Things to do in Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta is the cultural capital of Java. It is also the only Indonesian city still ruled by a sultan. His palace, the Kraton, occupies a walled quarter in the middle of town. It is still a working court, with its own guards and gamelan orchestra.

Beside it stand the ruins of Taman Sari, an eighteenth-century pleasure garden of bathing pools and underground passages. Malioboro street runs north from the palace. It is the commercial spine, lined with batik shops and food carts.

But the reason most people come lies outside the city.

• Borobudur — forty kilometres northwest, the largest Buddhist monument in the world: a ninth-century stone mandala of nine stacked platforms and 504 Buddha statues.
• Prambanan — seventeen kilometres east, its Hindu counterpart from the same century, a cluster of tall, sharp temples to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.
• Merapi — smoking behind both, one of the most active volcanoes on earth.

The two temple complexes are the fixed points. Most people take them at either end of a day. Borobudur at sunrise, when the mist sits in the plain below and the crowds have not arrived. Prambanan in the late afternoon, sometimes with the Ramayana ballet performed in the open air against the temples.

Jeep tours run up the flanks of Merapi. They pass through villages rebuilt after the 2010 eruption.

In the city itself the day fills up differently. There is the Kraton, the bird market, and batik workshops where you can make your own. Silver comes from Kotagede, and street food fills Malioboro after dark. Yogyakarta is also the usual jumping-off point for the long overnight run east to Mount Bromo.

Practical

• Climate. Java is hotter and more humid than Bali, and the dry season runs April to October.
• Borobudur at sunrise. It means leaving around four in the morning. The sunrise ticket is separate, limited and considerably more expensive than daytime entry.
• Upper terraces. Since 2023 access has been capped and requires a guide.
• Tickets. Prambanan and Borobudur have a combined ticket, and modest dress is expected at both.
• Getting there. Trains from Jakarta take seven to eight hours and are comfortable; flights are an hour.
• Around town. Becaks and online motorbike taxis cover the city for very little.
• Money. Cash is essential outside hotels, and tipping is a note rather than a percentage.