Yogyakarta
Indonesia
A sultan still on his throne, the largest Buddhist temple on earth, and a live volcano behind the town
Photo by Eugenia Clara @fleetingstill on Unsplash
Photos by Budi Puspa Wijaya, Camille Bismonte, Haryo Setyadi and Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Indonesia
May to September (the wet season runs November to March)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 350mm in Jan
Where it is
7.80°S, 110.36°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Be at Borobudur for sunrise, which needs a ticket bought well in advance
- See Prambanan in the late afternoon light
- Eat gudeg for breakfast where the locals queue, not in a restaurant
- Take a batik class and ruin a piece of cloth yourself
- Ride a jeep up the Merapi ash fields
Yogyakarta travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Indonesia
Very cheapUse an authorised money changer with a shopfront and a posted rate — PT Mulia is the reliable chain. Count the notes before leaving the counter, which is normal practice and not an insult.
ATMs & cards
BCA and Mandiri machines are the ones to use, and the red BCA machines dispense hundred-thousand notes rather than fifties, which halves the fees. Many Indonesian machines cap at 1.25 million rupiah a go.
Avoid these
- the machines inside Malioboro shops
Use these instead
- BCA
- Mandiri
- BNI
The red BCA machines dispense hundred-thousand notes rather than fifties, which halves the number of fee-bearing withdrawals.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Indonesia
SafeRelaxed, friendly and one of the easiest cities in Indonesia. Traffic is the real risk and the motorbike swarm takes adjusting to; helmets on Gojek are provided and should be worn. Merapi is genuinely active and access is restricted at short notice — follow the official status rather than a tour operator. Petty theft is rare but bag-snatching from moving bikes happens on Malioboro.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Malioboro in the evening crush — for bag-snatching from moving motorbikes
- Merapi's restricted zones — the volcano is active and access changes at short notice
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Indonesia visa rules
e-Visa requiredup to 30 days500,000 IDR (~€30)
Visa on arrival is the same price and available at Bali airport, but the queue is long — the e-visa lets you walk to immigration directly. Extendable once by 30 days.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply at evisa.imigrasi.go.id before flying, or pay on arrival at the VOA counter. Every arrival also files the electronic customs declaration and the SATUSEHAT health pass.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: the arrival card
All Indonesia (electronic customs declaration)Required
In the three days before you arrive.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
The customs declaration is per family group rather than per person.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Indonesia
Good but costlyRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies — Bali has an active dog and monkey rabies problem
- Japanese encephalitis for long rural stays
Getting treated
Bali has good international clinics (BIMC, Siloam) used to treating tourists, but they are expensive and anything major means evacuation to Singapore or Australia. Insurance with evacuation cover is not optional here. Public hospitals are cheap and variable.
Rabies is the serious one — any monkey or dog bite means immediate treatment. Dengue is common. Malaria is not a risk in Bali or Jakarta but is in Papua and parts of eastern Indonesia.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodGudeg is the city dish: jackfruit stewed for hours in palm sugar and coconut until it is brown and sweet, eaten for breakfast. Bakpia pastries to take home. Angkringan carts sell nasi kucing — "cat rice", tiny portions — with charcoal-grilled skewers, for almost nothing.
Getting around
Easy- GrabWorks here
- GojekWorks here
- MaximWorks here
- UberNot here
Gojek the Indonesian one, and the better app here
- From the airport
- Denpasar airport to Seminyak Rp 120,000–200,000
- Against a taxi
- Far cheaper than the airport taxi desk and the hotel car.
Some beach areas and villages block app pick-ups on the street — the local transport co-operative enforces it, and the fix is to walk a block, or let the hotel call.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Jakarta — 11 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 22:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 22:00–06:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Indonesia
Why these are Indonesia's numbers and not Yogyakarta's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 40% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 61% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Yogyakarta, so these are medians for all of Indonesia. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Indonesia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Indonesian
- HelloHalo / Selamat pagiHA-lo / se-LA-mat PA-gee
- PleaseTolongTO-long
- Thank youTerima kasihtuh-REE-ma KA-see
- Yes / NoYa / Tidakya / TEE-dak
4 more phrases
- Excuse mePermisiper-MEE-see
- How much is it?Berapa harganya?buh-RA-pa har-GA-nya
- The bill, pleaseMinta bonMIN-ta bon
- Cheers!Bersulang!ber-SOO-lang
Religion
Muslim nationally, Hindu on Bali
Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country on earth, but Bali is the exception and is around 87% Hindu. The daily canang sari offerings on the pavement are religious — do not step on them.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Give and receive with the right hand, or both hands for respect
- Wear a sarong at temples — they are provided at the entrance
- Step around the small daily offerings on Balinese pavements
- Dress modestly away from the beach; Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country and Bali a Hindu one
Don't
- Do not use the left hand to eat, give or receive; it is the toilet hand
- Do not touch anyone’s head, or point with a single finger — use the whole hand
- Do not enter temples if bleeding, including menstruating, which is a stated rule at many
- Do not lose your temper in public; it causes serious loss of face on both sides
Where to stay in Yogyakarta
No Holistay rentals in Yogyakarta yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Yogyakarta on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Yogyakarta International YIA
45 minfrom the airport· 35 km as the crow flies
45km out, with a rail link to Tugu station.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
