Yogyakarta Tour Packages from Malaysia

Yogyakarta — Jogja to Indonesians — is the cultural capital of Java and the gateway to two of the greatest heritage sites in the Buddhist and Hindu worlds. The city sits at the foot of Mount Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, between the Java Sea to the south and the Indian Ocean beach of Parangtritis. The Sultan of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, still governs the Special Region as a hereditary monarch under an arrangement unique in the Indonesian Republic, and the Kraton — the walled palace city at the heart of Yogyakarta — is still a functioning court, not a museum. Borobudur is 40 kilometres northwest of Yogyakarta, a 45-minute drive through flat Javanese countryside past coffee plantations and durian stalls. The temple — inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 — was built between 770 and 825 CE during the Sailendra dynasty, abandoned in the 11th century as the seat of power shifted east, buried under volcanic ash and jungle, and only partially known to the outside world until Thomas Stamford Raffles — the British colonial lieutenant governor of Java — commissioned the first systematic survey in 1814. The Dutch began a full restoration in 1907 under Theodoor van Erp; UNESCO and the Indonesian government completed a second major restoration between 1975 and 1982. The structure is a three-dimensional mandala: a square base representing the world of desire, five square terraces representing the world of form, and three circular terraces at the summit representing the formless world of enlightenment. Walking up through the levels is meant to symbolise the Buddhist path. The 2,672 relief panels on the gallery walls — 6 kilometres of carved stone narrative if laid end to end — depict the life of the Gautama Buddha, the Jataka tales of the Buddha's previous lives, and scenes of Javanese court life in the 9th century. The 72 hollow stupas on the circular terraces each contain a seated meditating Buddha, visible through the latticed stonework. A sunrise permit allows arrival at Borobudur before the general public at 06:00, when the light is golden and the temple is almost empty. Prambanan is 18 kilometres east of Yogyakarta, also inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. Where Borobudur represents Buddhist cosmology in stone, Prambanan represents the Trimurti — the Hindu trinity of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. The compound's three main towers, each 47 metres high, are dedicated to each deity. The towers are covered in carved reliefs depicting scenes from the Ramayana, which is also performed as a traditional Javanese Ramayana ballet in the open-air theatre adjacent to the temple compound on full moon nights between May and October. The compound was damaged by an earthquake in 2006 and fully restored, with ongoing conservation work continuing. Mount Merapi — the Mountain of Fire — is the most active volcano in Indonesia and one of the most dangerous in the world. Its most recent major eruption in 2010 killed 353 people and displaced 350,000. The lava flow from 2010 solidified into a river of volcanic debris 10 kilometres long on the southern slopes — now the primary route for the jeep tour that has become one of Yogyakarta's most popular experiences. The 4WD jeep programme departs at dawn and drives up through the ash-and-boulder landscape to within 4 kilometres of the active summit crater, visiting the ruins of farmhouses buried under the 2010 pyroclastic flow, a mini museum in the surviving home of a farmer who refused to evacuate, and Bunker Kaliadem — the underground emergency shelter that was engulfed by the 2010 eruption, its interior walls still coated in volcanic ash. Taman Sari Water Castle, within walking distance of the Kraton palace, was built in 1758 as a pleasure garden and bathing complex for the Sultan and his court. The complex includes bathing pools, underground tunnels, a meditation tower, and a mosque — all in varying states of preservation and ongoing restoration. The bathing pools (Umbul Binangun) are the most visited section, with three tiered stone pools that once served the sultan's wives and concubines. The surrounding kampung (neighbourhood) of Taman is also one of the best places in Yogyakarta to buy traditional Javanese batik — the intricate wax-resist textile art form that UNESCO inscribed on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009. Every Yogyakarta package from Dhesu is 100% private. All entrance fees, temple permits, jeep tour costs and Borobudur sunrise permits are included. The drive from Yogyakarta's Adisucipto International Airport to the city centre takes 20 minutes.