Looking for some trusted recommendation for honeymoon in Yogyakarta? let me share my 30 years story about my city.
Dear lovely couple my name is Bima and thank you for visiting my blog, today I’m not going to sharing about what I’m doing in wedding photography business but gonna share to you about my hometown Yogyakarta, but in case you just read this blog because you are preparing your wedding too than I will so welcome to show you my photo portfolio.
I was born in Jakarta 35 years ago but I spend over than 30 years in Yogyakarta, I run my photography business together with my wife and serving photo shoot like pre wedding in Maldives, wedding in Bali, till having a joy portrait shoot in Hong Kong for worldwide couple. Generally I just live in Yogyakarta but get a good connection to the world market is my passion.
So I move to this city after my mom getting divorce in 1990 and I live with my grand ma so I got so many great life value that come from her. My mom is working in an oil company in Jakarta and she always visit me like once to twice a month especially during weekend or if I get some problem with my task in school, actually she is truly great mother and leader that I ever had in this planet…thanks Mom!
Living in city for over than 3o years bring me know this city better, I run an airbnb business and coffee shop in this town for my future investment so since 2013 I already established 3 properties and become an Airbnb superhost, that was great experience too. I know that so many tourist visiting my town every year, some of them are just doing an ordinary traveling around Indonesia or South East Asia but some of them are celebrating their honeymoon in Yogyakarta, that was great too!
Yogyakarta Local Culture in the Past and Present Day
One thing that I love Yogyakarta better than other cities including my first home town Jakarta is, this city got strong culture as same as Bali. When you come to Jogja, another word to say Yogyakarta than you gonna see so many people smile on the street, life performance in city centre like Malioboro (you definitely must go here), and there are a lot of things to see like tradition, temple, cultural performance, and exhibition.
In my ebook called 44 Things to Do in Yogyakarta, I share some activities that you can do here in my town if you just got only 3 days to sightseeing around. Yes…3 days is quite enough if you just want to know this city at the first time and surely talking about if you got your next itinerary to go to Bromo, Ijen, Bali, and Labuan Bajo.
If you could spend over than 3 days than I can recommend you to stay in more peaceful place like Bantul in the south or Cangrkingan in the north but if you got only or less than 3 days than staying in the city centre will be the best.
Please come and stay in my house the Chendela which is located within 800 meter from the city centre, actually it is located inside the Sultan Palace complex, and please take my airbnb stay voucher if you just starting your first account.
At the present day I could say that my city is getting chaos due to so many people who come in for getting study in other words I could tell you that so many Indonesian trust my city as a best place to learn something in a formal way, so they go the high school and university for studying but my country is so big and if thousand of people visit this town than traffic and pollution are increasing, in fact this city is still being so nice to visit for you!
In the simple way, please avoid to sightseeing around during school and office hour between 6.45 to 8 am from Monday to Friday, it’s gonna be Chaos!
If you thinking to sightseeing around with the bike than it’s great choice even we don’t have any special path for bike rider so as long as you stay in the left side and you gonna safe. Like I said before 6.45 to 8 am is the most chaos hours so if you wanna go out that consider to leave your hotel before or after that period.
I seriously sad that I could see peaceful morning just like 10 years ago even I can’t ask for that because of modernity but yes for sure you still can enjoy all the attraction, temple, lovely smile form locals, and one of the good thing is….the cheap food!
Back few days ago I wrote about visiting Pasar Ngasem, the gate of Tamansari Water Castle and one word about this ancient complex, amazing! Few years ago this place is used for bird and animal market but nowadays it renovating and the government set Pasar Ngasem into its main function as a traditional market for Yogyakarta people. So when you visit this pasar a.k.a market in the morning that you can see local people activities like selling tasty and sweet tropical fruits, vegetables, and some gourmet snacks.
You must try, the Apem!
Looks like a dorayaki in Japan right! so Apem is local food that come from hundred years ago for Royal Kingdom tradition, it’s made from rice flour, sugar, egg, and coconut milk. Usually an old lady will sit down on a small wooden bench with traditional stove with wood-fire and cook this sweet snacks and sell it for IDR2,500 (US$0,20).
Apem Bu Wanti or Apem Ms. Wanti is one of the famous apem seller in this market and due to my opinion she made great ancient snacks which melted inside your mouth especially when eat it in warm, don’t ask me more if you will buy more than 1 apem, that’s worth it!
5 (Honest) Recommendation from Me Before You Go for Holiday or Honeymoon in Yogyakarta
I’m not going to be an expert in this case cause I shoot better than story telling but since I live in this town for over than 30 years than I had some experience and honest recommendation that could safe you and make sure you gonna enjoy to visit my town at the very first time.
1 – Batik Scam is Everywhere, Stay Alert!
There is always a scam in every tourist destination and I could tell you that Yogyakarta has one of them. Batik fabric and clothes are so famous here in my town so when you go walk through in Jalan Malioboro than there will be somebody begging you to buy their printing batik that cost US$200 or more. The worse thing is they will tell you that they really need money for kids or family who get sick.
Some of the scam maker will ask you to come upstairs and propose you to buy some printing batik with the price of hand writing batik. Please note that original hand writing batik will cost around US$60 each for 240 cm x 110 cm. Surely it can grows till US$200 if it has rare motif or strong pattern that need high skill to make it.
Printing batik are so cheap even you can buy for less than $20, so make sure you go to well-looked store even in Malioboro city centre. Margaria or Tjokrosuharto are two names that really matter to provide you with the best batik fabric or clothes for your own.
2 – Borobudur Sunrise Tour are Worth It
So many tourist agency provide a Borobudur sunrise where they gonna pick you up at the hotel around 4 am and drive fast to Borobudur within 45 minutes since the sunrise will start around 5.20 am. My wife is operated one great Borobudur sunrise together with my friend so in case you wanna see the package than you can go to my blog which describe the Borobudur Sunrise tour.
One thing that you should remind is, there is only one entrance to go into the Borobudur before it’s regular time and that is going through the Manohara Hotel.
Entrance ticket seems to be quite expensive around US$40 but if comparing with the sunrise view that you gonna see from the most exciting Buddhist temple on earth than it still worth it.
3 – Sultan Palace Side Entrance will Better Than the Front One
There are two entrance on Sultan Palace area, the front and side entrance. Even you can go both front and side but I highly recommend you to go through side entrance if you got only limited time.
Front entrance will provide you with the hall and yard and done! but side entrance will provide you with museum, Sultan collection, and some guards that will walk around the complex in traditional clothes. Just don’t miss their free performance from 10 to 12 noon even they gonna give random show among poetry reading, dancing, instrumental performance, and etc
4 – Bargain is Legal, so Try It!
Bargain is a tradition in Indonesia especially when you visiting city centre like Malioboro so go try bargain even you don’t get used to. My personal tips is try to bargain like 30-40% from the existing price than slowly up you gonna get your fix price.
It needs skill to do that but I think ladies will do better than men for sure but try it because it will be so exciting to try in Asia
5 – Check Your Airport Because Yogyakarta Got a New One
There are two airports in Yogyakarta which is separately in really far distance. The old one will called as Adisucipto International Airport (JOG) but since this area is owned by Indonesian Air Force so our government develop a new one called Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA).
Some people miss their airport destination so often, Adisucipto area will easily accessible from the city centre within 45 minutes but if your flight will depart from YIA than you definitely need at least 1,5 hour to go there by car.
So I highly suggest you to check where your airport will gonna be!
So thank you so much for visiting my blog and I love to see you here in my town, good luck with your trip and I hope this story help you as well to provide information about your holiday or honeymoon in Yogyakarta. God bless you and stay fun!
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