Address : Jalan Ngagel 173-175, SURABAYA, INDONESIA
Hotel Location : Eastern part of Surabaya City
Stars: Four
Introduction
If you are planning to visit Surabaya in your next holiday and looking for a good four star hotel, this hotel can be one of alternative for you. Novotel Surabaya is part of Accor network. So if you have Accor’s membership card “A|Club”, you can use it in this hotel and enjoy the benefits of their loyalty program. I got the opportunity to try their hotel and services when I received a free voucher to stay one night in their hotel. I quite enjoy my stay there, even though, it is not the best four star hotel, but I can say it’s the third best four star hotel in Surabaya.
Direction from Airport
If you are coming from Juanda International Airport, you need to take a direction to A.Yani Street. Just go straight to Wonokromo station and find Ngagel Street. The hotel is located in the opposite of Kali Mas river. Anyway, you just simply take a taxi from the airport. They can take you there in about 45 minutes from the airport.
Currency
For first time travelers to Indonesia, this country is using Rupiah as their currency. I recommend you to prepare some amount of Rupiah from your home country. And get currency exchange as soon as you arrive in the airport. There are currency exchanges on each part of Surabaya, but they are not having a proper signboard. The easiest way to exchange your money while you are in the city is from the hotel where you are staying or you can go to any bank near your location.
Location
Novotel Surabaya is located in eastern part of Surabaya on the main road of Ngagel. I can say, it is quite convenient since it is located not on a very busy road. And the hotel has a wide parking on front of the hotel so it can reduce the noises from the traffic.
A few years back, I may not recommend you to stay in this hotel since it is not convenient for tourist to travel around. However, since the growing of the city and the economy, thanks to Carrefour, they build a new mall near the hotel. Now, you can spend your free time there, hang out or even buying drinking water, snack, etc, which is much cheaper then the one in the mini bar.
Places near Hotel
If you are looking for places to take a picture, you can go to Tugu Pahlawan, which is part of historical monument, about 10-15 minutes drive. Actually, this monument is only about 7-8 km but you need to circle around the block to get there. Or you can go to FRENCH CULTURAL CENTER, just about one kilometer away from the hotel, and also MPU TANTULAR (+/- 2 km) which a museum about the history of Indonesia.
If you want to go further down to the city central, you can find the biggest shopping center in Surabaya, Tunjungan Plaza. It’s about +/- 7-8 km from hotel. You can find many stores to shop and café for hang out.
Facilities
The one thing I like about this hotel is the pool. It is nicely built and maintained. At night, you can get a barbeque near the pool. This barbeque is part of Janggala Restaurant. Like other hotel, they also provide sauna, Jacuzzi, fitness center, massage, billiard table, squash court or video game if you bring kids.
Rooms
They have Standard, Superior and Executive rooms. The superior is the room beside the pool. So the guests in this room can easily access the pool as soon as they wake up in the morning :). While the standards and Executives are located in second and third floor.
Restaurant
Janggala Restaurant is the only restaurant in this hotel. They only serve Indonesian food, but they do serve American breakfast if you like, but limited choices. The best of this restaurant, they prepare a terrace where you can sit and enjoy the morning, afternoon or night in Surabaya. You can also have a barbeque served by this restaurant and you can eat the barbeque near the pool. The other places for you to go in the hotel are Dahana Lounge Bar and Splash Bar. I can say it is an average bar, but quite enjoyable environment.
My opinion
I personally like this hotel, especially the pool and the way they arrange the restaurant. I quite enjoy of staying here. However, I feel their rate is over priced if comparing it to other four stars hotels. And the food in their restaurant needs to have more variations, but the environment helps a lot to forget about the food. A lot of people are worried to travel to Surabaya, but I can assure you that Surabaya people are nice and friendly people. You just need to find someone who can actually speak English, which is hardly to find on the street.
I had a small problem with the air conditioner when I stayed there. The air conditioner was running but only the fan came out from it. So the room is quite warm. However, they are responding the complaint quickly. They send someone to fix the air conditioner, but unfortunately, it failed. The air conditioner is only working for awhile and back as it was. So I asked the receptionist to change the room and everything was working well. The service is nicely maintained and well trained staffs.
