Yogyakarta Travel Guide

To support the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 program, Yogyakarta has made “Culture-Based Tourism” its development theme for this year. Yogyakarta’s famous culture and hospitality can be felt in many tourism venues throughout this special region.

In the 2008 Journalists’ Familiarization Trip recently held by the Yogyakarta Tourism, Art and Culture Service with the theme “Jogja Welcomes You,” the participants were introduced to several tourism destinations in Yogyakarta, particularly those of strong cultural interest. These included Kraton Yogyakarta, the palatial residence of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and his family, and of the previous sultans of Yogyakarta; the nearby Taman Sari (Water Castle), a historic bathing venue regularly used by the Sultanate; the royal mausoleum at lmogiri; the Batik Museum at lmogiri; the silver handicraft center in Kotagede; and of course Borobudur
temple, one of the wonders of the world and the center of the Waisak celebrations for the year 2552. For the Buddhist holiday this year, a pre-Waisak ceremony event was held involving prayers for 24 hours non-stop by Buddhists from three cultures – Tibet, China and Thailand.

The Fam Trip participants also took part in the opening ceremony of the Gong Perdamaian Nusantara (Archipelago
Peace Gong) event at Taman Pintar, part of the 100th anniversary celebration of Indonesia’s national awakening. Yogyakarta was the first appearance in Indonesia for the Peace Gong, after stopping in eight other countries.

This exciting event, which Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X also attended, presented a variety of dances from Indonesia to support the theme of the commemoration of the city of Yogyakarta’s 252nd anniversary, “Celebration of Cultural Unity”. It is hoped that these events will encourage even more tourists to visit Yogyakarta -this year’s target is 1.2 million foreign and domestic tourists – and make Yogyakarta even better known as a city of tourism and culture, not just in Indonesian but also in ASEAN and the world.