Yogyakarta Travel Forum

I am an individual traveller to Yoya?in August? Can anyone share the comments on the safety of the yogya city? Is it safe for general tourists/

On the question of the airport, are there any tour desk for me to book tours?
Thanks

Hi,
I was a lone female traveller who spent more than a week in Yogjakarta last July and felt 100% safe. Actually I felt safe for the whole 5.5 months that I travelled through Java for 34 days, Sumatra for almost 3 months, Aceh-went right up the centre for 18 days and then spent a few days in Bali, with 6 days in Makassar and Tana Toraja Sulawesi and 5 days in Kuta Lombok.

In Yogjakarta I found a young parking man in the street who could speak English and engaged him as a guide and he took me south of Yogjakarta to all the beaches i had visited in 2000.
Another day I met a Welsh guy Mark who had been teaching Jakarta and he had hired a motor bike and wanted some company so off we went to Klaten and spent a few hours with the earthquake victims and laughed and joked with them- what courage those people had.

Told those things to let you know it is really very very safe. I had been to Indonesia before, but had never travelled around by myself and I do not speak the language- know lots of words but not sentences and have no idea what anyone is saying to me in Indonesia.

Sorry cannot help you with tour desk at the airport because I came from Bandung by the slow train and left by train to Surabaya on my way to see Gunung Bromo.
I even travelled from Gunung Bromo via Probolinggo to Malang and then got a bus to Lumajang, hoping there would be a bus to Ambulu where I was going to meet an internet friend and lucky for me there was one about 2 hrs later.
Did not have any books with information for that-just a good map and took a few chances.
For me Indonesia is very easy to travel in even tho' I do not have the language skills.
If there is no tour desk at airport there are lots of them in Yogjakarta town itself.
I even did a 1.30 am tour to see Gunung Merapi when she was near eruption- fascinating to see al the lava flowing down the sides at 2 in the morning and then to stay until the sun rose.
see my photos at www.webshots.com/user/ppamela2006.
Wishing you a great time.
Pamela- now in freezing cold Sydney, but my heart is most definitely in Indonesia.

It's relatively safe in terms of crime but watch out for scammers. I encountered quite a few compared to in Bali.

Sure, absolutely safe and could be the most safety city in Indonesia nowdays. It can be becusse of the special local goverment rule there that diffrent from than others provinces(The leader in JOGYAKARTA isn't a GOVERNOR, but a typicaly a KING( known as SULTAN).
You can see some tours/travel counter at ADISUCIPTO Airport in jogya, besides the Sosrowijayan and Prawirotaman street that easily check the travel there for Bromo, Prambanan and Borobudur tour they arrange for individual traveler.

Hi,

As a person who lived in Yogyakarta, I feel that Yogya is safe. I have some friends from other cities (from Indonesia), and a friend from Netherland. He said that he feel safe even he ride a motorcycle at late in the night alone.

These are few things that probably you want to know:

If you come to Yogya in the evening (say, before 9 PM), it will be easier for you. You can easily get a public transportation (or taxi). If you still havent got any idea where to stay, I agree that it is easy to get a place to stay at Sosrowijayan or Prawirotaman area.

If you're already in town, you probably will have many becak driver (three-wheeled vehicle) offer you to find a place to stay. There are some possibilities here. They will take you to an expensive hotel, or the cheap one.

Another thing, you probably will be offered by "a personal transportation service", here we call it "ojek" (pronounced as "O jack"). They ride a motorcycle, some of them (probably) know how to speak English.

If you go alone, I think you can get information from other tourists in Sosrowijayan or Prawirotaman area (these are two popular tourist area). You will meet many tourists there in a small cafe.

It is fine to ask some local people in Jogja. Some people in Yogya (even a "becak" driver understand English. If not, just say some simple English words like: hotel, prawirotaman, sosrowijayan.

And, if you feel "not right", do not hesitate to say "no".

Yogya really safe than other Indonesia city.I was travel to yogya last year and i got new experiences.I just klik www.jogjarentcar.com and i call for make reservation.They have comfort car,nice driver like kind guide tour.it's low coast for make travel to yogya.U can try.