If you are looking for the best places to meet girls in Surabaya and a dating guide for this city then we have some solid info for you. This is not a town known for thriving singles nightlife or tons of things to do, but if you want to take some women on dates that can be set up pretty easily.
If you are looking for a fun city to visit with lots of cool touristy things on the menu then this probably isn’t it. As you will tell while reading this dating guide for Surabaya there just isn’t a whole lot going on here, other than a few million local people living their lives.
For some guys that can be a good thing, most tourists take a pass on visiting when they find out that there isn’t much to see and do. That means foreign men that do visit have a good chance of picking up some single girls in Surabaya and finding dates won’t be hard.
If all you care about is playing the field, trying to hook up with a lot of girls in your area, or finding a hot girlfriend or future wife then you may want to visit. If instead you are looking for a well rounded vacation spot and hitting on Javanese women being only part of your journey you will be better off in other places.
Table of Contents
If you haven’t noticed we are directing this post mostly at foreigners who are known as ‘bule’ in Indonesia. We are writing it in English and don’t expect too many locals to be reading it, but if you are a local guy hopefully you can learn a little from this guide as well.
But we expect the vast majority of readers to be from other countries so after we talk about the best singles nightlife and date spots we will be giving some tips to any tourists or new expats who will be coming through Indonesia for the first time.
Nightclubs & Pick Up Bars
There really is not much to offer in this section and many of the clubs will have prostitutes floating around so be aware of that. If you did want to visit some of the best pick up bars and nightclubs to meet single girls in Surabaya try:
- Our Bar at Jl. Embong Cerme 17, Embong Kaliasin
- Coyote in Tunjungan Plaza
- Lappa Lounge at AK 1 39-40, Pakuwon Square, Jl. Mayjend
- Vertique Club at Jl. Basuki Rahmat 23C
- Colors Pub at Jl. Sumatera 81, Gubeng
- Club 360 at Royal Plaza
- Foreplay at Surabaya Town Square
- Pentagon Club at Jl. Tegalsari 29 – 31
- Phoenix Club at Jl. Kenjeran 143, Gading
- Breakshot at Jl. Kenjeran 432, Gading
- Desperados at Jl. Mayjen Sungkono in the Shangri-La Hotel
- Almaluna at Pakuwon Mall, Ground Floor
In particular clubs like Coyote and Desperados are known to have more prostitutes, and Our Bar is probably the top spot to meet single women who want to date foreign men.
Unfortunately there is no main area for singles nightlife in Surabaya to hook up with girls. As we will cover later on the area around Tunjungan Plaza is about as centrally located as you can get, but the lack of a distinct bar district is a bit of a bummer.
There really aren’t that many more bars and nightclubs in Malang, but it isn’t far away and if you aren’t liking it here you might find that city better for you.
Meet Surabaya Girls During The Day
Not all guys like to party in the nightlife and there really isn’t much nightlife for singles to even speak of here. For guys who were hoping to pick up Surabaya women during the day we don’t have much more to offer either.
Don’t worry, we are going to be telling you about a great way to set up dates shortly, but day game just isn’t it. There are a few factors at play here, and they are the same as when we wrote our Jakarta dating guide or any other for this country.
We will gloss over this now but cover it more in depth in the tips for tourists section towards the end. Lets just say the combination of lack of English and most Indonesian girls being shy and conservative means day game will be a long tedious process that rarely leads anywhere.
Since there really isn’t anything else to do in this town you may still want to give it a go, just temper your expectations. The best places to meet girls in Surabaya during the day would be at shopping malls, the biggest and best would be:
- Tunjungan Plaza
- Pakuwon Mall
- Galaxy Mall
- Ciputra World
- Grand City Mall
There are other malls out there, but these will probably be the best, particularly the top two.
Chat With Girls Online
Finally we have some positive news for our readers! There is not great nightlife here and day game isn’t good either, so how is a guy supposed to set up a date?
By meeting Surabaya girls online! In some cities online dating is just another tool in your arsenal that is worth using, but shouldn’t be your focal point. Here it is pretty much the only thing that matters.
Indonesian Cupid is the top online dating site in the country and there are thousands of Surabaya girls using it. Remember that this is not a small town and millions of people live here.
Also remember that we told you that foreigners are known as bule, well not many bule visit this city and many local girls really want to date foreign men. So what happens when a new bule hops into these waters? He can get a date any night he wants one.
It won’t always lead to you getting laid, remember that many of the Javanese women in your area are very religious and conservative, but there are some under cover freaks out there don’t worry. We would rate this as a good not great city for hooking up, but one of the top cities in the world for finding a hot girlfriend or future wife.
Indonesian Cupid will allow you to pipeline a couple weeks before your trip, find the right girls online, and get to know them to speed up the process once you land no matter if quick hook ups or finding something more serious is the goal.
Surabaya Dating Guide
Now you know of the best way to meet girls near you and our Surabaya dating guide can begin. There aren’t a ton of great date spots around town, but there are two very easy places to go that have a lot going on and make for an easy date night.
Those would be the two biggest malls in the city: Tunjungan Plaza and Pakuwon Mall. Both are loaded with good restaurants, and Pakuwon Mall often has live music playing on the upper floor by all the food.
If in doubt just head to one of those two malls and you will find somewhere to go. Some of the best romantic restaurants in the city are:
- Hacienda at Tunjungan Plaza
- Layar Seafood at Jl. Manyar Kertoarjo 62-64n
- Kafe Bromo in the Sheraton Hotel
- Boncafe with many locations
- Citilites Skyclub & Bistro in Java Paragon Hotel
- De Soematra at Jl. Sumatera 75, Gubeng
- Pavilion in the JW Marriott Hotel
- Buro at Jl. Sumatera 40, Gubeng
Much like at Tunjungan Plaza and Pakuwon you can also find many good restaurants for a date at Ciputra World. There is another of the Domicile brand there, plus up top you have a whole floor and plenty of good places to eat to choose from.
Surabaya Town Square is like a combination of outlet mall and meeting place. They will often have live music playing on stage over the weekends so it can be a good date spot.
There are some more bars and places with live music in the area of town near Colors Bar and Domicile on Jalan Sumatera, they might also be good spots to pick up single girls. G Walk is another good place to take a date, and there is karaoke at Breakshot who we recently added to the best nightclubs near you list.
Day Date Ideas
There really isn’t a ton to do during the day here as we have mentioned many times. Some of the top day date ideas in Surabaya would be to get some ice cream at Zangrandi, go to the Ciputra Water Park, or visit the House of Sampoerna Museum which is all about cigarettes but also has a great café.
For more outdoor activities take a harbor cruise under the Suramadu Bridge or if you don’t mind traveling for a few hours visit Mount Bromo. Heck, even Yogyakarta probably has better day date options.
Tips For Tourists & New Expats
Lets start this off with where to stay, the best area would be as close to Tunjungan Plaza as possible. This is the top place to meet local girls during the day, it has a nightclub, has many of the best date spots, and is centrally located.
Getting a hotel as close to this massive mall will be the best thing you can do, or maybe a little South on Jalan Sumatera in that area we were just talking about. A second option would be to stay over near Pakuwon Mall, though it is pretty isolated from the rest of the city.
It is also huge and has many things to do, but going into town from there can take some time. It does need to be pointed out that Pakuwon Mall is in Western Surabaya, even though there is a suburb to the East called Pakuwon that you may see on the map.
We aren’t really sure how that works, but just remember that the mall is not actually in the suburb. Ya, strange, and we tried to do our best with the addresses here even if they can be a trip.
There is no Uber here, Southeast Asia is dominated by Grab. However in Indonesia the top transportation app is GoJek, you should download one or both to get around town or get food delivered to you.
The local currency is the rupiah and you get around 15,500 of them for every dollar. This is a pretty budget friendly place to visit and finding a cheap date spot in Surabaya won’t be hard.
Now lets talk more about the Javanese girls in your area, we kind of worry that we are coming off as scammy and that it feels like the whole point of this post is to lead you to the dating site. Sure, we would like you to sign up, but we mentioned how great the Bali nightlife can be, ditto for the Jakarta guide we linked before.
When we talk about the Philippines we mention how easy day game is there, we would like you to sign up for those dating sites also but have to be honest. The singles nightlife just isn’t very good here and when there are so few clubs to choose from that means they are more densely populated with hookers.
Day game does not work well in Indonesia. The local Javanese women are unlikely to speak English and they will be very shy if a bule approaches them in a crowded place. Then you have to factor in the conservative and religious nature of most Indonesian women.
That is also one of the main reasons for the lack of nightlife. Even if there are millions of people here it still has a bit of a small town feel, particularly at bars or clubs because there are so few.
A Surabaya girl who hooks up with a foreigner the first night she meets him at a club will be the talk of her social circle for weeks. They don’t want that, but meeting foreign men online gives women a chance to date or get laid discreetly.
Out in the nightlife you might pull a girl, but if you do there is a good chance she is a hooker. If you approach twenty women during the day you probably can get a few numbers and maybe some dates, but twenty girls during the day takes a lot of time.
When you meet girls in Surabaya online on Indonesian Cupid you can have double digit numbers in your phone in a few hours and dates set up whenever you are ready. When you go on a date just use nice guy game, be friendly, don’t be a pervert, and try to have some fun.
If you get them to agree to come back to your place that is when you can get more aggressive. Another city that has a similar dating culture is Medan, lots of girls will want to date foreigners but hooking up may not come that fast or easy with the best of the best.
Enjoy Dating Surabaya Girls
This is a pretty polarizing city amongst the online manosphere, there really is just not a lot to do other than try to hook up or find a girlfriend. If that is all that interests you then maybe check it out, if you get bored easily pick another town.
There are plenty of single women around, but not all of them will be quick to get laid with a guy they just met. However foreign men have many options, even if you don’t hook up quickly you can find some great local women near you and just maybe your future wife.
That wraps up our best places to meet girls in Surabaya and the dating guide, enjoy yourself.