The world’s busiest island holds some of the planet’s greatest ancient treasures

In the frenetic, action-packed metropolis of Jakarta, a democratically elected president oversees Indonesia’s government. But just a few hours east, a sultan still holds court. Yogyakarta is a rare thing, a sultan’s kingdom inside of a country that is otherwise a republic. In the local Javanese language, the letter Y is pronounced like a hard J, with the city’s name shortened to “Jogja.” Here in Jogja, a city whose backbone was built along an ancient cosmological axis, the present always exists door-to-door with the past. The modern city is full of noise and color. Red coolers proffer bottles of Indonesia’s ubiquitous Bintang beer. Striped curtains shade roadside cafes. Street art pulls inspiration from ancient batik prints. Local-language pop ballads and American rap music blast from speakers. While Jogja’s car traffic can rival Jakarta’s at peak times, the city’s heart has a different feel. The narrow streets around the sultan’s palace are filled with backpackers, street vendors, tour guides hawking their services, and office workers popping out for a coffee amid the madness. More than 150 million people live on Java, Indonesia’s economic and political core and the world’s most populous island. It’s crammed with treasures too. Within a 25-mile radius, there are three UNESCO World Heritage sites. The first of these is Yogyakarta itself. Its ancient center was built in the mid-1700s in an auspicious location chosen for its proximity to points on land and in the heavens. Its most important building, the Kraton or Sultan’s Palace, was placed equidistant between the Indian Ocean to the south and the still-active volcano Mount Merapi to the north. The country that became modern Indonesia once had multiple sultans, but Yogyakarta’s stood up to support the republican opposition to Dutch colonial rule after World War II, and was allowed to keep his domain when an independent federal government took power. Kraton is the ideal place to begin a trip to central Java, and it’s also a starting point for understanding Yogyakarta. Though it’s still the home of the sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, and his family, much of the space is open to the public. The entry fee includes a guide, and it’s worth it — every structure, from the glass pavilion decorated with images of musical instruments to the sculptures of mythological animals flanking entryways — has deep symbolic meaning that many visitors would likely miss. Also nearby is Tamansari. Sometimes written as two words, Taman Sari, the name means “perfumed garden” or “beautiful garden,” it’s usually called the water castle. It’s easy to see why — the striking water feature in the center of the palace complex is greenish or blue depending on the sun. It was designed in a mix of Dutch and Indonesian heritage styles, perfectly encapsulating the contradictions that make Jogja so irresistibly compelling. By following the walkway past the exit, you can explore the area now known as the Tamansari Tourist Village. Here, more modern Indonesian artists paint murals, sell traditional crafts like batik cloth and finely wrought silver jewelry, and make lattes from Java’s world-famous civet coffee. A millennium in a day It’s possible to travel back hundreds of years in a short time by visiting two world heritage-listed temples just outside of Yogyakarta. The most famous of Java’s historic places is Borobudur, one of the grandest Buddhist temples in the world. These days, the most-practiced religion in Indonesia is Islam, but both Hindu and Buddhist dynasties thrived here in the 8th and 9th centuries. Borobudur, a massive, lotus-shaped temple complex with a dramatic stone front, stands majestically on a sun-soaked plain. Borobudur’s sense of spirituality still imbues the air around it. Although much of the population in Java converted to Islam and Borobudur was abandoned, it was not destroyed. According to Panggah Ardiyansyah, a Jogja native and lecturer at SOAS University in London, Borobudur is “sacred” even to this day. Locals revered the place enough to leave it alone — and believed that interfering with the site would bring bad luck. Ardiyansyah advises that people visiting Borobudur study the reliefs along the temple walls, which show scenes from the life of the Buddha. “People in the ancient times tried to tell stories using reliefs, using drawing on a wall or on statues. It’s so fascinating. You can try to understand it yourself, try to reference the manuscripts, and try to ‘read’ it.” It’s tempting to immediately climb to the top of Borobudur and take photos of the impressive surrounding landscape. A more spiritual approach is to perform pradakshina — a traditional act of circling a holy site several times in a clockwise direction. Guides recommend doing it three or more times to settle into a more meditative state of mind. The truly devout will make 108 loops, as the number is spiritually important in Buddhism. Ardiyansyah notes that many of Borobudur’s treasures have in the past been removed and taken overseas. In recent decades, the government of the Netherlands — which colonized Indonesia from the 1600s-1900s — has been in the process of repatriating sculptures, reliefs, and other items to the arts and culture administration in Java. However, many of Borobudur’s other artifacts — including Buddha heads removed from their bodies — remain in museums in the US and Europe, as well as likely in private collections. Visitors hoping to climb Borobudur must book a timed slot online ahead of arrival, as numbers are limited to 1,200 a day. On-site, they must swap their shoes for a pair of traditional, woven sandals called upanat — eco-friendly footwear, designed to protect the ancient volcanic stones, which can be kept as a souvenir. Grouped with a mandatory guide, visitors board a shuttle vehicle to the temple base. The earliest available time slot for foreign tourists is at 8:30 am, but some hotels, like the nearby ultra-luxe Amanjiwo, can arrange sunrise tours for an additional fee. The gasp-inducing scale and intricate stonework of Borobudur have attracted numerous global figures over the years. Prince Charles, former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and Barack Obama are among the dignitaries who have walked its stone galleries and tried kunto bimo — a popular ritual where visitors reach inside a lattice-work stupa to touch a stone Buddha, with the promise that it will grant a wish. Because the practice has no roots in traditional Buddhist belief, historians and locals suspect it was cooked up as a tourist gimmick long ago, though it has since become a tradition in its own way. The Hindu temple complex of Prambanan is not as busy as its nearby Buddhist cousin, which is a bonus for travelers with limited time. No advanced bookings are required, and both temples can be visited in the same day relatively easily. Tour companies like Jogja Driver Team recommend visiting Borobudur in the morning to avoid the worst of the heat, then Prambanan after lunch. The entrance and exits of Prambanan are also cluttered with vendors selling souvenirs and cold drinks — offering a good opportunity to pick up a bottle of water. The site is large and totally open to Java’s scorching sun, so it’s important to stay hydrated. Hats, comfortable walking shoes and sunscreen are also advised. Asia travelers might get a sense of déjà vu upon first glimpsing Prambanan, Indonesia’s largest Hindu temple site. That’s because it resembles one of the region’s most famous tourist attractions — Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. The tall temples feature square bases and conical towers adorned with intricate stone carvings of gods and mythical animals, with the three largest structures dedicated to Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu. In all, more than 200 shrines and temples are scattered across 40 hectares of land. Although Borobudur and Prambanan look and feel entirely distinct, it is almost impossible not to compare them. Many visitors are surprised that such massive monuments representing two entirely different world religions were built just a short distance apart. “A lot of people want to see it as rival cultures or rival religions, but at the time it wasn’t seen that way,” says William Chapman, who spent many years in Indonesia working on restoration projects. “Borobudur started getting attention early on, from the early 19th century. There’s a lot more sculpture, a lot of reliefs, and it was more accessible and had a good view.” Prambanan, meanwhile, was abandoned and largely neglected until the start of the 20th century, with the first restoration in the 1930s, Chapman added. While Prambanan currently sees fewer crowds than its Buddhist neighbor, Chapman believes that balance is shifting. India’s rapidly growing middle class is increasingly eager for international travel, and Chapman says there is a strong draw toward destinations with deep Hindu heritage. With Indonesia offering Indian passport holders a visa on arrival, visiting is relatively easy. Even amid crowds of tourists, blistering midday sunlight, and feet worn out from miles of walking, the sense of spirituality in Yogyakarta and its surrounding historic treasures is undeniable, It’s hard to visit these sites and not awed at the splendor of it all, and to think of the many craftspeople and builders who constructed such impressive sites without the help of technology. Even Ardiyansyah, a Jogja native, says he still feels wonder when he visits Borobudur after a long time away. Climbing to the top and looking out over the countryside is just as powerful as studying the intricate stone carvings. “You are rewarded with a view of the world.”