Java Holidays

Yogyakarta

Get to Know the Cultural Heart of Java

Yogyakarta is one of our favourite places to spend a few days in Java. It’s the obvious base for Borobudur and Prambanan, but the city itself gives you a much better understanding of Javanese culture.

Start at the Kraton, the Sultan’s Palace, which remains at the centre of Yogyakarta’s royal traditions, before visiting nearby Taman Sari, the former royal gardens and bathing complex. Batik workshops, markets, galleries and traditional arts are all part of the city, and you can see the painstaking wax-and-dye process behind genuine Javanese batik.

Don’t fill every hour with sightseeing. Yogyakarta is also somewhere to wander, stop for food and experience everyday life. As evening arrives, street stalls open, scooters fill the roads and the city takes on a completely different atmosphere.

Mount Bromo

Sunrise, the Sea of Sand and an Active Volcano

Mount Bromo sits within the vast Tengger Caldera in East Java, surrounded by volcanic peaks, deep ridges and plains of dark volcanic ash. It is still active, and seeing smoke rising from the crater is part of what makes the landscape so dramatic.

Mount Bromo Trekking gives you the chance to experience the volcano from several perspectives. The day starts incredibly early. When we visited, our local jeep collected us at around 1am and drove us to a viewpoint overlooking the caldera. It gets surprisingly cold before sunrise, regardless of the time of year, so bring plenty of layers that you can remove as the morning warms up.

After sunrise, continue by jeep across the volcanic landscape towards Bromo itself. From here, walk towards the volcano and climb the steep steps to the crater rim, where you can look directly inside, hear the rumbling below and watch smoke rising from the crater.

Bromo is very popular, particularly around sunrise, so expect the viewpoints and crater to be busy. We’d recommend taking your time on the climb and extra care around the narrow crater rim.

Prambanan Temples

Discover Java’s Great Hindu Temple Complex

Not far from Yogyakarta, Prambanan reveals another chapter of Java’s history. Built in the 9th century, this vast Hindu temple complex is dominated by soaring stone towers dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

Get closer and the scale gives way to detail. Reliefs carved into the temple walls depict stories from the Ramayana, while smaller shrines and temples spread across the wider archaeological site.

Visiting Borobudur and Prambanan within the same trip is particularly interesting. One is Buddhist, the other Hindu, yet they were built within a relatively short period of each other and offer a fascinating insight into the different religions and kingdoms that shaped Central Java long before Islam became the predominant religion on the island.

Bandung Tea Plantations

Escape into the Highlands of West Java

Head into the highlands around Bandung and the scenery changes again. Cooler temperatures and volcanic soils have helped make this an important tea-growing region, with neatly planted tea bushes covering the hillsides.

Visit a working plantation to walk through the fields and learn how the leaves are picked, processed and graded before ending up in your cup. It’s also an opportunity to get away from Java’s busier urban areas and spend some time among the villages, farmland and volcanic landscapes of West Java.

Bandung can work particularly well as part of an overland route from Jakarta before continuing east by train.

Trek to Ijen Crater

Walk to an Acidic Crater Lake in East Java

Ijen offers a completely different volcanic experience from Bromo. Instead of an enormous caldera crossed by jeeps, you climb towards a crater containing an intensely turquoise acidic lake, surrounded by steep volcanic walls and sulphur deposits.

The walk is steep in places and conditions can be challenging, particularly when volcanic gases are blowing across the route. A knowledgeable local guide is important, both for understanding current conditions and for experiencing the area safely.

You may also encounter sulphur miners carrying heavy loads from the crater. It’s an extraordinary sight, but it’s important to remember that this is physically demanding work rather than a tourist attraction.

Ijen is also famous for its blue flames, caused by burning sulphuric gases and visible only in darkness under the right conditions. Access rules can change in response to volcanic activity and safety concerns, so we wouldn’t make seeing the blue fire the focus of your visit. The crater and surrounding volcanic landscape are impressive enough in their own right.

Plan Your Java Holiday with Us

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