Tugu Hotel Blitar

Reasonable for the Price but not Great

The hotel was about 3 kms from the bus station. I called the hotel to arrange for a pickup. A motorcycle came to pick me up but I had to pay for the ride. It would have been cheaper had I hired one of the motorbikes that were waiting for fares outside the bus station. The air-conditioned bus ride from Malang was comfortable and cheap but it would have been better if I had taken a minibus that would have picked me up from my hotel in Malang and dropped me off at the hotel in Blitar.

The room I was offered for a price of 30,000 IDR plus tax was not a luxurious suite by any stretch of the imagination. It was medium in size and modestly decorated. The bathroom was not what I would have liked it to be. Instead of a bathtub or a shower it had a kind of large basin made of masonry, which could be filled with hot/cold water. A large mug was provided to fill with water and throw it on your body. It was just adequate. The bathroom was missing a wall. The open ventilation shaft next to it was open at the top as well. I had to keep the door of the bathroom closed to keep the cool air of the air-conditioner in and the mosquitoes out, of which there were plenty.

I stayed at the hotel for two nights. The first morning the breakfast was a buffet which was quite good but the next morning, for some reason, the breakfast was a choice between a meagre platter of Indonesian food or continental breakfast consisting of 2 toasts, jam and butter with coffee.

The service was good, even great. The staff were courteous, friendly and helpful in every way. The wi-fi was not working in the room but it was in the lobby. To sit in the lobby, especially in the evening, you had to be brave enough to face the mosquitoes. Luckily I had a repellant cream which I daubed on my arms and face to keep the pests away.

Unique Quality: What I liked about the hotel was its ambiance of a garden. It wasn't as good as the ambiance of the Taman Bali hotel in Lovina that I stayed in, nor that of Duta Garden in Jogja, both of which were fabulously decorated with greenery and artwork. The entrance was through a path that was lined on both sides with climbers with shoots that were hanging down like a curtain. The lobby and the reception desk was on the right and the dining room on the left. Beyond that there was another large room that could be used by the guests to sit and relax. It was decorated for the Chinese New Year. The paths that led around it were surrounded by greenery. There were rooms on both sides with a garden in between.

The tearoom where I was offered tea with snacks on both afternoons had the decor of a traditional country eating place and it was decorated with the Javanese Wayang style figures. Just outside it there was a statue of a Hindu goddess. At the entrance of the dining room there was a sculpture in some plastic material, all red, of Garuda with Krishna riding on its back. A painting hung inside my room just above the bed which showed peasants working in a rice paddy. The way the Javanese, who are mostly Muslim, have kept their link to their Hindu traditions alive, was refreshing.

• Opinion of Price: about average
• Related to: Arts and Culture, Historical Travel, Archeology
• Written March 11, 2012

Tugu Hotel Blitar Photo: The Entrance to Hotel Tugu

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