completely new to Surabaya, the best way to start your night out is to go to a mall li
Malang is one of the nicest cities I've been to in Java. It is a mid-sized mountain town just 2 hours from Surabaya, relatively clean (for Indonesia standards) and with pleasant weather (though it can be rainy). As you would expect, Malang nightlife is not the most happening. The current hotspot is actually the brand-new Starbucks, in front of which you may surprisingly see a couple of Ferraris. If you want to party, you have a few good bars and nightclubs though, enough to keep you busy for a weekend. Most bars are laid-back beer houses or live music cafés that are popular with students. These venues are not so sophisticated and their prices are as low as they can get. There are some reputed universities in the city (Universitas Negeri Malang in particular), so the crowd is rather educated and you can easily make friends if you are not shy to socialize. Clubs are more diversified. The best ones are modern, with a rich crowd, sexy girls and decent entertainment (DJs
I recently wrote about the best things to do in Jakarta . In the following review, I will be more specific and focus on night-time activities. A cliché used to describe Jakarta is that of "a city that never sleeps." While this could apply to any major capitals in the world, I think it is particularly accurate here. There is always some kind of life in Jakarta, whatever the time and whatever the location. It is quite logical considering the city has one of the highest population densities in the world. Another reason is that there are a lot of Indonesians working long shifts or night shifts, especially small business owners and independent workers. As long as money can be made, they won't close shop or go home. This is why you can always get food, cigarettes, or a taxi ride at any time of the night. For the traveler, the advantage of this situation is that there are a lot of things to do at night. Even better, if you go out after 9pm, you'll also enjoy less t
Within the past two weeks, both China and Russia have made VPNs illegal. This has made people worry that other countries might soon forbid them as well. In particular, we can wonder if Indonesia, where thousands of websites are blocked (because of porn, streaming, gambling, hate speech, terrorism, etc), will follow the lead. First, let me remind you quickly what VPNs are and why so many people are using them in Indonesia. VPN, an acronym for Virtual Private Network, is a technology that allows you to bypass internet censorship and to remain anonymous on the web. Basically, it connects your computer to a protected server in another country, from where you will be free to visit any sites you want. The best VPN companies do not keep track of your activity on their servers, meaning nobody will ever know what you did online.
The capital of Peru and the 3rd largest city in Latin America after Sao Paulo and Mexico, Lima has a huge nightlife scene. I was very surprised to discover that there is an endless number of bars and nightclubs, not only in the center, but in all the districts and suburbs of this sprawling megalopolis. You will find a bit of everything: High-end nightclubs filled with socialites, retro 80s and 90s discos, cheap backpacker watering holes, swanky beach clubs, trendy rooftop bars, packed salsotecas, and even several red-light districts.