Things to do and must visit places in Yogyakarta
In fact, many tourists didn’t know there are cities that have many hidden gems in Indonesia, the city is Yogyakarta.
Various interesting places and activities that you can in Yogyakarta, there is even a UNESCO world heritage.
This is a list of best things to do and must visit places Yogyakarta:
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Visit Beautiful Temples
The highlight of Yogyakarta city is the heritage and the famous one is the Borobudur temple,
even Borobudur Temple is the UNESCO World Heritage.
Borobudur Temple is the largest Buddhist temple in the world that is more than a thousand years old.
The temple wall is a relief that tells about human life in the Buddhist era in Indonesia.
The best time to visit is in the morning when the sun will rise because the Borobudur temple has the best sunrise spot in Indonesia.
Besides that, you can also watch the cultural performance of “Ramayana Dance” held at night in the temple area.
Not far from Borobudur,
there is the Prambanan temple, the most beautiful Hindu temple complex in Indonesia.
There are hundreds of temples around Prambanan temple, which at present most of the temples have collapsed due to the earthquake.
The difference with Borobudur temple,
Prambanan temple has the best sunset spot in the afternoon.
Besides Borobudur temple and Prambanan temple there are still many beautiful temples that you can visit in Yogyakarta.
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Visit Sultan Palace
Yogyakarta city is a special city that still runs a royal system and is led by a King / Sultan.
Interestingly,
this palace is open to the public because besides being the residence of the king, this palace is also used as a museum.
Various collections of antiques and ancient objects that are hundreds of years old are exhibited in the palace.
The Keraton Yogyakarta Palace is guarded by hundreds of king servants who are usually called ‘Abdi Dalem’.
This Palace is also famous as the most mystical place in Indonesia.
There are several restrictions for tourists,
but usually, foreign tourists will be accompanied by a local guide.
So, don’t worry and feel free to visit Keraton Yogyakarta.
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Explore Mount Merapi
Are you interested in adventure activities? If so, try visiting Mount Merapi.
There, you can join jeep lava tour activity to explore the remnants of the eruptions that occurred in 2006 and 2010.
Ride a jeep through steep roads and rocks to visit some tourist attractions around Mount Merapi,
After that, visiting alien stones and bunkers that have been used for shelter by volunteers when the eruption occurred.
Then, visit the house of Mbah Maridjan, the loyal keeper of Mount Merapi.
The return trip will go through ‘Kali Kuning’ by crossing the river that has natural beauty around it.
Your trip will be accompanied by an expert jeep driver and concurrently being a tour guide.
Surely this activity should not be missed when you visit Yogyakarta.
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Make your own Batik
For those of you who don’t know what batik is,
batik is a patterned fabric from Indonesia precisely from Java.
Batik has a variety of motifs, and each motif has meaning, another uniqueness of batik is the way it is made.
Nowadays batik is used to make clothes, dresses, shirts, or skirts.
this is one of batik motif:
Well, if you are interested in buying or collecting batik cloth,
Yogyakarta is one of the best places to buy batik.
There are some batik houses that sell the best quality batik,
or
Are you interested in making your own batik?
Well, it’s a good idea,
this will be an interesting experience for you.
Don’t worry if this is your first time, batik experts will guide and teach you how to make good batik.
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Visit Kotagede & Malioboro Street
Not only batik houses but in Yogyakarta, there is also a silver house that you can visit in Kotagede.
In the silver house, you can see directly silver processing into a variety of extraordinary crafts and accessories made of pure silver.
There, you can see the works of silver artists on the display and if you are interested,
you can directly buy it from the silver house.
No need to worry about fake silver, because all items sold in the silver house have a certificate of silver authenticity.
Besides Kotagede,
Yogyakarta also has Malioboro Street to hunting unique items for collection.
You can find various unique objects especially traditional items,
such as shadow puppets, traditional Javanese traditional clothes, statues, and wood carvings.
Various types and quality of goods you can find on Malioboro Street.
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Enjoy the local food
One of the most delicious dishes in Indonesia comes from Yogyakarta,
this dish is called Gudeg.
It is made from young unripe jack fruit stewed for several hours with palm sugar, and coconut milk.
Commonly, Gudeg served with egg or chicken, Tempe, tofu and white steamed rice.
Besides Gudeg, you can also try a typical snack from Yogyakarta,
namely Bakpia Pathok.
It is a snack made from softened green beans wrapped in flour, then baked.
You can visit the Bakpia factory,
and see processing Bakpia even tasting fresh and warm Bakpia that has just been lifted from the oven.
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Cycling explore villages
There are exciting activities that you can do in Yogyakarta,
that is cycling to visit villages.
You will see the daily lives of local people, traditional houses, rice fields and women who work as makers of traditional batik or handicrafts.
Local people in Yogyakarta are known to be very friendly,
especially to tourists,
so don’t hesitate to interact with local people,
sometimes they will invite you to work with them and feel the sensation of planting rice in the fields or making batik and handicrafts.
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Take a day trip to Gunung Kidul
Gunung Kidul does have extraordinary natural beauty.
Have you ever tried cave tubing?
Explore the cave by riding a swim tube through an underground river in the cave,
if you have never been and are interested in trying it, then you can go to Pindul Cave in Gunung Kidul.
Not far from the Pindul cave there is a Jomblang cave,
which is famous for the phenomenon of ‘light from heaven’.
After exploring beautiful nature in Pindul Cave & Jomblang Cave,
don’t forget to visit Pantai Selatan Area.
There are more than 10 beaches that you can choose after passing the welcome gate.
We recommend you visit Indrayanti Beach, there are cliffs around the beach.
You can climb up the cliff to see the beauty of the sunset with the background of the Indian Ocean.
Another natural beauty that you can visit in Gunung Kidul is Sri Gethuk Waterfall, Ancient Volcano, Pinus Pengger Forest, and Oyo River.
If you have a plan to traveling in Indonesia,
then don’t forget to add Yogyakarta in your list because of various interesting things you can find in Yogyakarta.
Exploring Indonesia will be a great experience as long as you know how this country works and looks like.
Hope this simple guide will help you to travel in Indonesia. Have a great holiday!
Let us help you to plan your visit or you can see our list of Indonesia tour below.