Cepu is a district in Central Java, Indonesia.

Understand

Cepu is a small town on the eastern border of Central Java province.

In its heyday it was a centre for the logging of the abundant teak plantations on the nearby range of low limestone hills. Those forests have been seriously overlogged and the industry is now in decline, but the steam locomotives that were used to haul the logs are somewhat preserved in a museum in the town.

Thanks to natural seeping of oil onto the surface of the ground, the town was also a pioneer in the development of Indonesia's oil industry. Though production has now spread across the archipelago, Cepu still maintains some important facilities, including a refinery and the country's main oil and gas industry training centre.

Get in

By train

The main Semarang to Surabaya train line passes through Cepu.

• 1 Cepu Railway Station (Stasiun Cepu), Jl. Diponegoro, Kondangdoro. Follow train schedule. Cepu Station is a large class C type train station located in Balun, precisely in front of Ronggolawe Field; located at an altitude of +28 m. This station is the easternmost active train station in Operation Area IV Semarang and Central Java. KA. Ambarawa Ekspres from Semarang and Surabaya, KA. Sembrani from Gambir Station and KA. Gumarang from Pasar Senen Station in Central Jakarta stop in Cepu. (updated Sep 2022)

By plane

• 2 Ngloram Airport (CPF  ^IATA), Ngloram. Follow flight schedule. There is once a week flight using a small propeller ATR aircraft by Wings Air from Pondok Cabe Airport in South Tangerang and Citilink from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta. (updated Sep 2022)

By intercity bus

• 3 Cepu Bus Terminal (Terminal Cepu), Megal, Balun. Many intercity bus company such as Haryanto and Pahala Kencana has a route to Cepu from Jakarta with AC and food service. (updated Sep 2022)

Get around

You may rent a car or motorbike in downtown of Cepu.

See

Cepu Forest Railway

• 1 Cepu Forest Railway. One of the four main centres for steam locomotives in Java. The largest collection of active preserved steam locomotives in Indonesia. Globally significant as an active and complete steam locomotive-powered logging railway. The main remaining line is about 30 kilometres (19 mi). Seldom used for logging now, tourist services and charters run to an arboretum where there are 150-year-old teak trees. (updated Nov 2017)
• 2 Grojogan Bengawan Solo, Jipang. Small waterfall of Bengawan Solo river. (updated Sep 2022)
• 3 Jipang Palace (Keraton Jipang), Jipang, Cepu, Blora. 7AM-5PM. In this palace, you can learn a lot about the history of the palace and the story of Arya Penangsang. (updated Dec 2022)

Do

• 1 MC Edupark, Jl. Nglajo, Wonotejo, ☏ +62 812 289 94993. Daily 08:00-16:00. A water playground, facilities for sports, ATV, paintball, and archery. Near the park, there is also a golf course. (updated Sep 2022)

Buy

The take-home snack of choice is 'egg rolls', delicate wafer biscuits rolled up into a tube. Quite delicious.

The supply of timber has generated a small industry creating wooden crafts, carved statuettes of motorbikes and the likes. Items tend to be coloured with a heavy stain, and finished with a high gloss varnish.

On the road south towards Ngawi, there is an industry of digging up the roots of felled teak trees, and making them into tables and other furniture.

Eat

• 1 Lontong Opor Pak Pangat, Jl. Lap. Terbang, RT.05/RW.01, Ngloram, ☏ +62 815 756 84348. Daily 10:00-14:00. A rice cake with chicken in coconut milk soup. (updated Sep 2022)
• 2 Warung Makan Bu Nur Spesial Ikan Jendil, Jl. Lap. Terbang, Kentong, ☏ +62 821 336 59558. 09:00-15:00. Serves fried ikan jendil (shark catfish) with lalap (boiled veggies) and sambal. The fish is taken from Bengawan Solo river. (updated Sep 2022)

Drink

Kopi kothok, coffee and sugar boiled in a hot water. It is very common in Cepu.

• 1 Kedai Kopi Bongol, Jl. Gajah Mada No.8, RW.2, Sidomulyo, ☏ +62 857 652 18095. Serves kopi kothok. (updated Sep 2022)
• 2 Skarep Coffee Shop, Jl. Pramuka By pass, Wonotejo, ☏ +62 822 434 74487. 10:00-24:00. Serves kopi kothok. (updated Oct 2022)

Sleep

Thanks to the oil and gas training centre, the accommodation options in Cepu punch way above their weight for a small town. Most notably:

• 1 Hotel Ammi Cepu, Jl Gianti No. 14 (Just north of the oil and gas training centre), ☏ +62 296 426-9191, fax: +62 296 426-9393, contact@ammicepu.com. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00. A bright-white, colonaded riff on the Singapore's Raffles Hotel or perhaps even the White House. Extremely well appointed and managed. Very comfortable, if somewhat unexpected. From Rp900,000. (updated Nov 2017)

Connect

The dialing code for Cepu is 0297.

Go next

• Blora
• Bojonegoro
• Ngawi