Yogyakarta

travel time: September 2023

A short one hour flight took us from Jakarta to Yogyakarta where we had a nice view from the beach and the ocean while landing. Beforehand we rented a car for these days and the guy brought us the car to the airport even though there garage is in the city center. If you need a car in Yogyakarta, ATW TRANS is an absolute recommendation.

As the airport is near the beach we decided to make that our first stop to get some ocean breeze. Arriving there the magnificent sight of colossal waves crashing onto the shore left us in awe. We strolled along the shoreline, capturing the breathtaking scene before heading to town.

The drive from the airport into the city is a long one and with evening traffic it took us even longer. While driving in Indonesia you really have to keep an eye on your surrounding as traffic is kind of crazy. Quite fast you are getting used to being overtaken left and right and you will learn that honking can have a lot of different meanings - which you will definitely hear. 😉

After dinner we were looking for some kind of desert and found a fancy coffee bar. They used sewing machines and drilling machines to whip up some eggs for their drinks.

Borobudur

On the next day we headed out early as we wanted to see the temple of Borobudur. We were at the entrance gate shortly after 6:30 am and got the waiting ticket with the number 0009. We decided to buy the tickets for the park and to go to the top of the temple as we were really interested to see the beautiful stupas. For the first 20 minutes we walked around the park and took pictures from the temple from further away. At 7 am they opened the first gate to enter the temple yard. It´s the bottom of the temple and you can already see a lot of the beautiful reliefs and the buddha statues.

At 8 am we had to go back to the entrance to get our tickets for the tour to the top that started at 8:30 am. With the ticket for the temple monument you get a free bottle of water and some bamboo slippers that you need to wear while visiting the temple. In small groups of around 25 people our guide took us to the temple and gave us a lot of interesting information.

Unfortunately we spend a lot of time on the lower levels of the temple and on top we only had ten minutes left before the tour ended. Nevertheless we took our time to take many pictures as it is really amazing up there. All the stupas have buddha statues inside and you have an amazing view of the surrounding area. After the ten minutes were over we couldn´t "find" our guide anywhere so we decided to take enjoy the top even longer.

After the temple of Borobudur we drove to the famous Chicken Church (Bukit Rhema). From the parking place you have to walk a steep road up until you get to the church. If you don´t feel like walking, there are jeeps that drive you up to the top. We were a bit disappointed as we imagined the Chicken Church still surrounded only by nature but that´s not the case. You find a restaurant built directly to the church and some other facilities. Inside you can walk up until the crown where you get a view of the surrounding mountains.

After we had some fresh juice we headed to two smaller temples. Our stops were the Pawon Temple and the Mendut Temple. The temples are quite small but really nice to have a look at.

On the next day we wanted to explore the city center of Yogyakarta. We parked our car somewhere near the Water Palace and decided to wander a bit through the area until we arrive at Taman Sari. We found a small market with a lot of fresh vegetables, fruits but also sweets and some souvenirs. When we passed the old mosque, a local lady explained us that since the pandemic it´s unfortunately closed.

We walked through a long underground tunnel and found the entrance to Taman Sari – The Water Palace. It´s a nice garden with a big pool area in the middle, where you find some amazing photo spots.

After we had some tea and fried snacks for lunch, we drove in the direction of mount Merapi. After some research online we found an amazing picture spot where you have a spectacular view of the volcano. The sky around the volcano is quite unpredictable and as we arrived you could hardly see Merapi because of all the clouds. As we already were in the area, we decided to visit the museum about the latest eruption and all we can say that it´s quite unique. ;)

In the evening we finally got to try Kopi Joss – coffee with charcoal. It tastes better than it looks and sounds - you absolutely have to try it.

Prambanan

We headed out early see mount Merapi – this time we tried another point of view. We were quite lucky and had a breathtaking view of the volcano.

At 7 am we started our temple tour with the amazing temple of Prambanan. Fascinating structures and reliefs left us speechless. It was worth coming so early in the morning because it wasn´t too hot and there was hardly anyone around.

With the entrance ticket to Prambanan you can visit three other temples that are on the same compound. Lumbung Temple, Bubrah Temple and Sewu Temple are definitely worth a visit and you shouldn’t miss them.

The next historic site that we visited was Ratu Boko. The entrance fee is overpriced compared to what you can expect from the site. Ratu Boko is basically only a big entrance gate (which is actually not that big) and that’s it. A lot of stones are laying around but nothing spectacular. For us it wasn´t worth the price.

Next, we visited Ijo Temple and the view you have from up there is amazing. You can overlook Yogyakarta and if the sky is clear, you see a lot of the surrounding area.

Our last temple of the day was Plaosan and we were impressed. The two temples are very detail oriented on the facade. Inside the temples the guard told us some things about the reliefs and the statues.

We were happy that we chose a hotel with a private pool. With the heat and a lot of walking it was refreshing to sit in the pool and relax. The hotel was “Bohemian Jogj Villa” and is not completely in the city center but everything was in good reach.