Yogyakarta Vacations, Yogyakarta Vacation Reviews, Tourism Guide

Yogyakarta Vacation Guide

Yogyakarta – often shortened locally to simply Yogja – is at the very heart of the beautiful tourist island of Java, Indonesia, and gives a fantastic taste of what’s to come with the rest of this phenomenal island. Surrounded by beautiful white terraces, backed by the striking Merapi Mountain and within a stone’s throw of some truly world-class beaches, Java’s heartland might be rustic and backwards at times, but it’s also welcoming and more than a little enchanting.

The backwards nature of Java, in fact, is a large part of the appeal. Leaving your hotel in Yogyakarta, your options for getting around the city will include horse and cart, the back of a dodgy local’s motorbike and a pedicab – a kind of tiny pedal-powered rickshaw. The city streets are inundated with perfect souvenir material: homemade handicrafts and postcard sellers, as well as temples dating back thousands of years to explore and photograph.

Locals are noticeably uneasy with modernity – a great thing for those who like their travel a little edgy – and as a result the city is home to some seriously dated but utterly fascinating sites. Eccentric local artist Affandi, for example, lived out his life producing impressionist masterpieces in a tree house just outside the city, a sight that’s now become a museum to the local hero. The Greater Kraton Compound, meanwhile, is the former home of a local sultan, and now occupied by thousands of locals, home to all its own facilities and essentially marks a city within a city.

The city’s Main Market is home to towering spices and local fruit and vegetables, and has been home to many of the same family traders for decades, while the Purawisata Theme Park is a taste of traditional Java-style entertainment, including performances of traditional dance, a fun fair and difficult to master local games.

There can hardly be a better taste of traditional Indonesia than this particular city, an absolute must-see for any visitor to Java, and home to some of the more unusual customs you’re likely to stumble across on your travels.