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Exploring the Extraordinary Beaches of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Posted by Karl Olivier Jamandra on
TIMANG BEACH. The view on this cliff off Timang Beach is a sight to behold. Just look at those big waves!
TIMANG BEACH. The view on this cliff off Timang Beach is a sight to behold. Just look at those big waves! It’s one of the travel spots you can go to when you visit Yogyakarta.

There are two things that you have to know first before reading this blog post about Yogyakarta. First, I went here with my Shembot Squad friends, and should you see words like we, our and us in the post, I am referring to our group. Second, this travel to Yogyakarta is the first leg of our great Indonesian getaway, which means we planned, intended and went to explore many travel destinations in the whole country of Indonesia. Our gateway to Indonesia was its capital city, Jakarta.

Read along to learn how to go here, what to explore and who to contact in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

HOW TO GO TO YOGYAKARTA

JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. Also called Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, this is where our plane from Manila landed when it reached Jakarta. We transferred from terminal 2 (international) to terminal 3 (domestic) to take the flight to Yogyakarta. Here’s my friend, Carlo, in the corridor of this airport during the wee hours in the morning when we were there.

We entered Indonesia via plane from Manila (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) to Jakarta (Soekarno Hatta International Airport) at night. We did not intend to go around Jakarta as we planned to head straight to Yogyakarta. We waited for several hours in the airport before riding our plane from Jakarta to Yogyakarta (Adi Sutjipto International Airport), where our Indonesian travel will really commence.

INTRICATE.
INTRICATE. It’s pretty awesome looking at these designs in the domestic terminal of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
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B&W. Here’s our group as we were eating in the airport’s B&W food chain. I personally missed this fast food restaurant! Why is there no B&W in the Philippines anymore?!

YOGYAKARTA

Yogyakarta Map (Wikipedia)
Yogyakarta Map (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Yogyakarta (called Jogjakarta) is one of the cities in the island region of Java, Indonesia. While it is known for their education, culture and arts, Yogyakarta mainly draws tourists because of its proximity to Indonesia’s famed temples. What is little known by people is that it also boasts beautiful beaches along its coastlines.

WHAT PLACES TO EXPLORE:

TIMANG BEACH

HUMONGOUS. Big, emerald waves crash on the coastline of Timang Beach, which is made up of rocky cliffs. After spending some time taking pictures of the surroundings, I decided to sit down and just watch the waves below me as they hit the rocks down there. That moment was very memorable as I really felt the energy of the sea against the seemingly steady yet diminishing toughness of the land.
HUMONGOUS. Big, emerald waves crash on the coastline of Timang Beach, which is made up of these high, rocky cliffs. After spending some time taking pictures of the surroundings, I decided to sit down and just watch the waves below me as they hit the rocks down there. That moment was very memorable as I really felt the energy of the sea against the seemingly steady yet diminishing toughness of the land.

Probably the most famous among the beaches in Yogyakarta, Timang Beach is popular to travelers because of its huge waves, amazing cliffs and gondola. Strictly speaking, I did not see any sandy beach part in the area – this is why you can’t expect to swim here.

ROUGH ROAD.
ROUGH ROAD. Here’s my friend, Brye, as he was walking towards us after riding on a motorbike with a Yogyakarta local. Look at the ground in this picture. The road towards Timang Beach is as rough or even rougher than that ground our motorcycle would just about jump a little almost every few seconds of our 20-minute trip towards this beach!
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Entrance to Timang Beach. This is getting pretty interesting.
TIMANG BEACH.
TIMANG BEACH. To enjoy more of the huge waves found in this beach, one can go walk through the bridge going to the islet in the area found in the left side or the gondola by the right side.
GONDOLA.
GONDOLA. This is the gondola where you can witness the huge waves just in front of your eyes!

While Timang Beach provides an exhilarating view of the humongous waves as they hit the shore and its rock formations, it is disappointing that certain areas here require payment from the visitors. Thankfully, we were still able to find spots that are worthy of picture-taking.  I wanted to ride the gondola, but after seeing that it would only take about 10 seconds one-way, I opted not to.

BUWIS-BUHAY SHOT.
BUWIS-BUHAY SHOT. This is just one of the buwis-buhay shots that I had in Indonesia. Well, I wouldn’t take a risk sitting on a cliff when I know it’s not sturdy. But even though it was, the feeling of being on the edge with my feet floating above the huge waves was one very memorable experience. And thank goodness, I’ve conquered it!
HYPNOTIZING. Timang Beach’s huge waves carried such hypnotizing music to my ears. Imagine these waves crashing and the sound they could be making!

INDRAYANTI BEACH (also called Pulang Syawal)

INDRAYANTI.
INDRAYANTI BEACH has this fine, creamy sand with relatively smaller waves compared to the ones found in Timang Beach.

Now, this is where we were able to chill out in Yogyakarta. Even though we were not able to swim (despite the inviting waves of the beach), it is here where we were able to relax along the sandy beach while eating Indo Mie (a popular pancit canton of Indonesia), taking pictures, sharing stories and just sitting around. We found many stores offering snacks, drinks and various street food here so you won’t get hungry once you’re here.

UMBRELLA BEACH. There are lots of umbrella beaches in Indrayati that you can use. They umbrellas in this picture are already closed, though, because it's about to go sundown.
UMBRELLA BEACH. There are lots of umbrella beaches in Indrayati that you can use. They umbrellas in this picture are already closed, though, because it’s about to go sundown.
Beautiful waves.
BEAUTIFUL WAVES. Indrayanti Beach was a perfect place to just chill and relax while in Yogyakarta.

Indrayanti Beach offers a long stretch of creamy, fine sand. Aside from small restaurants and eateries, there are also shops where you can buy various items from shirts, keychains and other gift items.

STREET FOOD.
STREET FOOD. We tried this street food being offered in Indrayati Beach and it kind of tastes like a less tasty sausage waffle. Its spicy sauce, though, make up for it.
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MORE FRIED FOOD. These are just some of the seafood being offered by stores in the beach. Look at them, they look yummy!

KRAKAL BEACH

KRAKAL BEACH at sundown.

While we really did not stay here in Krakal Beach for too long, I saw Krakal Beach’s interesting series of waves along its gorgeous coastline. It turns out that this beach is very good for surfing. Even though it’s already very late in the afternoon when we visited here, we still saw some visitors surfing along the waves.

WAVES FOR SURFING.
WAVES FOR SURFING. It is said that the waves here in Krakal are used for surfing. We were not able to see some surfers, though, because we only got there when evening was about to start.

Krakal Beach has creamy, fine sand that is said to stretch for about 5 km. Entrance fee to the beach is 10,000 IDR, but because we only stayed here for a short time, we didn’t need to pay thanks to our tour guide/driver who talked to the beach’s caretaker.

SILHOUETTE. Here’s my friend, James, as he was observing the area of Krakal Beach.

YOGYAKARTA ITINERARY

Here’s a rough draft of our itinerary in Yogyakarta:

INDONESIAN GETAWAY DAY 1

5:45 AM – We rode the plane from Jakarta to Yogyakarta.

6:55 AM – ETA in Yogyakarta. We hailed a taxi to go to our homestay.

8 AM – Arrival in homestay. We then fixed our things, washed up and prepared for the day ahead. We asked the owner of our homestay, Mr. Agung, to help us find a driver with car who will be touring us around Yogyakarta. He talked to Mr. Gogorobong of Busto Trans (Rental Mobil Dan Motor).

9:30 to 10 AM – When Mr. Gogorobong arrived, we talked to him about our plans for the day.

11 AM – We went to a local eatery in Yogyakarta. This is our very first legit Indonesian meal!

12 NN to 6 PM – We explored the beaches of Yogyakarta: Timang Beach, Indrayanti Beach and Krakal Beach

7 PM – We exchanged some more of our money in foreign exchange shops found in the city (US dollars, Philippine pesos to Indonesian rupiah), bought pocket wi-fi in one of their malls and also purchased polos made of batik, a clothing made from the technique of wax-resist dyeing.

9 PM – We were already hungry at this point. We were too tired to go around the city for dinner so we opted to ask on what we could do instead. We’re thankful to a female neighbor of our homestay owner because she helped us call the local McDonald’s to have our dinner delivered!

WHO TO CONTACT:

For homestay (called Hotel Pelangi): Mr. Agung – 082242321100

While the place where we stayed was called Hotel Pelangi, it was a homestay and not a hotel. They have rooms that can accommodate up to 4 people. The rooms are pretty simple; it has clean beds, a few furniture and a bathroom. The bathroom may underwhelm (it has underwhelmed us haha), but it serves its purpose of bathing and relieving oneself of human waste.

For car rental: Busro Trans: Rental Mobil Dan Motor – 081903725501, 087839942403, (0274) 513-473

CHICKEN SOUP.
CHICKEN SOUP. We asked our driver/guide in Yogyakarta to take us to a local eatery and he brought us here in “Sop Ayam Pak Min Ragil” where we were served tasty chicken stews with nasi goreng and noodles. Their iced tea is refreshing!

LIST OF EXPENSES:

152,000 IDR (group) – Taxi from airport to homestay

260,000 IDR (group) – Hotel Pelangi

600,000 IDR (group) – Car rental and guide

100,000 IDR (individual) – Habal-habal going to and from Timang Beach

TOTAL (per pax): 268,667 IDR or P1,021.52 (excluding food and other expenses)

***

Thank you for reading the first leg of our Indonesian getaway. Look out for the next blog posts that would include our trips to the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan, Mt. Bromo, Komodo National Park, Lombok and Bali!

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