Planning two days in Yogyakarta
 

When we Borobaodur and Yogyakarta and got around mostly by bus with the odd taxi thrown but were there for 4 /5 days and so had the luxury of being able to take our time. Prambanan was very easy by bus both there and back. The rest of the town we just walked everywhere. as I recall we got a taxi out to Borobodur and a bus back.

In Borobodur we stayed overnight at the Manohara hotel in the grounds of the complex and were really glad we did as it enabled easy pre dawn access to teh temple which was amazing. sunset the evening before was pretty special too. some photos on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/2015/09...ing-borobudur/ . We had planned to go to Dieng Plateau but a collapsed bridge put paid to that idea.

Given the time you have and the sites you want to visit, you have a lot of ground to cover, I think a guide/driver might be your best solution.

I am not a great fan of using guides and prefer to explore on my own having read a guide book beforehand (plus I have a low attention threshold when it comes to guides!).

I'm also in the guide myself camp. I was in Yogyakarta for about a week & hired a taxi for a day to Borobudur then made stops along the way coming back. It was perfectly satisfying without a guide.

We also had a very pleasant overnight in the village closest to Mt. Merapi though there's been an eruption since so don't know the state of things now. But it was a great getaway from the tourist spots, just a few trekkers passing through, no other overnighters if I recall correctly.

People obviously differ in their pacing, but I honestly don't see your Day 2 as feasible -- the distances are great and the traffic can be horrendous.
Whether Day 1 is feasible depends, I think, on what you call "the rest of town."

If you haven't seen it already, you might get some useful information from my trip report:
https://www.fodors.com/community/asi...-bali-1116191/

First, a comment about the Manohara Hotel in Borobudur. As of last year, it is no longer a hotel. It is now a retreat/yoga center, although they still handle the tickets to the sunrise. I stayed in a neighboring hotel last year, and it was a five minute car ride to get there. Actually, I found the sunrise cloudy and disappointing, since apparently, September is a bad time for sunrises there. However, it is definitely worth a visit to see the amazing carvings on the temple. I agree with others above, no guide is needed, as long as your study up before or after you go. I listened in on some guides there (pretending to fiddle with my camera, I'm so sneaky), and they really spout out a bunch of nothing.

I agree with kja that your itinerary is too hectic. I spread out what you plan to do in two days over three days.

I had a series of drivers during my two weeks on Java. Here is the agency I used in Yogyakarta:

Jogja Prima Transport <[email protected]>

The owner's name is Didik, and my driver's name is Jasing. Drivers in Indonesia are generally wonderful, and the cost is typically $50 to $60 per day. I would write to Didik and propose your itinerary, perhaps he can help you make it better.

I'm sorry to hear that the Manohara has changed it's function! Thanks for letting us know, CaliforniaLady. (Not that I promise to remember, lol.)

Ok, thank you for your feedback. If you had three days instead of two for the aforementioned sights, how would you plan the itinerary?

@ lookingforadventure: Even a quick glance at a map should show you that Borobudor is on Java, not Bali; the nearest airport is in Yogyakarta. And note that the cost of a good guidebook will be nugatory in comparison to the cost of your trip. Good luck!

From KL you can fly non-stop to Yogyakarta which is about an hour's drive to Borobudur (and quite close to Prambanan). From Yoygakarta you can fly non-stop to Bali Denpasar.

@ lookingforadventure: You can find the comments I had on hotels in my trip report, which I linked in above.

Are you looking for a hotel in Borobudur? If so, I recommend the Shankara, where I stayed. It's not fancy, but rather, a mid range property. The pool was really nice, but the lighting in the room was lousy. I believe kja stayed at the Manohara, which is no longer a hotel.

The concierge at the Shankara, Abu, set up all my transportation with a private driver. He got the job done, but he was not the best driver I had during my two weeks on Java. He was a young guy, who was constantly texting.

In Yogyakarta, we stayed at the Phoenix, which we liked very much.