Banyuwangi 2022 1/4 : De Djawatan Benculuk, Argo Buah Naga, Merah Island

 "It's one of those things that generate my happiness, Traveling"

at De Djawatan

Do you remember when was your first trip in 2022? Pontianak was my first trip this year. I planned to go to Banyuwangi at that time but unfortunately my trip was cancelled due to less participants. So I am still keen on to go to Banyuwangi and luckily I have another chance to go. I am taking some days off and try to find another travel agent. I went with my best friend, actually she went to Banyuwangi already yet she still wants to accompany me during this trip.

We booked our flight and hotel, initial plan was flying from Jakarta to Denpasar by Air Asia on Thursday night then taking travel to Banyuwangi on midnight but since our flight to Denpasar was cancelled 2 days before departure, so we asked for refund then we booked another flight but direct to Banyuwangi on Friday morning. 

After some research, to press the budget for this trip, we booked travel agent which provides day trip and not depending on participants quota, I found this travel agent and min. 2 pax to book their trip so it's suitable for us. They also have several options for Banyuwangi trip. So we went to Banyuwangi from August 12 - 15, 2022 (4D/3N).

Day 1 - Friday, August 12, 2022

Early morning flight is always challenging for me, waking up in early morning around 3 AM then leaving to airport at 3.30 AM. Since it's still early we arrived at the airport after 45 minutes by Grab Car. From Jakarta we left by plane at 6.30 AM and arrived at Banyuwangi International Airport around 7.50 AM. The Airport looks simple but nice, there are only 1 - 2 flights per day. We flew by Batik Air, since we booked 2 days before, so the price was quite expensive (Rp 1.7 million/person), so glad there was promotion so I got Cashback 5% via Blibli. We booked open trip for day 1 already and asked the travel agent to pick up at Airport.

early morning flight

ready to board on plane

inside Batik Air

uwaaa I loveee this view

Banyuwangi International Airport

arrived at the airport

waiting for our luggage, the airport is a bit similar with Sumba

De Djawatan Benculuk

It's our first destination at Banyuwangi, from Airport took around 30 minutes. This place is located not far from the main road but this forest was so stunning. The big trees and some of them already more than 100 years old. I heard some people called this place "Lord of the Rings of Java" When we arrived at that place, it was not crowded yet so it's easy for us to take pictures. There is a cafe inside the forest so we sat there and had some coffee before moving to the next place.

first stop, De Djawatan Benculuk

stunning!

look how big is the tree

Agrowisata Naga Listrik (Agro Buah Naga)

The idea to build this place was they want to have something different that they can offer to customer, so when you came to this place you can also have some insight about Dragon Fruit, this Dragon Fruit actually exist only on November - December but luckily since they found a way how to keep the fruit always can be found everyday by putting a lamp above the plants. They turn on the lamp for around 5 hours, 6 PM - 11 PM or 12 PM - 5 AM. They taking care organic Dragon Fruit and Orange (Jeruk Siem), in this place you can try to pick the fruit directly from the tree and eat it. The quality was very nice and taste sweet. They also try to make something different to drink, called Naga Listrik (mixing Dragon Fruit and Orange), they didn't use blender because they want to keep the seeds so they put the fruits in the freezer then put some hot water and mix with orange, add sugar is optional. I like this drink, sweet and fresh.

We had lunch at this place since the owner already prepared our lunch with some traditional dishes, most of the food tasted spicy yet sweet. We thanked them to their great hospitaly and cozy place to hang out. You can go around and see the garden, they have some plants such as dragon fruit, orange, green guava, green chilli etc. This place is located around south area so it took around an hour from De Djawatan.

I think that was my first time seeing the Dragon Fruit plants

Jeruk Siam

the guest house

they also build guest house there

thank you for having us! :)

pose with the dragon fruit plants

Pulau Merah (Merah Island)

It was still very hot when we went to Merah Island but we didn't want to waste our time. Making our way more to the south to reach this beach. The things that made this beach unique were there was a hill in front of the beach and this beach will look more beautiful during sunset because the hill will look bit red ish so they called this island, Pulau Merah, Merah is Red in Indonesian. This beach also suitable for them who wants to try surfing because the waves were not that big, suitable for beginner. When I saw this beach, I kind of recalled Mawun Beach at Lombok, similar but without hill. We sat there enjoying the beach before heading to the hotel.

soooo hottt

a bit similar with Mawun Beach - Lombok

that hill is the icon of this island

Nasi Tempong Mbak Har

We asked to make a stop for early dinner before going to our hotel, so he introduced us this place. He said this is local food, so we ate on this place. Their Sambal is the thing that made this place special since they use so many tomatoes but different kind of tomatoes that I found it amusing because the shape similar with pumpkin, looks cute and they use lots of it, the sambal was very tasty even looks spicy. We ordered some dishes such as Gurame Fish, Eels and Chicken (Rp 130k). We had a delicious early dinner at that place.

Before heading to our hotel, we also stopped by to buy some local snacks to bring home since we thought that we don't have much time to go there on our last day. We went to Wong Osing and bought some snacks there (Rp 180k). 

let's dig in

yum!

we had fish, eels, chicken & side dishes

so many options and still affordable

El Hotel Royale

Our first hotel at Banyuwangi, surprisingly with the rate was quite affordable yet the service, location and the hotel is wonderful. We booked via Agoda for Deluxe Room (Rp 460k/night). We arrived around 6 pm at the hotel and I got to swim for a while since the pool closed at 7 PM. The pool was quite huge amd nobody swim at that time, the water also warm so I enjoyed my swimming time and felt so refreshing. We had our dinner already so we didn't go out at night again. Tomorrow we will go to Tabuhan Island etc so we asked the travel agent to pick us up at our hotel by paying additional Rp 400k (return and drop off).

our bedroom

swim at night for sure :)

happy face enjoying holiday :)

Thank you for reading my travel diaries and see you on the next travel diaries. Anyway I tried different style editing my pictures, not sure if these would look good.

MJ