Added Value?

Coming from a 2 km walk through the surrounding hills (altitude around 1000m) from Candi Sukuh temple one enters this waterfall through the lower riverside entrance. It being a Friday just after prayer time, the car park is very much deserted and the ticket officer has to scramble to present himself at the other side of the ticket booth.

Tickets are on a premium. Though the practice is commonplace in some Southeast Asia countries, this is one of the few places I've encountered in Indonesia to ask the poor foreign tourists to pay for overtime: 19,000 INRs. Still it’s not much (~2 $US) but compared to other cheaper waterfalls there’s not much in return. An area set aside for the waterfall (20 ha). A load of poorly maintained and unusable facilities (why a fishpond, if there’s not even water in it?), a track of upturned stones (which seems to dissuade everyone from continuing onwards to the waterfall), a complete lack of refuse collection understanding and a troupe of loitering monkeys which have taken up residence of the only bridge.

Anyway Air Terjun Grojogan Sewu (which translates as 1000 waterfalls) is seen to be famous. The LP Indonesia terms it as ‘probably the most famous waterfall in Java’. Other than that the water drops about 80m onto a bed of rocks (source, though it may be an overstatement), there doesn’t seem to be any other reason why it might be famous. Visitor numbers are down, but the fact that there are 2 parking areas might be the reason why it’s famous.


Between the car park and the falls themselves there is the aforementioned footpath, which alternatively to stumbling along can be taken by horse, some even cripple. Nearer the bridge which is the termination point of the trail are a number of stalls whose sole intention is to add to the refuse blending in with the scenery. There are a number of picnic spots as well as the odd pool in which to paddle.

Getting here other than described above is via Tawangmangu, 2 km away, a town which maintains good transport connections with Solo city.

Not so far away is the waterfall of Jumog, a better place to picknick. And Pringgodani.

Alt programme

While heading out for the Candi Sukuh temple complex in Central Java (see photo above), my eye caught hold of a signpost announcing Jumog waterfall. After a quick discussion with that day’s guide and we were pulling up into the small car-park precariously located on the edge of the ravine.

It being early morning, life still had to kick in, but at least the ticket officer was open. We paid the fee (3,000 INR apparently community run), made a U-turn and walked down the steep stairway leading into the ravine until we reached the valley floor.

Here there was a kiddies water park normally river fed, but now (still?) empty. Across the river the well-cemented paths continued. Everything was still in the process of getting cleaned, though it was very apparent that almost all cleaning work had taken place, the area being nearly spotless. Past some stalls still in the process of opening up, one comes to the cliff face where the approximately 30m high waterfall thunders down. Swimming possibilities are available under the waterfall as well as further downstream. even a kiddies pool is available.
Air Terjun Jumog made a great impression, one of the better managed sites in Southeast Asia.


As said we continued on to the top of the ridge to the Candi Sukuh temple (entrance fee 10,000 INRs, nearly a $US) and then walked two hours along fields and through cloves plantations to another waterfall, named Grojogan Sewu.

All are best accessed through Tawangmangu, a town reknown for it’s cool climate as it sits between the Lawu and Kukusan mountains. Tawangmangu sits on the road from Solo to Magetan and can be best accessed from Solo.

Visiting the 15th century Candi Sukuh temple is certainly worthwhile; it’s not so big, nor overrun (as say Bororbodur). A Hindu-Buddist temple, it seems to include various animism elements. Further away (nearly 10 km from Candi Sukuh) is the Candi Celo temple from the same era.