Explore o City Tour de Yogyakarta

Unfortunately the sultan Palace was unexpectedly closed so we could not visit it. The rest of the tour was good. The bird market is really surprising with a lot of animals not just birds. Batik and silver making experiences are interesting.

The advantage of this trip is that the driver will drop you to the three sites (of which the museum is the most interesting one), in a fully aircon car. However at each site you will use a local guide so I’m not sure it is as cost effective as using taxis from one of the local apps. If you do go to this tour make sure to ask the driver to do things you would not be able to do otherwise. For instance, I went to the batik factory and a puppet workshop. I’m not sure why the tour is advertised as lasting until 3pm (mine was until 1pm) and it said it would go to Kota Gede, as mine did not.

The person who picked me up was a driver. His English was not that good.I had to get my own English speaking guide at Yogyakarta Palace Water Castle and Museum Sonobudoyo. When I was finished from the tours it was difficult to find him. He never was were he told me he will be. My tour guides had to help me find him. He took me to the bird and flower market. He never took me to the batik and silver making.

We went to the Museum, Sultan Palace and Water Palace ( Taman Sari). Museum is fantastic, small but very well designed and maintained. Sultan palace is grand and worth every minute. Guide was good and explained everything in good English. Taman Sari was also good but probably has seen better days. Appears little run down and needs renovation. Batik store was huge, very economical and good selection. This was the best part of our tour and we will be going there tomorrow again. Did lot of purchasing.

The tour was a short overview of Jogja I felt it was lacking in depth and only touched the surface. No batik info for instance. The water place was a waste of time. Also the price was advertised in dollars which turned out to be usd. Rather more expensive than original planned.

Traffic in Yogyakarta can be bad but it can also be used as an excuse for delays. The tour guide that was originally assigned to us didn't make it, so a quick replacement was arranged who arrived at our hotel after an hour. Fortunately Fajah, who was supposed to have his free day that day was knowledgeable & had great restaurant recommendations. He explained very well how the natural geography/location of Yogyakarta protects the city from tsunamis. He brought us to the luwak coffee place, which was a great experience.

The Kraton complex is worth seeing. The museum was fascinating. I learned a lot about the meaning of the batik symbols. The batik workshop produces high quality batik for reasonable prices.

Budi, our guide, did a very nice job of escorting us around Yogyakarta. We saw the major highlights of the city, all three sights were time-worthy. The Sultan’s Palace and the Sonobudoyo Museum were particularly interesting. Budi, thank you for your time.