Review: Yoschi's Hotel & Restaurant - Good Choice of Accomodation in Mt Bromo Area

Our AirAsia flight to Surabaya's Juanda Airport landed at 3.30pm.

Since we knew we were gonna be landing rather late, Angie had already arranged with Yoschi's Hotel & Rastaurant for someone to pick us up.

Adi and the driver were waiting for us when we exited the arrival area. They led us to the car and we were on our way!

This is the 4-wheel drive that took us safely to Yoschi's. Here it's parked outside a musholla (prayer room) in a Pertamina petrol station cause Adi and the driver wanted to pray.

Oh yeah, Adi brought us a welcome gift too - rambutans!

I wonder if Adi would have brought us rambutans had we been Western travellers, hehehe. I'm saying this after seeing a Caucasian tourist in KL's Petaling Street (Chinatown) being so fascinated with these hairy fruits that she couldn't stop taking pics!

After stopping for a nasi padang dinner and prayer break for Adi and the driver, we arrived at Yoschi's at 8.00pm.

According to Adi, taking public transport from Surabaya's Juanda Airport to the Mount Bromo area like Ngadisari and Cemoro Lawang can be a hassle.

Reason is because from the airport, travellers need to take 2 buses and 1 minivan to the area.

Getting to Cemoro Lawang via Public Transport
Step 1: From Surabaya's Juanda Airport, take the Damri bus to Purabaya Bus Terminal.
Step 2: From Purabaya Bus Terminal, take the Patas bus to Probolinggo
Step 3: From Probolinggo, take the light green minivan that heads to Cemoro Lawang, the town nearest to Mt Bromo.

Adi said that buses don't move until they are filled. So just imagine the amount of waiting you'll have to do on all 2 buses and 1 minivan.

So it was a good choice to take private transport to Yoschi's, despite having to pay IDR550,000 for the entire car. But if you have more travellers in your group, then cost per person is lesser.

Now a bit on Yoschi's Hotel & Restaurant ...

The hotel is located in the Probolinggo area, with many signboards showing the way. Moreover it is located along the only road heading to Cemoro Lawang. So you can't possibly miss it.

Archway welcoming you to the area.

Only one main road leads to Yoschi's.

Signboard 1

Signboard 2

Signboard 3

See ... I told you there were many signboards showing the way to Yoschi's ... And if you still can't find the place, then knock yourself on the head.

Despite the Japanese sounding name, Yoschi's Hotel & Restaurant is owned by a German lady and her Indonesian husband. In fact, the hotel's name is a combination of both their names.

There was a group of backpackers when we were there. I think they were from The Netherlands.

Yoschi's is popular with travellers, like this group of backpackers.

I think they must have read bout Yoschi's and want to enjoy the hotel's beautiful surroundings like these:

Small doorway that leads to the rooms, restaurant, shower rooms, etc.

The employees work hard to keep Yoschi's gardens beautiful and clean. In fact, we saw them gardening tirelessly day in and day out. What a shame cause I only garden on FarmVille.

Our Economy Room was inside here. I didn't take any pics of the rooms cause it was very dark. In case you're curious, the beds and pillows looked like they never saw the light of day for 20 years.

There are no attached bathrooms in the Economy and Standard Rooms. So you shower in the shower rooms outside. The shower on the right is clean and spacious. The one on the left is quite dirty and not well maintained. Both showers have hot water - something very important in the cold climate of Mt Bromo.

A beautiful fountain beside the shower rooms. Behind this fountain is a musholla.

Breakfast (included in room rates) is served in the restaurant. The restaurant also serves delicious Indonesian and Western food.

If you are on a tight budget, there's an alternative to cut food cost. A young fella comes to sell bakso daily in the small hut opposite Yoschi's - only IDR5,000 a bowl. Super cheap!

Young fella preparing a bowl of bakso from his portable stall.

You can bring your bowl of bakso into the hotel's restaurant. But I chose to whack mine outside - surrounded by lovely mountains :-)

To me, bakso is one of the national dishes of Indonesia, like what nasi lemak is to Malaysia.

Apart from it's close location to Mt Bromo, what I like about Yoschi's are its friendly staff. They were helpful, always smiling, and never showed favouritism towards Caucasian travellers, like how I experienced in some fucked-up places.

So how much is a room in Yoschi's? Since I'm too lazy to type the details out, I snapped pics and posted them here. Click on the pics to get a bigger image. All the rates and contact details are there.

Enjoy your trip!