Nimo Highland – The Best View of Pangalengan, Bandung

Stunning view of Malabar tea plantation and Situ Cileunca from Nimo Highland.

Nimo Highland at Malabar tea plantation in Pangalengan, Bandung is a new place to hang out and enjoy the spectacular view of Bandung Highland: a tea plantation surrounded by mountains.

Bandung Highland is famous for the beauty of its nature, namely the mountains and the tea plantations surrounding the Bandung basin. Usually, tourists flock to Lembang in the north or Ciwidey in the south. However, recently Pangalengan near Ciwidey also has several attractive places. One of them is Nimo Highland.

What is Nimo Highland?

In short, Nimo Highland is a place where you can enjoy the view of the Malabar tea plantation and the lake of Cileunca.

Nimo derives from Nini Mountain (Nini is a Sundanese word for grandma), where the location is. It is high up on the mountain amidst the Malabar tea plantation. Here you can have a clear 360⁰ view of the surroundings. You even can see Situ Cileunca from afar (situ is a Sundanese word for lake).

Walk on Nimo Highland's glass bridge to get a clear view of Malabar tea plantation.

Things to Do in Nimo Highland

The first two things you will notice when you reach Nimo Highland are the vast parking lot and a big building, where you will find the ticket counters and a food court.

Nimo Highland has two centers of activities. The first one is on the tea plantation across the building. Here you can rent ATV and ride across the tea plantation or play paintball. Of course, you need separate tickets for each activity.

Your ticket to the second activity center includes a shuttle car ride since it is still 400 meters up to the peak. Unfortunately, Nimo uses old public transportation in Pangalengan as the shuttle cars. Although the engines are in good condition, the bodies are peeling. Plus, it is difficult for senior citizens to access the high back door.

These shuttles stop around 100 meters from the entrance. So, another walk uphill is in order :) Once you reach the ticket boom gate, you will see plenty of white walls with blue roofs to resemble Santorini in Greek. Too bad the stairs are steep and narrow, a bit difficult to walk through, especially in the crowds. But, these hassles are worth it when you have reached the edges of the platform to see the spectacular views of the Malabar tea plantation and Situ Cileunca.

The Santorini platform is not the only place to enjoy the scenery. The best place to see it is from the glass bridge. This U-shaped bridge is 150 meters long. Since the bridge is the highest structure in Nimo Highland, you can have an unobstructed view of the Malabar tea plantation, the surrounding mountains, and Situ Cileunca. Currently, a separate ticket is needed for the glass bridge. This ticket includes sandals for walking on the bridge.

On weekends, Nimo Highland has a premium sunrise package, which includes access to the glass bridge. It opens at 4.30 AM, in time to experience a magical sunrise on the mountain.

The uphill activity center of Nimo Highland is not all about sceneries and selfies. Besides the paintball and ATV rides on the foot of the mountain, it also offers flying fox. It is a fun and thrilling experience, since you will slide free fall on a wire rope, from the top of Nini mountain across the tea plantation :)

Lie down on wooden or rope platforms at Nimo Highland for a relaxing day.

Walking under the bridge, you will find wooden platforms decked with small tables and bean bags. In front of this platform is a row of food carts offering various menus, from comfort foods such as instant noodles to Soto (Indonesian soup), pasta, burger, and french fries. Or, you can lie down on platforms made of ropes. With the background of the tea plantation below, I bet your photos would look great!

Shady Cafe is another place to eat here. The location is a bit secluded, below the entrance and near the Indian tents. You can choose to eat inside these colorful tents; of course, the tents are good photo props too!

People mentioned that the sunset view from Nimo Highland is extraordinary. I guess it's because not every day you can have a clear sunset in Nimo. Fog falls daily almost without fail here. Often, it is already foggy before noon.

The only bothersome experience in Nimo Highland is dealing with so many flies. They are everywhere, not only around the food court but also in the Santorini area, where there isn’t any food on the tables. The only place in Nimo Highland that is free from flies is high up on the bridge.

How to Go to Nimo Highland?

Tap/click the above map to get direction to Nimo Highland.

Nimo Highland is approximately 50 km from Bandung. The GPS coordinates are 7°13'15.1"S 107°34'43.7"E (-7.220860, 107.578815). Since the place is a bit secluded, there isn’t any direct public transportation to Nimo. So, the best option is to rent a car. Another hassle is there is only one route from Bandung to Pangalengan, which is passing through the small town of Banjaran and turning at the fork. The traffic congestion near this fork is extremely bad, especially on weekends. Hence, it's better to go early in the morning to avoid gridlock in this area.

The roads to Pangalengan are narrow and damaged in some parts. That's why you need at least two hours drive to cover the fifty kilometers distance. Despite these narrow and not that comfortable roads, the views are spectacular. You will drive amidst the Malabar tea plantation, lush tea bushes with the backdrop of mountains along the way. You might catch a glimpse of Nimo from this road – a tiny white building with a blue roof – high up on Nini Mountain.

The spectacular view of Malabar Tea Plantation.