Yogyakarta Transportation

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Yogyakarta has a small airport despite it is one of the important tourist cities in Indonesia. Once you arrive at the Airport, you don't have much space to walk around and just the queue to the immigration counters. After immigration, you immediately exit the building, and the car rental, ATM, money exchange, tourist service office, etc are all located outside the building.

I would like to highlight that there is a underpass can lead to another side to the airport, where Railway station and the bus stop are located.

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This is my first time taking public buses in Indonesia, as there were no bus service in Bali. I think Yogyakarta has a good public bus routes to serve the locals and tourists. They have an unique way to build their bus-stop that I have never seen before. The bus-stop is located at designated stops which clearly stated on a map with a name. Each bus-stop has a name to indicated the landmark of the location, for example " Terminal Prambanan" means the stop is near the Prambanan Temple. The bus-stop is built like a trailer with an entrance gate for ticket check. You can buy the ticket on the spot preferable with small bill. Then wait for the right bus to come. If you are not sure whether it is the right bus, you can always check with the guy stands next to the door. Sometimes the bus gets crowded and you can't hear their announcement for the next stop, especially they speak in Indonesian. You can have the guy in the bus to remind you for the next stop. They are helpful.

Route 1A: (10 minutes each bus)

Terminal Prambanan (Prambanan Temple)
Bandar Udara Adisutjipto (Airport)
Jalan Malioboro (Malioboro Street)

Cost: Rp 3000 per trip

Operating Hours: 5:30-21:30

Through one of the VT's tips, I discovered www.yogyadriver.com. I emailed Ukhi, and he replied me with the quotation. By comparing to other commercial operators, Ukhi offered me a better deal, so I confirmed with him of our arrangement for 21.3.12 to Borobudur.

His Email : excellentyogyadriver@gmail.com

So, we met him at the hotel lobby. He is very nice person and have his friends or driver to drive us to Borobudur and the other two smaller temples, plus everywhere we wanted to go. He had a new Suzuki SUV. The car was really comfortable and the driver was courteous.

Price: 350,000 Rp (US$38), full day including gasoline, driver, and the car.

Highly Recommended!!

Hi there...

I'm in Yogyakarta city, and have been to Dieng. There are many transport companies in Yogyakarta offering car plus driver services, the cost for Dieng from Yogyakarta range from 400.000 to 600.000 IDR (12 hours roundtrip plus visit some interested sites at Dieng). More expensive on holiday / weekend. During at Dieng, you can visit some interested sites, included: Telaga Warna, Kawah Sikidang and Pandawa Lima.

To get Dieng from Yogyakarta by public transport ( bus): take bus from Yogyakarta city to Magelang bus station, then another minibus to Wonosobo. From Wonosobo, take a minibus to Dieng, passing tobacco plantation, rugged landscapes and main road Kledung between two standing volcanoes; Sumbing and Sundoro volcanoes.

Borobudur - Yogyakarta round trip is accesable by public transport (bus).From Borobudur temple you should go by local traditional transport (Becak or Andong available at outside of the temple) for some menutes heads for Borobudur Bus Station (regular bus departing heads for Yogyakarta is available here), then by bus heads for Yogyakarta .If you wish to reach Maliaboro street, you then still need to transfer by city bus or taxi to Maliaboro.

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YOGYAKARTA
An interesting form of local transport here in Yogya is the "Becak. This is the local form of Pedalled transport. Like many countries in Asia with this form of getting about the towns, they are a releif after you are tired of walking all day in the heat. These particular "cyclos" are for hire all over town and extremely easy to hire...Make sure that you establish the price of your fare BEFORE getting aboard..Prices will vary depending on the amount of people and luggage, also the weather can bump up the price. I find I don't bargain too hard with the driver as this is a hard way to make a living!!

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YOGYAKARTA
There are obviously many ways to get to Yogyakarta..I chose the train..Mainly because I love trains as they are the easy way to go for me..The train to Yogyakarta was The "Argo Willis " from Surabaya. This was a slow but comfortable journey although it started early for me. Trains travel across Java and the train goes to Jakarta also. (see www.seat61) for all Indonesian train information.
Of course some choose to fly ie: Air Garuda, Air Asia,..The local Lion Airways appeared to be the popular choice of locals and inexpensive...Also there are the busses or hire cars depending on your choice.. I found the train to be a good choice with the Main Railway Station(as usual) in the centre of town and I found accomodation within a five minute walk of the Station.This saves so much dramas with transfers etc.

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The train station in Jogja is conveniently located at the northern end of Malioboro, and from there you can easily reach your hotel if you plan to stay near the city centre; a good reason to take the train to go to Jogja (from Jakarta, or from the east (Surabaya. . ), but the best reason is to enjoy the beautiful landscapes of Java and the atmosphere of an “exotic” travel by train.
I travelled with the “Argo Dwipangga” a semi-luxurious train from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, leaving Gambir station at 8:00 am and arriving at 3:15 pm; so, a bit more than seven hours with an “executive” train; the “regular trains” are a little bit cheaper and take between 15 and 16 hours to make the travel; check the websites, there are 4 “executive” trains per day.
The trains I took was comfortable, I enjoyed a free breakfast, and the atmosphere in the train was very relaxed, the co-travellers sympathetic; what more do you need?
A drawback, in some way, was that as the coaches are air conditioned, you cannot open the windows and the landscapes are not as beautiful as if seen without the smoked glass windows; I “corrected” this imperfection by walking along the train, and finally found the employees coach, and there, not only the windows were open, but also the doors of the coach, as was the heart of the employees who appreciated a lot a client shows some interest in what they do and who they are! (next tips!).
In this overpopulated island which Java is, when you come early at the train station, it is by contrast very quiet and peaceful (picture 1), but when time of departure approaches, like everywhere, the crowds are there (picture 2)! And there goes the trip! We have a stop in Cirebon (picture 3), in Purwokerto (picture 4) and a number of other places. . . The train did not stop in small places like the one on picture 5, and you also can see on that picture that not only the windows are closed, but some are also crazed; that gave me the idea to walk along in the train to find better places to enjoy the landscapes (following tips).

Jakarta-Jogja; fare, one way: 240.000 rupiah (about 25 US$), including breakfast and water bottles; I had an extra meal (seven hours trip!) for 15.000 Rp.
“Regular trains”: 190.000 rupiah.