Bandung.

Sitting on a highland plateau, Bandung enjoys cooler air than the rest of Java and a relaxed, creative feel that has earned it the nickname Paris of Java. It is a genuine student city, home to the prestigious ITB and several big universities, with a famous café and street-food culture and volcanoes on every horizon. Costs are low even by Indonesian standards, and the new high-speed train puts Jakarta under an hour away.

• Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Universitas Padjadjaran anchor a huge student population.
• The highland climate is cooler and fresher than Jakarta, with volcanoes and tea country all around.

Student life revolves around cafés, Bandung has thousands, especially up in Dago, plus a creative scene of live music, distros (independent clothing stores) and street food. Braga, the old colonial street, is the hub for bars and nightlife, and campus communities at ITB and Unpad run events year round. It is a laid-back, café-and-hangout culture rather than a big club scene, and locals are welcoming to exchange students.

• Dago's hillside cafés for studying, coffee and mountain views.
• Braga Street for colonial-era bars, live music and a night out.
• Join campus clubs at ITB or Unpad, as the student community is huge and welcoming.

Bandung is very cheap, even for Indonesia, so budget around €350–600 a month, at the lower end of the national band. A street-food meal costs a euro or two, rented rooms (kos) are inexpensive, and a Gojek motorbike ride across town is pocket change. Your biggest spend will be the occasional trip or nicer café, not daily living.

• A kos (rented room) runs Rp 1.5–3 million a month (roughly €90–180).
• A plate of nasi at a warung is Rp 15,000–30,000 (about €1–2).
• Gojek and Grab motorbike rides across town cost Rp 10,000–25,000.

Students almost all live in a kos, a rented room, often with a shared or private bathroom, clustered around the campuses in Dago, Dipatiukur and Ciumbuleuit. You find them through word of mouth, the Mamikos app, and Facebook groups rather than formal agencies. Visit in person, check the water, wifi and distance to campus, and clarify whether it is a male, female or mixed kos.

• Use the Mamikos app and campus Facebook groups to find a kos.
• Dago and Dipatiukur for ITB and Unpad; Ciumbuleuit for Unpar.
• Ask the Bandung Studcasa group which kos and neighbourhoods students recommend.

Bandung has no metro, so getting around means angkot (shared minibuses on fixed routes), Trans Metro Bandung buses, and above all the Gojek and Grab apps for motorbike and car rides. Traffic is heavy, especially at weekends when Jakartans visit, so a motorbike ojek is often fastest. Download Gojek or Grab before you arrive and link a local payment method.

• Install Gojek and Grab for cheap ojek (motorbike) and car rides, the default way to move.
• Angkot minibuses run fixed colour-coded routes for a few thousand rupiah.
• Avoid the roads at weekends, when day-trippers from Jakarta clog the city.

Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) is Indonesia's most prestigious technical university, strong in engineering, science and design, while Universitas Padjadjaran (Unpad) and UPI are large public universities and Telkom and Parahyangan (Unpar) round out the scene. Teaching is more formal and lecturer-led than in Europe, and while some courses run in English, everyday campus life happens in Indonesian. The international offices help exchange students settle.

• ITB sits centrally near Dago; Unpad's main campus is out at Jatinangor, so check your faculty's location.
• Some courses are English-taught, but picking up basic Bahasa Indonesia helps enormously.

It depends heavily on your nationality, but for a full semester almost everyone needs a proper study visa, not a tourist stamp. Your host university acts as sponsor: they arrange a study permit and a VITAS (limited-stay visa), which you convert to a KITAS residence permit after you land.

Start early, this goes through the immigration system and can take one to two months, so chase your Indonesian coordinator for documents well before you fly. Short programs under 60 days can sometimes run on a visa-on-arrival or a B211 visit visa, but don't assume it: get written confirmation of exactly which visa your program uses.

• Full semester: university-sponsored VITAS → KITAS permit
• Start the paperwork 2-3 months ahead
• Bring a passport valid 12+ months, spare photos, proof of funds
• Short (<60 day) programs may use a visit visa, confirm first

Bandung is a street-food capital, home of Sundanese cuisine, nasi timbel, fresh karedok and lotek salads, and snacks like batagor, siomay, mie kocok and sweet surabi pancakes. Eat at warungs and roadside carts for next to nothing, and cool off with es cendol. The city is also famous for its factory outlets and distros, a legacy of its textile trade.

• Try batagor and siomay (fried and steamed dumplings) from a street cart.
• Order nasi timbel or a karedok salad at a Sundanese warung.
• Cool down with es cendol or a fresh coconut on a hot afternoon.

Dago runs up the northern hillside and is the café-and-student heartland, Dipatiukur sits near the main campuses, and Ciumbuleuit and Setiabudi climb towards the cooler heights near Unpar. Braga and the Asia-Afrika area form the historic colonial centre, while Jalan RE Martadinata (Riau) is the factory-outlet shopping strip. Lembang, up in the hills to the north, is a weekend escape.

• Dago and Dipatiukur for student life near ITB and Unpad.
• Ciumbuleuit and Setiabudi for cooler air near Unpar.
• Braga and Asia-Afrika for the colonial-era centre and nightlife.

Bandung is ringed by volcanoes and tea country. Tangkuban Perahu, an active volcano with a drive-up crater, is about 90 minutes north past Lembang, and the turquoise Kawah Putih crater lake lies two hours south near Ciwidey's tea plantations and strawberry farms. Best of all, the new Whoosh high-speed train reaches Jakarta in around 45 minutes, opening up the capital and its airport for weekends.

• Tangkuban Perahu volcano and Lembang's highlands, about 1.5 hours north.
• Kawah Putih crater lake and Ciwidey's tea plantations, around 2 hours south.
• The Whoosh high-speed train reaches Jakarta in about 45 minutes.

Get Gojek and Grab set up straight away, as they run your transport, food delivery and payments. Bandung's highland weather is cooler and wetter than the rest of Java, so pack a light jacket and a rain layer. Learn basic Bahasa Indonesia, carry small cash for warungs and angkots, and haggle politely at markets and outlets.

• Set up Gojek/Grab and a local e-wallet (GoPay or OVO) in your first days.
• Pack a light jacket, as evenings in the highlands get genuinely cool.
• Ask the Bandung Studcasa group which volcano and tea-country trips are worth doing.