Borobudur

Overview:

The world’s biggest Bud­dhist mon­u­ment, the 8th cen­tu­ry Borobudur is a stun­ning tem­ple com­plex that charts the life and teach­ings of Bud­dha and is a sacred and spir­i­tu­al place for both Bud­dhists and mankind alike. Con­struct­ed over three incred­i­ble lev­els – that rep­re­sent three lev­els of Bud­dhist sym­bol­ism, Borobudur is also an archi­tec­tur­al won­der, fea­tur­ing 2,672 teach­ing pan­els and 504 Bud­dha stat­ues – with the pin­na­cle of the com­plex being a giant stu­pa dome on the high third lev­el that fea­tures 72 bud­dha stat­ues in 72 stu­pas that look out over the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is Borobudur.

Found on the Indone­sian island of Java and sit­ting close to the in the spe­cial region of Yogyakar­ta, Borobudur sits on a hill­top but is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble by a climb that fea­tures some steep stair­cas­es – with the stun­ning green scenery and dor­mant vol­ca­noes in its back­ground adding to its beau­ty, that is per­haps best cap­tured against the incred­i­ble sun­rise that lights up the com­plex each morn­ing and is tru­ly a won­der to be seen.

While Borobudur has seen its share of dam­age and deple­tion as a result of both time and an acci­den­tal bomb­ing cam­paign, a series of major gov­ern­ment restora­tion projects have helped to restore most of the tem­ple to its for­mer glo­ry and make Borobudur Indonesia’s most vis­it­ed site – which con­sid­er­ing the coun­try boasts both Bali and the Rin­ca islands to name but two is no mean feat – as the holy teach­ing and life path of Bud­dha which are expert­ly carved into both walls and reliefs of the tem­ple, com­bined with the sheer size, stun­ning archi­tec­ture, beau­ti­ful scenery and mag­nif­i­cent sun­rise help­ing to make Borobudur not just a spir­i­tu­al­ly and emo­tion­al­ly fulling tem­ple – but a true won­der of the world.

Where:

The won­der of Borobudur sits on the main island of Indone­sia – Java, with the stun­ning com­plex being clos­est to the town of Yogyakar­ta in the spe­cial region of Yogyakar­ta.

Getting there:

The best advice to get to Borobudur is to base your­self on the island of Java – and get your­self to the town of Yogyakar­ta which serves as a base for most trips to Borobudur.

Yogyakar­ta is eas­i­ly reached from the main trans­port hub of Semarang – which you can either get direct flights to or go by bus or train from the Indone­sian cap­i­tal of Jakar­ta.

For those with a self dri­ve car and explor­ing the island of Java in a road trip you have the option of dri­ving direct­ly to Borobudur from Semarang, but we’d real­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing a route to Yogyakar­ta – as there are many fan­tas­tic tem­ples, includ­ing a gor­geous sun­set to see on the way.

From Yogyakar­ta you’ll find Borobudur a 90 minute jour­ney away, although allow an extra half hour to allow for the famous Indone­sian traf­fic con­di­tions, and we’d real­ly rec­om­mend set­ting off ear­ly to avoid both traf­fic and if pos­si­ble wit­ness the stun­ning sun­rise over Borobudur.

For those with­out access to a self dri­ve car, there are a range of pub­lic trans­port options, with the eas­i­est being pay­ing for a tour on a mini bus that will drop you off for you to do a self guid­ed tour of Borobudur, although we’d rec­om­mend stay­ing overnight at a local hotel to make sure you get to wit­ness the sun rise.

You can also hop on a bus from Yogyakar­ta from the main ter­mi­nal of Jom­bor bus direct to Borobudur – there’s no need to book an advance, and our advice is to jump on the bus and kick back for an hour as you enjoy the stun­ning Indone­sian coun­try­side scenery as you wind your way round to the won­der – just note that Eng­lish may not be spo­ken on the bus, and chances are the rest of the bus will be full of locals who will be sur­prised to see you !

Once at Borobudur you’ll find your­self either parked or dropped off at the main car park, and from here you can head to the tick­et office, pay your fare and enter the stun­ning won­der of the world – which is best and eas­i­ly explored on foot in a one-way clock­wise direc­tion along the well-defined path but occa­sion­al­ly steep path.

Best time to Visit:

The best time to vis­it Indone­sia for the coolest weath­er is between July – Sep­tem­ber and we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to Borobudur dur­ing this time, as the weath­er in the high months or dur­ing the mon­soon sea­son (Novem­ber – Jan­u­ary) can make a viusit to the won­der uncom­fort­able.

It’s also high­ly rec­om­mend­ed to vis­it to wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­rise when you vis­it and tim­ing your vis­it for a week­day to avoid the crowds.

For those who aren’t fussed by large crowds or noise – a trip to Borobudur dur­ing Vesak day — the holy Bud­dhist hol­i­day is most def­i­nite­ly worth a vis­it, just be pre­pared for heat, crowds and loud nois­es !

Explore:

The entire site of Borobudur fea­tures more than 500 Bud­dha stat­ues, 2600 stone carv­ings and stun­ning carved archi­tec­ture based on the teach­ings of Bud­dha across more than 2,500 m², which is divid­ed into three stun­ning cir­cu­lar lev­els with six square plat­forms where Bud­dha sits and the sum­mit which fea­tures the incred­i­ble and icon­ic dome of Borobudur at the top of the com­plex – where you’re greet­ed by not just a stun­ning view­ing plat­form but by 72 Bud­dhas which sit inside Stu­pas allow­ing for a spir­i­tu­al and awe inspir­ing reli­gious expe­ri­ence.

Unques­tion­ably the thing to do when you get there is to explore the com­plex, and this is best done by tak­ing on the pil­grims Jour­ney which takes you all to the way to the top of the stun­ning Borobudur com­plex and to the sum­mit of this stun­ning won­der of the world.

The pilgrim journey:

Along­side the stun­ning site of Borobudur, you’ll also notice that the com­plex is set high upon a hill – and while the climb can be a lit­tle steep in places it is per­fect­ly man­age­able as the path­way is kind­ly devel­oped to take you in a clock­wise stroll through open pas­sages, as you pass through the three lev­els of Bud­dhist Sym­bol­ism — the Kāmad­hā­tu (desire), Rūpad­hā­tu (Life forms) and Arū­pad­hā­tu (Life of form­less­ness) and ascend to the sum­mit.

Begin­ning on the Kāmad­hā­tu lev­el and hav­ing paid your entrance fee to get in, you’ll find your­self at the base of the incred­i­ble Borobudur and soon upon four unique gal­leries all with incred­i­ble carv­ings reflect­ing the life and teach­ing of Bud­dha – as well as some of the incred­i­ble Bud­dha stat­ues and some notable carv­ings which con­ceal ancient works on the walls – with the run­ning the­o­ry being that these carv­ings cov­er up the depic­tion of desire and lust – which are not com­pat­i­ble with Bud­dhism teach­ings.

As you take time to observe the incred­i­ble carv­ings and the unique­ness of the Kāmad­hā­tu lev­el you can slow­ly begin to ascend up a steep stair­case to the Rūpad­hā­tu lev­el – where you’ll find your­self on the lev­el of the 6 square plat­forms and be able to see fur­ther carv­ings which depict the life and times of Bud­dha and his teach­ings.

Of fur­ther note in this sec­tion is the incred­i­ble andesite stone used in the con­struc­tion of the whole of the Borobudur Com­plex – all of which was hauled there man­u­al­ly over the course of 75 years – mak­ing the con­struc­tion of Borobudur itself an incred­i­ble feat. You’ll also begin to see more detailed reliefs and piece them tofether as you explore the com­plex fur­ther, not­ing that the more than 2,500 thou­sand carv­ings and sto­ries tell the four key events in Bud­dhism; the promise of Bud­dha, the birth of Bud­dha, the law of Kar­ma and the search for truth – all of which form the core of one of the worlds major reli­gions.

Mov­ing past the sec­ond floor and upwards again through a steep stair­case you’ll come to the pinc­cale of Borobudur the Arū­pad­hā­tu lev­el and undoubt­ed­ly the most impres­sive – where the famous 72 bud­dha stat­ues sit inside 72 Stu­pas (round like huts) that cen­tre around a large cen­tral dome like stu­pa and from where it is belied enlight­en­ment can be received. While there is unfor­tu­nate­ly notice­able damange to some of the Bud­dha stat­ues, the sum­mit is still an incred­i­ble place, as you look out over not just the Borobudur com­plex but stand atop one of the holi­est Bud­dha site and jhav­ing fol­lowed the pil­grim jour­ney to the top moved trough the com­plex from the dark­ness to the light for an awe-inspir­ing and spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence.

Borobudur Sunrise:

Along­side mak­ing the Pil­grims Jour­ney to expe­ri­ence the mag­nif­i­cence of Borobudur, it’s high­ly rec­om­mend­ed to wake up ear­ly – approx­i­mate­ly 4:30am to see the sun­rise over the won­der.

While Borobudur offi­cial­ly opens its gates at 6:30am you can find tours from either Yogyakar­ta or from local hotels that can get you inside the com­plex before sun­rise so you can expe­ri­ence the Borobudur come to life with the shin­ing sun absent the flock of tourists that fre­quent the won­der dur­ing the day.

With the sun­rise best view­able from either the sum­mit itself or from the com­plex­es base – where you get a great view of the whole of the com­plex being lit up – for an absolute­ly incred­i­ble and unique way to expe­ri­ence this won­der.

Museum:

Hav­ing made the Pil­grims Jour­ney and seen the sun­rise, we’d also rec­om­mend a trip to the two muse­ums that sit on the Borobudur Com­plex – the Samu­drarak­sa Muse­um and the Kar­maw­ib­hanga Muse­um.

With the Kar­maw­ib­hanga Muse­um in par­tic­u­lar being fan­tas­tic for host­ing detailed infor­ma­tion about the his­to­ry of Borobudur, how it was con­struct­ed and even archi­tec­tur­al find­ings from the site over the course of cen­turies – with a vis­it to these muse­ums a fur­ther great expe­ri­ence to fur­ther your knowl­edge and appre­ci­a­tion for the won­der of Borobudur.

Self Drive Temples:

Along­side the won­der, for those of you that are self dri­ving or find your­self on a tour, we’d also rec­om­mend stop­ping off at a series of tem­ples that dot the way to Borobudur if you’re head­ing to Borobudur to or from Yogyakar­ta – with the below tem­ples being our favourite on the road there.

Not only do these tem­ples make incred­i­ble stop off points but the tem­ples them­selves are also fas­ci­nat­ing and beau­ti­ful and help lend fur­ther back­ground to how this part of stun­ning Indone­sia looked when Borobudur was occu­pied.

The Men­dut & Pawon Tem­ple: Believed to have been con­struct­ed at the same time as Borobudur, these two tem­ples are believed to have act­ed as a guide point towards Borobudur and fea­tures some incred­i­ble Bud­dha stat­ues, carv­ings and archi­tec­ture.

The Ngawen Tem­ple – part of a small vil­lage (which makes an ide­al place to grab a bite to eat after explor­ing the won­der) the Ngawen tem­ple is a lit­tle deplet­ed but still fea­tures some incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture and small Stu­pas that back to the 1st cen­tu­ry for an incred­i­ble impres­sion as to how far back the won­der of Borobudur goes.

Pram­banan Tem­ple – For those self-dri­ving and want­i­ng a great place to stop off to see a stun­ning Indone­sian Sun­set after a long day explor­ing Borobudur, we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time to vis­it the Pram­banan Tem­ple, which can be found on the way back to Yog­jakar­ta hav­ing seen the beau­ty of Borobudur in all its glo­ry.

The Pram­banan Tem­ple is a Hin­du tem­ple that stands at more than 150 feet tall and like Borobudur fea­tures stun­ning archi­tec­ture, carv­ings and sculpt­ed walls, and makes for a tru­ly incred­i­ble place to cap off your day while tak­ing in an incred­i­ble tem­ple as the sun descends on your vis­it to a true won­der of the world.

How long to stay:

We’d rec­om­mend one evening and then at least a half day to explore Borobudur – this will give you enough time to stay overnight at a local hotel and time to jump on a sun­rise trip to see Borobudur in all its won­der and then enough time to explore the won­der in the day light and appre­ci­ate its mag­nif­i­cence – before flocks of tourists arrive.

Top Tip:

As Borobudur is a reli­gious site, it’s real­ly impor­tant to be respect­ful and make sure you cov­er your knees, shoul­ders and wear a sarong or hair cov­er­ing – which are avail­able for free at the entrance site – and be sure to bring plen­ty of water – to com­pen­sate for the heat.

As a major top tip and for an ulti­mate trav­el expe­ri­ence, be sure to take in a sun­rise over the won­der, for an absolute­ly incred­i­ble and beau­ti­ful expe­ri­ence and amaz­ing pho­tos, and it’ll also be a worth­while invest­ment to grab a guide from the entrance or pre-book one – both so you can tru­ly under­stand and appre­ci­ate the beau­ty of Borobudur – but also for help in get­ting those high qual­i­ty pho­tos of your­self at the won­der.

Unsur­pris­ing­ly Borobudur is a tourist hotspot – and in a coun­try with Bali and the won­der of the Rin­ca Islands, Borobudur is Indonesia’s top tourist hotspot – so it’s essen­tial for a more enjoy­able expe­ri­ence to get there ear­ly and impor­tant­ly avoid the week­end for a time to vis­it as the crowds, com­bined with the heat can be over­whelm­ing and real­ly take the edge and beau­ty of your expe­ri­ence at this unique won­der.

Cost:

Expect to pay 375,000 Indone­sian Rupees – rough­ly $25 USD for access to the tem­ple com­plex and tick­ets can be bought on site – with guides that are rec­om­mend­ed and required to vis­it usu­al­ly cost­ing around 50,000 Indone­sian Rupees ($5 usd ) an avail­able from the gates a the times of entry or from Yogyakar­ta as part of a tour in advance – be warned those that are picked up at the gate will nor­mal­ly insist on a min­i­mum 2 hour tour time.

While the won­der opens at 6am and clos­es at 5PM, we’d rec­om­mend for a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence get­ting on one of the sun­rise tours which are avail­able from the town of Yogyakar­ta or from local hotels – these tours which might set you back half a mil­lion Indone­sian Rupees cost ($50 Usd) are well worth it and get you into Borobudur at around 4:30 am let you watch the sun­rise, either from a spe­cial view­ing point where you see the sun rise over the won­der or by mak­ing the climb to the top in advance for a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence.

Over­all you can expect to fork out $150 Usd to vis­it Borobudur – includ­ing allow­ing for trav­el there, food and a nice sou­venir.

Best photo spot:

There are two absolute must have pho­tos when vis­it­ing Borobudur, the first is the sun­set ris­ing over the tem­ple com­plex- you’ll have to be there at 5:30am and get lucky with a blue sky but the sight of the sun ris­ing over this spec­tac­u­lar tem­ple com­plex is incred­i­ble and cer­tain­ly pho­to wor­thy.

The sec­ond pho­to is from the top of the Tem­ple Com­plex hav­ing made the pil­grim­age to the top – while you can com­bine this with a the sun­rise for a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to – for those who don’t arrive in time for the sun­rise, the view from the top of the hill look­ing down on the many Stu­pas and Bud­da stat­ues as you’ve sum­mit­ed a won­der of the world is both a pho­to and mem­o­ry that will stay with you for life.