Yogyakarta is a wonderful city in the island of Java in Indonesia with sites that date back hundreds of years and feel amazing to explore. From the natural volcanoes and rivers to the ruined temples of lore there are options upon options and everything is worth exploring. In this blog I have listed places I would recommend you visit. Note: This is not an itinerary, its building blocks for an itinerary that can fit into what you want to do. I have similar blogs for Tokyo and Thailand you can check out here.
Places to see –
Yogyakarta and the surrounding island of Java are filled with places to see, from volcanoes to ancient structures to nature. The island is not small, and a lot of the most interesting spots are spread out so having a car with a driver is almost necessary.
Borobudur Temple
Borobudur Temple is on of the foremost places to visit on the island of Java; it is a Buddhist Temple about 40 kilometres northwest of Yogyakarta. The temple authorities offer time slots, at this link, for visitors and limit the visitors who can climb the temple structure to 150 people per 1.5-hour slot, a system which has been in effect since Covid. These start at 8.30am and end at 15.30pm and you need to book well in advance. If you cannot make book in time, they also offer grounds passes to walk around the temple campus, but then you miss out on the architectural wonders of the main temple structure.
Upon arrival a battery-operated cart will drive you to the registration office where you will be given some bags to put your outside shoes in and traditional slippers to explore the place in. The temple is spread over 10 mounting terraces, 6 square and 3 circular, topped by a circular central dome. The central dome is surrounded by 72 perforated stupas with a status of Buddha seated inside each and a final 73rd statue at the very top dome. Apart from these there are open Buddha statues at all levels. Originally there were about 500 of which 43 are missing and over 300 are damaged with their heads removed by European treasure hunters. As you climb the temple the view opens up and you can see forests and mountains far in the distance. I really enjoyed the experience and felt a little like an explorer as I went through the temple.
The Sultan’s Palace/Kraton Jogja and Taman Sari
While technically two separate landmarks these two are often lumped together due to their proximity and their being related to one another. The Sultan (at the time of writing) resides in the palace with his queen, 5 princesses and has a 3000 member staff. He is also the governor of the local province. The displays in the various palace halls consist of royal cutlery, dresses, weapons and photographs of royal weddings and other ceremonies. There are also huge outdoor halls which have roofs and pillars but no walls, visitors can see carefully stored musical instruments that are used during festivals.
Taman Sari is the site of the royal palace garden of the Sultan and is a tentative world heritage site. There is a lake area, a bathing complex and some lovely white buildings all inside an exquisite gate. It’s incredibly close to the Palace as the two are related, a mere kilometre stroll apart. These can be done as one thing maybe just before lunching at Bale Raos restaurant, more on that below. It is also close to the next spot in Yogyakarta I’ll recommend.
Jalan Malioboro
Jalan Malioboro is the shopping street at Yogyakarta, it is packed with stores selling everything from Batik clothing to exotically flavoured crisps. The street is pedestrian only but there are rickshaws if you get very tired. The largest store for clothing on this street is Hamza Batik which has an extensive collection of Batik clothes for men and women as well as Batik Art pieces and statues. They had a wide range but their sizing was a little unclear because of a complete lack of sizing guides. Along the road there are other places selling batik clothes in other patterns as wells as hats, food and other accessories.
Prambanan Temple
Prambanan Temple is the site of a 9th century Hindu temple compound and a UNESCO world heritage site. The main temple area at Prambanan has the Trimurti temples; three temple structures dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma temples are relatively rare even in India. The only other one we have seen is the one in Pushkar, Rajasthan so we explored it with a lot of interest. The Shiva temple had the central position with chambers dedicated to Lord Shiva as well as Durga, Ganesha, and the sage Agastya. The sculptures on the wall of this temple depicted stories of Ramayana. The Vishnu temple (spelled Wisnu on the signs) had fewer chambers, the sculptures on the wall depicted the Dasavataram stories. The site was very prominent in the 9th and early 10th century but was abandoned for a long period till it was later re-discovered and reconstructed during the early 1900s, and the restoration process continues.
The temple complex also contains more than 200 smaller temples and shrines. To explore the grounds some more they offer bicycles for hire. The farthest point we went to was about a kilometre north of the Trimurti temples, a Buddhist temple called Candi Sewu. the Candi Sewu has stupas and Buddha statues similar looking to Borobudur and like Borobudur several of the statues are missing their heads. A lot of the temple is in a ruined state with a field of rubble stretching out from the central temple building in a way I thought looked really desolate.
I also stopped at a domed temple that looked lovely called Candi Bubrah, it is also mostly in ruins, in fact its name means ruined temple. It is also a Buddhist Temple. This is also a picnic spot for locals and offers quite a few things, like a petting zoo and archery.
Also, nightly at temple there is a local ballet show of the Ramayana with live music and a fire show to conclude. While we personally did not go due to constraints of time and weather it was on the list of things we wanted to do. It occurs at night and can be viewed before a late dinner. For us we spent the night visiting another cool spot which comes next on this list.
Mount Merapi
This volcano has been constantly erupting since 2008 most recently January 2024 and everyday the lava flows down the mountain and columns of smoke rise from it. There are quite a few posts set up around the volcano to monitor it with wonderful views of the volcano. There are also the Jeep Tours with tour packages that will take you to a hill with a view of the mountain top to sit and admire the view from late night till sunrise so that you can click pictures with the volcano and the rising sun. A lot of these tours are very appealing and to those without a dedicated driver/vehicle they would make a fantastic choice.
We, with our driver, went to one of the observation posts for Mount Merapi while constantly monitoring it on YouTube on his phone. This meant we knew what the view would be like and when we got there the mountain was shrouded in cloud but it cleared enough that with a properly calibrated DSLR we could get pictures like these of lava dripping out of the mountain.
River Rafting
Yogyakarta is a region filled with rivers and rapids and for the adrenalin-seeking adventurers, there are river rafting tour companies throughout the province. I do enjoy rafting but if you are going to Yogyakarta there is a high chance you’re also going to Bali which is where I would recommend trying water sports.
Food & Drink
Nasi Goreng is a staple Indonesian food of fried rice made with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce). I would recommend the one from Bale Raos – the Sultan’s dishes where they have an exquisite version of this wrapped in a thin omelette. I would also recommend buying some kecap manis from an Indomart to add to your own dishes back home, it has a nice flavour.
Another dish we tried that is native to Java was Gudeg. This is a traditional Javanese dish most found in Yogyakarta. It is made of unripe jackfruits that have been stewed and are then served with some kind of protein. There are restaurants throughout Jogja that specialize in Gudeg and serve nothing else. It is served with everything from chicken head to Tempe so depending on your willingness to eat odd cuts of bird, enjoy.
Last but not the least we need to talk about the Javanese coffee. Indonesia is famed across the world for its coffee growing, the islands of Java and Sumatra are dotted with coffee plantations. Since a lot of coffee is locally sourced it is properly traceable to its origin farm. To buy a few bags I would recommend a place like Space Roastery who provide a tasting table of different coffee so that you can try before you commit to buying it. Also maybe buy 100–200-gram bags and then freeze them when you get home to maintain freshness.
While locally roasted coffees are delicious there is a lot of fanfare around the Kopi Luwak (Civet Coffee) manufactured from coffee beans extracted from the faeces of a civet who eats the coffee cherries. There are a lot of stores that sell it, most of which will offer you a tour in English to describe the process. This is brewed by simply putting coffee ground in a cup, pouring hot water on it and hoping for the coffee to settle to the bottom which I wasn’t a fan of. My dad loved how it tasted claiming there was a balanced flavour in the coffee and because of his interest we bought a box of it. I recommend trying it but make your own opinion of how you feel about the coffee before buying it.
Enjoy Yogyakarta and its surrounding temples, they really make up a lovely slice of history that is really enjoyable to visit and explore.
Nice informative piece