Jogja (Yogyakarta)

aprilliano

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Although the longest stay I had in Jogja was hardly more than 3 months I'd like to take the chance and write a couple of lines about the sultan's city. The post may stay brief for now, but I plan to extend and update it bit by bit.


How to get there
  • The airport is right inside the city, so if you are looking for a place to rest on arrival, hotels are not far away, e.g. the grand quality. I suggest that you do not walk right out the terminal towards the pack of taxi drivers but rather order and pre-pay the taxi inside the airport taxi office. It may be higher than the best wage you can negotiate, but less hassle.
  • The station is just next to the airport, so basically the same applies here. As far I know, you can basically travel to most major Javanese cities (e.g. Bandung, Solo), but I have never tried it. I intend to take the train instead of the plane from Jakarta to Jogja one day though.

How to get around
  • Taxi is the obvious way to travel around. Most drivers I met so far are nice, only one had a mysteriously fast running meter, since that day I avoid yellow taxis - but I guess that can happen in any taxi company. If you encounter a driver you are comfortable with and you know you're going to need a taxi again soon, consider asking for his card and if you may call him directly.
  • TransJogja is the urban bus system which works quite well if you bring some time. Google for the route map so you get an idea where you want to hop on and off. You pay the fee (a few thousand rupiah) on entry of the bus stop regardless of where you need to go, you wait for the bus (which can take a while, so bring something to read) and you simply get off where you want to. Usually the operators are nice with foreigners and sometimes ask for the designation so they wouldn't miss their stop.

Geography
Jogja is close to, but not by the sea, which means it takes you about an hour to visit the seaside in the south, so I'd rather recommend this tour as a day trip. Northbound is mount Merapi, you can pick one of the many hotels located here for an escape from the heat of the city. There are jeep tours offered, but I never tried that, instead I rather visit one of the few children playgrounds of Jogja there instead.

Sightseeing and what-to-do
The two biggest Hindu and Buddhist temples of the region are here, Prambanan and Borobudur. I'm going to spare any further words on these, you will find plenty of information online anyway. What you also might want to visit is the kraton, one of the museums (where I haven't been so far, shame on me), the Jogja kembali monument or the local market in jalan Gejayan. If you have children, you may like the hotel Galuh with a big outdoor pool and playground, you can also go there without being guest of the hotel. Another pool is located on the road towards Solo, I will need to add the exact location another time. What you also may want to see is jalan Malioboro, the shopping lane. I must admit that I'm rarely there though, if it's not for gifts to bring along to Europe. If you're into shopping, you may as well try the malls of the city. Hartono is the newest and largest, but I haven't been there so far, other options are Amplaz and Galeria - but then again, that's not my cup of tea, as I'm usually put off by the blaring music.

Hotels and Restos
As a first-stay hotel, as mentioned above, I would recommend the grand quality simply for it's accessibility. Once you're there, you can still look around for better options. I've been staying there briefly, and another time at the also mentioned Galuh close to Prambanan (a bit off from city centre and airport). For dining there's an area full of restos in the north of the city (again, better directions will follow).

Medical treatment
The rumah sakit Panti Rapih is a catholic hospital that I've been comfortable with whenever we went there, which was mostly for the child doctor.
 
Thanks, aprilliano - this is great stuff. I'll definitely make sure it gets included in our stickied directories so that your valuable information doesn't get lost as time goes by and the number of threads and posts increases. Don't be surprised if it takes me a while, though - I have a backlog already and I'm actually supposed to be doing a consulting assignment right now. I just couldn't resist taking a quick peek at the forum because I knew there would most likely be something new and interesting, and I was right! Okay, back to work for me ... no more procrastinating!!!
 
A couple of years ago we drove the month before Ramadan. I really dislike driving from Bandung to Jogja. We left at 6am or so, and didn't get there until after 10pm. The only stops were lunch and gas.

Traffic is so hectic, especially at night. With lots of slow motor bikes, cargo trucks and the like. Really dangerous in my opinion, with a lot of unsafe lane changes. I disliked it so much, I took the train back!

There is a half built toll road open now. Not sure how much time it saves, if any.

The train was slowish, but much better than driving. I think it took 7 hours or so. We bought the more expensive tickets, executive seats, I think. Pretty basic seats, but acceptable from my western standards.
 
Aprilliano, I congratulate you on the advice for medical treatment above. During my time in Yogya (2000/01), both me and my Western flat mate needed medical help several times. So we got to see several Yogya hospitals and their standards over the course of one year. Panti Rapih was definitely the best choice, for everything.
I once made the mistake of taking him to the (old) UGM hospital as per his request. As they really had more serious things to do that day, they just gave him the usual antibiotics on the go for what a few days later turned out to be full-blown mumps.

Pantih Rapih hospital should be on every emergency list for Yogyakarta.
 
special place for us, 1982 - 1989, met my wife there.
 
I just wanted to add a few things because I enjoy Yogyakarta.

How to get there


Yes, there is a train station right next to the airport, but that is not the main station. The main station is Tuju station near Malioboro. Most of the trains traveling to/from Yogyakarta will stop there, and not all stop at Stasiun Maguwo (airport). I thought I would add that so people don't get confused when searching. http://www.kereta-api.co.id/

How to get around

Don't discount becaks. When traveling around downtown for short trips, these were faster and cheaper for short distances than a cab.

Scooter rental. This is a high competition scooter rental area. The roads are not as bad as the largest cities in Java and if you are experienced and brave enough, Yogyakarta has some of the best rates and largest abundance I have seen in Indonesia.

Sightseeing and what-to-do

One of my favorite parts was visiting all the stone carving shops outside of the city. Great works and if I was local I would have the logistics of moving those statues and I would have a large stone statue of those fat bellied monsters.

If anyone has more information about the masons and modern stone carvings from that area (not the candi kind), I would appreciate being able to read more.
 
Yeah, there are villages around Jogja with their own specialities. As wood carving, leather artifacts, pottery, and stone carving. There are some suppliers that exhibit also regularly in Inacraft, Furnicraft and other Expos in Jakarta. Also with garden ornaments in sandstone, black lava stone etc.

Yogya trips can easily be done in combination with Solo btw. The furniture, silver and batik industry is rather big in the area.
 
Inacraft

?..... There are some suppliers that exhibit also regularly in Inacraft, Furnicraft and other Expos in Jakarta. Also with garden ornaments in sandstone, black lava stone etc.....


Today is the last day of this huge Indonesian Handicraft at the Jakarta Expo. It's getting bigger every year.

So if you're interested in apparel, textiles, furniture, trinkets, jewellery, home decoration, etc. from all over the archipelago, pay a visit (25.000 IDR).

http://inacraft.co.id/
 
Is it true that Jogja has a huge number of well-respected schools?

What about the art 'scene'? I have read that there is actually a developed art scene there, as opposed to the handcrafts mentioned previously on this thread.

thanks
 
I think it is one of the few cities you can give the label of "Student City" in this country.

Although Jakarta, Surabaya and Bandung offer a lot of universities, Yogyakarta really is a university town. Also very very popular with tourists from the west, many take the train from Jakarta...

Yes, I would not be surprised if Jogja has more artists than BALI even.
 
Stayed there for two weeks and found it one hell of hard place to get a beer, forget about wine or anything harder.
 
Yes, even the bigger supermarkets as Carrefour don't sell it. Of course there are always 'possibilities'. And in places like Jl. Sosrowijayan and Pasar Kembang they do serve drinks. (Bit comparable to Jl. Jaksa in Jakarta.) And in some bigger hotel bars of course. But now you know an important reason I would never want to live in Central or even East Java.
 
I remember watching some videos on You tube and it had all these radicals driving down the highway, on their motorcycles revving their engines, to Jogja with there flags. I believe the last one I watched the police were stopping them. There was a news clip of one Muslim girl saying they were rude. I have heard there are more acts of intolerance happening there. I hope for all people that these radicals don't continue to grow. They are like a cancer for people of every religion that want to practice peace and harmony. Once they are out of the bottle they are harder to put back in.
 
Was there on and off around 1995 - 1999 and decided to continue my study there 1999-2004. Loved that place back then.

Now? not so much. I see that it's more and more cosmopolitan. I prefer the laid back, relaxed, not so touristy yogya when I was there. Back then, it was the students' town. Now, it's just another Bali-wannabe.

I still have to go there once in a while to visit my family burial ground and pay respect to them (nyekar in Javanese)
 
Agree :)


Was there on and off around 1995 - 1999 and decided to continue my study there 1999-2004. Loved that place back then.

Now? not so much. I see that it's more and more cosmopolitan. I prefer the laid back, relaxed, not so touristy yogya when I was there. Back then, it was the students' town. Now, it's just another Bali-wannabe.

I still have to go there once in a while to visit my family burial ground and pay respect to them (nyekar in Javanese)
 

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