Borobudur and Prambanan in One Day: The Eternal Temples of Indonesia

Last Updated on 21.03.2021 by Iliyan

Borobudur and Prambanan complexes are famous temples near the town of Yogyakarta. They are both huge and stunning World Heritage sites in Indonesia. They are must stops in your trip to Indonesia, so you can visit Borobudur and Prambanan in one day.

Contents

1 Flight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta
2 Borobudur and Prambanan in One Day

Flight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta

I arrived in Yogyakarta (or Jogja for short) around 9 pm. The main reason to visit this city is that here are located two of the most beautiful temples in Indonesia – Borobudur and Prambanan. The flight from Jakarta was one hour. Sesilia, the hostel owner of See You Soon Backpacker Hostel, had offered to pick me up from the airport. She was a young twenty-year-old girl, filled with so many dreams and plans for life. Her smile was shining and beaming happiness and positive energy. Sesilia is one of those people, who charm you extremely fast and they infect you with positive thinking. On the way there, she told me about her first trip outside of Indonesia. She had visited a part of the islands in Thailand and enthusiastically shared about her experiences there. Like many people who love to travel, Sesilia’s dream was to travel the world one day. For the moment, however, she was trying to develop the hostel, which had opened only a couple of months ago. Although it is only for six people and it is not the typical party hostel, it was her little place and it had its charm.

Borobudur and Prambanan in One Day

The alarm went off exactly at 3.15 am and I had about 15 minutes to get ready before the bus driver for the tour would arrive. However, he was already in front of the front door which forced me to hurry up even more. We got on the bus and we drove off. Prior to that, I had reserved a tour for visiting the two temples – Borobudur and Prambanan in one day. The driver left us in the place, where a bus full of travellers from all around the world was waiting.

To greet the sunrise from the temple, you will have to get to the Manohara hotel. This is the only hotel, located nearby a Buddhist sanctuary and it is the only one accessible. The hotel is located nearby the temple. At the entrance, they will give you a flashlight and this way you will be able to walk up to the temple when it is still dark. You will have to reach it, to climb on the steep stairs and find a place to meet the sunrise, because there are hundreds of tourists. Another place to watch the sunrise is the Setumbu hill, which is located at about 4 kilometers west from the Borobudur temple.

Borobudur Temple

The Borobudur temple in Indonesia is one of the most majestic monuments and the biggest Buddhist temple in the world. It is located in the heart of the central Java and for ages, it lays hidden under the layers of volcanic ashes and tropical greenery. The facts surrounding its abandonment remain a mystery until this day. It is considered that it was built in the 8-9th century during the Shailendra Dynasty. The structure consists of 9 lined up platforms – 6 square ones and 3 round ones, covered by a large central dome.

The temple is decorated with more than 2500 embossed panos and 504 statues of Buddha. The central dome is surrounded by 72 statues of Buddha, placed on the inside of openwork tops.

During 1991, the temple complex was enlisted by UNESCO as an object of a World Cultural Heritage. Standing in front of this monumental architectural miracle, it is hard to accept the fact that it was built more than 1000 years ago or 300 years before the masterpiece Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Borobudur and Prambanan in One Day — Borobudur Temple

Borobudur Entrance Fee: 450 000 IDR (€ 28.50)

Prambanan Temple

The next most important UNESCO World Heritage Site in Indonesia is the Prambanan Hindu Temple Complex. We visited it right away after we finished with Borobudur. It was built around the 9th century nearby Borobudur, which was proof that the two religions were coexisting in peace. It is dedicated to the Triple deity Trimurti: Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Preserver) and Shiva (The Destroyer). The largest temple in the complex is dedicated to Shiva. It is 47 m high and it can be seen from afar. It is surrounded with galleries, decorated with bas-reliefs, telling the story of Ramayana, carved on the inside walls of the balustrades.

According to the story, Rakai Pikatan, a Hindu prince from the Sanjaya Dynasty built all the temples in the archeological park Prambanan, as a response to the Buddhist Borobudur and Sewu. In the original form, the temple complex consists of over 250 large and small temples.

Subsequently, it was expanded by the Mataram kings for religious ceremonies and offerings. Despite that, during the 10th century, the temple was abandoned and since the Mataram dynasty has moved in the East Java. Later on, during the time of the big earthquake during the 16th century, the temples collapsed. Thanks to the reconstruction and the correct recovery, some of them have been recovered but many of them remain like ruins.

After the complex Prambanan, the touristic “train” will take you to some of the most remote temple complexes which are actually 5-6 minutes away.

Prambanan Entrance Fee: 325 000 IDR (€ 20.70)

Sewu Temple (Candi Sewu)

Sewu Temple was part of our Borobudur and Prambanan in one day tour. Sewu is a Buddhist temple, built around the 8th century. It is located only 800m north of Prambanan. Although they are very close, there were never conflicts between the Hinduists and the Buddhist pilgrims.