What the FAQ!

In 1994, a group of Belgian travelers met to share experiences from the road. They worried about the negative impact of mass tourism on the environment and local people, and shared ideas of sustainable tourism respectful of nature and culture. The dream to set up cafes around the world to implement their ideas developed. The first ViaVia opened in 1995.

ViaVia Traveler’s Cafes are meeting places for world travelers.
People visit ViaVia to rinse off the dust of the road and meet fellow travelers as well as local people. Food, drinks, music, art, trips and tours, cultural and social projects, all bring people and cultures together in an open-minded spirit based on respect and amazement.
In most ViaVia’s you can stay overnight.

ViaVia Traveler’s Cafes are heavens of travel information. Locally embedded and involved in local daily life, they give an extra dimension to your discovery of the country, the culture and the people.
ViaVia inspires to travel, to discover and to broaden your horizon.

Today the ViaVia family stretches across 18 establishments in 4 continents. ViaVia Marrakech in Marocco being the youngest of them all. Each ViaVia is different and set up in sync with its unique local environment. It is not a franchise, which means there is no such thing as a McViaVia with fries.
ViaVias offer the best of World Kitchen and local delicacies. Whereas ViaVia in Argentina offers Tango lessons, ViaVia in Jogja offers trips to a Javanese village, city walks or a taste of traditional medicine, Jamu. Whereas ViaVia in Senegal works together with street children, ViaVia in Jogja offers art space to young local artists. ViaVia is also often the venue of concerts, Friday night Jazz, performance art, film festivals, and debates. Parts of the ViaVia profits go to support educational, social and cultural projects in and around Jogjakarta.

Mie was part of a group of tour-leaders for a Belgian travel agency known for its adventurous tours and expeditions and its standpoint on responsible tourism. She also took part in giving training to new tour-leaders and regularly got together to discuss training techniques and philosophy on traveling. Some of them had come up with the idea to set up a traveler’s cafe in Belgium, which could be promoting a different way of looking at the world and through all kinds of activities.

It inspired her and some others to think more globally and they saw a similar concept in different places in the world. It could become a hub for travelers, for local communities and a place to learn about contemporary daily life. In other words, they aspired to be cross-cultural meeting spots and implement the ideas of sustainable tourism. She came to Jogjakarta in 1995 with the Goal of setting up ViaVia here.

Via is a very common word in many languages. “I heard about Jogja VIA my travel agent.” Or “I know about jazz night via-via my friends.” In Latin “via” also means road. In Bahasa, it translates to “jalan”. And “jalan-jalan” stands for traveling.

Is ViaVia a franchise?
Every ViaVia has a different organizational structure according to the local rules and restrictions. One thing we all have in common is that we belong to the big Living Stone group and all the ViaVias share the same philosophy and logo. The ViaVia cooperative in Belgium structures and binds us all together. A Belgian coordinator has been assigned for the complete ViaVia network.

How long has ViaVia been in Jogjakarta?
We opened our doors on the 18th of December in 1995 as the first international ViaVia. ViaVia Leuven (Belgium) was the first one starting in May 1995.