Borobudur & Prambanan

I was in KL last year at Hari Raya (end of Ramadan) and lots of things were closed because people travel to their home villages at that time. I has planned to go to Jogja at that time, but I cound not get flights. So I'd recommend that you wait until later to go.

The advantage of flying into Solo is that you can take Silk Air non-stop. To fly to Jogja, you have to fly Garuda and change planes in Jakarta. I would definitely recommend that you stay in Jogja rather than Solo.

I agree with Kathie that during the Islamic holidays wouldn't be the best time to visit Java. (They call the holiday Lebaran here.) Millions and millions of people will be on the move and transport and hotels will be difficult. The temples and tourist attractions will be swamped.

Solo airport is about an hour's drive from the center of Yogya so you could easily fly in/out of Solo on the Silk Air flight and still stay in Yogya. Alternately, Garuda now has non-stop from Singapore to Yogya several days a week.

Borobudur is about 45 minutes outside of Yogya in the other direction and yes, it should be easy to visit both in a two to three day visit.

If your budget permits the Amanjiwo overlooking Borobudur is a fabulous resort. Otherwise, I'd go with the Hyatt or the Melia in Yogya. If prefer the Hyatt because the grounds are especially refreshing after the heat and congestion of Yogya, but the Melia is more centrally located for walking.

I wouldn't suggest staying in Solo. It's an okay town, but if your time is limited you'll have enough to do between Yogya and Borobudur.

I am just back from a 2 night trip and saw Borobudur and Prambanan. If you cannot afford Amanjiwo I would suggest you spend 1 night at the Manohara and the other night in Jogja at either the Melia or the Grand Hyatt. The Manohara hotel is not great but only residents of Amanjiwo and Manohara are allowed to go and see Borobudur at sunrise which is a beautiful experience and worth staying on site for. Prambanan can also be combined with your departure day as we did i.e. we left Amanjiwo 2 hours early and saw Prambanan.

Hobbes, I have a one night booking at Manohara.Could please tell me why the hotel was not great? Was it the beds,bathrooms?thanks

Would we really be missing out if we skipped Prambanan? Not sure if we will have time.

Lisa, Prambanan is a group some something like 400 Hindu temples. It really an amazing place. I'm personally partial to Borobudor, but you should try to see Prambanam too. It doesn't take long to get there, you can do both in one day if you are pressed for time.

Kathie, are you and I thinking of the same Prambanan? It's a fair size complex with several buildings but surely not 400? Do you mean the Dieng Plateau?

Prambanan is on the road to the Yogya airport. As Hobbes said, you can stop on your way to or from. You can "do" the complex in about an hour.

I'd recommend Prambanan because it is Hindu and makes a nice counterpoint to Borobudur. It is also lovely.

Has anyone seen the dance performance at Borobudur yet? They've had fullmoon dances at Prambanan for some time, but this is a new offering at Borobudur. The one's at Prambanan are a bit touristy (as opposed to "real" Javanese dance which is refined to the point of introversion), but you can't beat the location for atmosphere.

Boblax I did not see the rooms but did wander thru the property and had a meal. The hotel has a bit of a neglected feel i.e. it is a property with huge potential but could have been better. I used the public loo and it was clean but with the same slightly rundown feel. Having said that for 25% the cost of Amanjiwo I think it is well worth it to stay there to be able to enjoy Borobudur. Marmot, the dances at Borobudur had not started when we were there early Oct. 24Lisa, IMO Prambanan is worth making some effort for and as I said it works really well with either departure or arrival i.e. include the temple for an hour's visit.

Thanks a lot to all for the helpful comments. I will then wait until maybe the end of november. I will stay in Jogyakarta, and I'll visit Borobudur and Prambanan. It is great to have this kind of forums! Thanks again!
Gil

The Jogjakarta hotels cannot get you into Borobudur before opening to see sunrise which is gorgeous - spend 1 night at the manohara IMO

Thanks for the info, we leave the day after tomorrow (not that I'm counting)!!!

Lisa, please report on Java when you return. I'm going there in April or May.

Marmot, I just got back to this thread and saw your post. It inspired me to google it, as it's been a lot of years since I was there. The number I found (though I've seen several different numbers) was 220 temples. Many of the temples were toppled by a big quake in the late 1800s, and there has been constant reconstruction going on since. It's quite a large site. I remember that I had the sense of being in the midst of a giant jigsaw puzzle someone had mixed up. There were row upon row of carved stones, and the workmen were trying to put all those temples back together. My memory of the Dieng Plateau was that there were fewer temples than at Prambanam, though farther apart.