Bridges aren’t usually the first thing you think of when choosing where to go on vacation, but these often-overlooked passageways can be architectural marvels. Whether for vehicles or pedestrians, a bridge connects two places — even if it’s simply two sides of a river.

While these spanning structures are certainly convenient, they’re also a great place to see beautiful works of art and impressive feats of engineering. A beautiful landscape is only enhanced when you’re standing on a beautiful bridge. 

Let’s see the most beautiful bridges in Indonesia, which offer beautiful scenery and become a cheap domestic tourism destination.

Suramadu Bridge

The Suramadu Bridge, also known as the Surabaya–Madura Bridge, is a cable-stayed bridge between Surabaya on the island of Java and the town of Bangkalan on the island of Madura in Indonesia. In June 2009, the 5.4-km bridge was the longest in Indonesia and the second-longest southern hemisphere. It is the first bridge to cross the Madura Strait.

The idea of a bridge connecting Surabaya with Madura is said to have first been proposed in the early 1960s by the well-known Indonesian engineer Professor Sedyatmo from the Bandung Institute of Technology. Later, in the mid-1980s, there was renewed interest in the project when staff from the National Development Planning Bureau (Bappenas) met with Japanese aid donors to discuss the construction of a bridge.

Pasupati Bridge

Pasupati Bridge is a bridge that connects the north and east of Bandung through the Cikapundung valley. It has a length of 2.8 km and a width of 30–60 m. The road is built over Jalan Pasteur, which is a long street flanked by the palm trees that characterize the city of Bandung.

The bridge and overpass are known for their colorful display, particularly at night, which has become emblematic of Bandung as a whole. The overpass and bridge connect to the main Cipularang Toll Road from Jakarta and have greatly improved the traffic flow from the Greater Jakarta area into Bandung. Under the bridge, there is a park named Pasupati Park.

The elevated highway structures in Bandung are given the name Pasupati. They formerly took the name Paspati, which may have been unfortunately misinterpreted as the Sundanese “pas mati” - "when death."

Pasupati is a portmanteau of Jalan Pasteur and Jalan Surapati. The Pasupati structures have links back to the town planning work of Thomas Karsten. The current structure was built as a result of an infrastructure grant from Kuwait. After many years of delays and issues, initial trials were carried out on June 26, 2005.

Ampera Bridge

Ampera Bridge, a now-rarely used colloquial name for the preamble of the Constitution of Indonesia), formerly Bung Karno Bridge (Indonesian: Jembatan Bung Karno, after President Sukarno) between its opening and the 1966 De-Sukarnoization campaign, is a vertical-lift bridge in the city of Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. It connects Seberang Ulu and Seberang Ilir, two regions of Palembang. It can no longer be opened to allow ships to pass.

The bridge was planned during Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, who wanted a bridge to open and matched London's Tower Bridge. The funds for the construction came from Japanese war reparations, with Fuji Heavy Industries being given responsibility for design and construction.

However, at the time, Japan had no bridges of this type, and Fuji Heavy Industries had no bridge-building experience. The official opening was carried out by Governor of South Sumatra, Abujazid Bustomi, on November 10, 1965. 

Cikubang Bridge

Cikubang Bridge is a railway bridge that connects the railway line from Bandung to Jakarta. This bridge is located in Padalarang, West Bandung Regency, West Java. The bridge has four steel pillars weighing about 110 tons. The Cikubang Bridge has been in use since 1906 and is still standing firmly with a height of 80 meters from the bottom of the Cikubang river. The construction of this bridge is related to the construction of the Cikampek-Purwakarta-Bandung railway line, which was started between 1881 – 1884 by the Staatsspoorwegen (SS) railway company.

The addition of the bridge structure with semicircular metal arches along the rails at the bottom of the bearings in 1953. The strengthening was in line with the start of the diesel locomotive. The Cikubang Bridge is clearly visible from the highway between Plered and Padalarang and often makes tourists stop to watch the trains crossing the bridge.