Yogyakarta: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Yogyakarta, Jogja for short, is the cultural heart of Java and the only region of Indonesia still ruled by a sultan, who is its governor by law. It was the capital of the young republic during the war of independence against the Dutch. Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with Israel, so check the entry rules for Israeli passports well before travelling. Half a day; the palace opens only in the morning.
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A short history of Yogyakarta
In the 9th century the Buddhist temple of Borobudur and the Hindu temple of Prambanan were built around Yogyakarta, both in the Mataram kingdom. The city itself was founded in 1755, when the Treaty of Giyanti divided the Mataram kingdom in two, and the first sultan, Hamengkubuwono I, built his palace there. From 1946 to 1949, during the war of independence against the Dutch, Yogyakarta was the capital of Indonesia. To this day it is the only sultanate in the country whose sultan is also the governor of the province. On 27 May 2006 about 5,700 people were killed in the area in an earthquake.
The ten best sights in Yogyakarta
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1Tugu Monument
On the line from the volcano to the sea
2Vredeburg FortA Dutch fort, now a museum of independence
3Sonobudoyo MuseumJavanese art and nightly shadow puppets
4The KratonThe Sultan’s palace; mornings only
5Taman SariThe water castle and its underground mosque
6Alun-alun KidulWalk blindfold between the two banyan trees
7KotagedeThe old capital of the silversmiths
8Ullen SentaluA museum of the Javanese royal courts
9KaliurangA cool hill resort on the volcano’s slopes
10Merapi MuseumThe story of the volcano
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Yogyakarta →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Yogyakarta:
Free walking tours in Yogyakarta
The Sultan’s city
Yogyakarta, Jogja for short, is the cultural heart of Java and the only region of Indonesia still ruled by a sultan, who is its governor by law. It was the capital of the young republic during the war of independence against the Dutch. Indonesia has no diplomatic relations with Israel, so check the entry rules for Israeli passports well before travelling. Half a day; the palace opens only in the morning.
- Tugu Monument · The city was laid out in 1755 on a straight line running from the volcano Merapi in the north, through this monument and the palace, to the Indian Ocean in the south — an axis of Javanese cosmology between mountain and sea, now a world heritage site.
- Malioboro · The main street running down the axis toward the palace, lined with batik shops and, at night, mats on the pavement where street-food stalls serve gudeg and coffee.
- Vredeburg Fort · A fort built by the Dutch in the 1760s facing the palace, to keep watch on the Sultan. It is now a museum of Indonesia’s struggle for independence, which was declared in 1945 and won in 1949.
- The Kraton · The palace of the Sultans, built in 1755 and still the home of Sultan Hamengkubuwono the Tenth. Its pavilions host performances of gamelan music and court dance in the mornings, and its servants still wear traditional dress.
- Taman Sari · The water castle, a pleasure garden of pools built for the Sultan in the eighteenth century, where the royal women bathed. Underground tunnels lead to a round mosque with a central well and staircases meeting in the middle.
- Alun-alun Kidul · The southern square behind the palace, with two old banyan trees. Tradition says that whoever can walk blindfold from the edge of the square straight between them will have a wish granted; most wander off course, to the crowd’s delight.
Borobudur
About an hour north-west of the city stands Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, built in the ninth century and then buried under volcanic ash and jungle for centuries. A morning; climbing the monument is limited and must be booked ahead.
- Punthuk Setumbu · A hill west of the temple where people climb before dawn to watch Borobudur rise out of the morning mist, with the volcanoes Merapi and Merbabu behind it.
- Borobudur · A stepped pyramid of nine terraces, climbed in a spiral past two thousand six hundred and seventy-two carved relief panels that tell the Buddha’s teaching, to the top, where seventy-two perforated stupas each hold a statue of the Buddha. The British governor Raffles had it uncovered from the jungle in 1814.
- Mendut Temple · A small temple on a straight line with Borobudur, built in the same period, holding three great stone figures — a seated Buddha three metres high between two bodhisattvas. Buddhists walk in procession from here to Borobudur at the festival of Vesak.
- Ullen Sentalu · On the way back, on the slopes of Merapi, a museum in a forest of the Javanese royal courts, with portraits, batik and the letters of princesses, telling the private history of the palaces.
- Merapi Museum · A museum of the volcano, which erupts every few years. In 2010 a great eruption killed some three hundred and fifty people, among them Mbah Maridjan, the elderly spiritual guardian of the mountain appointed by the Sultan, who refused to leave his post.
- Mount Merapi · Mountain of fire in Javanese, about two thousand nine hundred metres high and the most active volcano in Indonesia. Jeep tours cross the lava flows of 2010; the summit is often closed, so check the alert level.
Prambanan and the south
East of the city are the great Hindu temples of Prambanan, built in the same century as Borobudur; south lie the old capital of Kotagede and the wild beach of the Queen of the South Sea. A full day; the Ramayana ballet plays at Prambanan in the evening.
- Kotagede · The capital of the kingdom of Mataram in the 1580s, older than the city itself, with a royal cemetery, an old mosque and lanes of silversmiths who still make filigree jewellery by hand.
- Prambanan · A complex of ninth-century Hindu temples whose central tower, to Shiva, rises about forty-seven metres. Legend says a princess, Roro Jonggrang, set a suitor the task of building a thousand temples in one night, then tricked him at the last one, and he turned her into its statue.
- Plaosan · Twin Buddhist temples a short way from Prambanan, said to have been built by a Hindu king for his Buddhist queen — a sign of how the two faiths lived side by side in ninth-century Java.
- Ratu Boko · On a plateau above Prambanan, the ruins of a palace complex with a great stone gateway, the place to watch the sun set over the temples and the volcanoes.
- Parangtritis · A wide black-sand beach of the Indian Ocean, the realm of Nyai Roro Kidul, the Queen of the South Sea, spiritual wife of the Sultans. Locals say not to wear green, her colour, and the surf here is genuinely dangerous: do not swim.
- Sonobudoyo Museum · Back in the city, a museum of Javanese art where every evening a wayang kulit performance is held — shadow puppets of carved buffalo leather that play the epics behind a lit screen to gamelan music.
Getting to Yogyakarta and getting around
- Yogyakarta Airport · About an hour west by train or car
- Tugu Station · The main station, at the top of Malioboro
Cheap eats in Yogyakarta
Jogja is the city of gudeg, young jackfruit stewed for hours in palm sugar and coconut milk until it turns brown and sweet, served with rice, egg, chicken and spicy beef skin. At night the angkringan carts sell tiny packets of rice, satay and kopi joss — coffee with a glowing lump of charcoal dropped in. A full meal at a cart costs about a dollar.
- Tugu Station · Kopi joss at the night carts
- Malioboro · Gudeg on the pavement mats
- Kotagede · Old-town snacks
Museums in Yogyakarta
Jogja’s museums keep the arts of the Javanese courts, the independence struggle and the volcano.
- Ullen Sentalu · The royal courts
- Sonobudoyo Museum · Javanese art and wayang
- Vredeburg Fort · Independence
- Merapi Museum · The volcano
Nature and day trips near Yogyakarta
A plain of rice fields between an active volcano and the Indian Ocean.
- Mount Merapi · Jeeps over the lava
- Kaliurang · Cool forest on the slopes
- Parangtritis · The black-sand coast
Things to do in Yogyakarta with kids
With children: a jeep on the volcano, shadow puppets, a water castle and a blindfold walk between the trees.
- Alun-alun Kidul · The blindfold walk
- Taman Sari · Tunnels and pools
- Sonobudoyo Museum · Shadow puppets
Holy places in Yogyakarta
In the ninth century Buddhist and Hindu kings built side by side the greatest temples of Java; today the region is mostly Muslim, with a Sultan at its heart.
- Borobudur · The Buddhist mountain
- Prambanan · The temple of Shiva
- Plaosan · The twin temples
- Taman Sari · The underground mosque
Nightlife in Yogyakarta
Jogja’s nights are the Ramayana ballet under the temples, street music on Malioboro and the lit square behind the palace.
- Prambanan · The Ramayana ballet
- Malioboro · Street musicians
- Alun-alun Kidul · Lit pedal-cars on the square
Frequently asked questions about Yogyakarta
What is there to see in Yogyakarta?
The top sights in Yogyakarta are Tugu Monument, Vredeburg Fort and Sonobudoyo Museum. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Yogyakarta?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Yogyakarta without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Yogyakarta?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Yogyakarta, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The Sultan’s city.
How do you get to Yogyakarta and get around?
The main ways are Yogyakarta Airport and Tugu Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Yogyakarta, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Yogyakarta that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Yogyakarta for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.