Complete Kotagede (4 Hours)

Take a tricycle around an ancient capital to unearth a unique silver heritage, a royal cemetery, and an eclectic mix of Javanese-Dutch architecture.

After breakfast drive to Kotagede, which contains the remains of the 16th century capital of the Mataram kingdom. You start with a traditional tricycle to tour the maze of narrow alleyways throughout this charming and quaint town. The streets are lined with tiny silversmith workshops where artisans produce silver tea sets, hand-beaten bowls, delicate filigree and modern jewelry. Go past the artistically decorated wooden Javanese Joglo dwellings as well as beautiful walled Kalang houses, once homes of the wealthy Dutch merchants.

Wander into a small baker’s shop and smell the aromas as Kembang Waru cookies, introduced by the Dutch colonists, are being baked over an open charcoal fire. After exploring the fresh food and spices on offer at the local market, you walk through small alleyways and here we enter the house of a local family who will offer you some fresh coffee/tea and a local snack. From here you walk a bit further passed small traditional houses and next you visit the oldest mosque in Yogyakarta dating back to 1575. Nearby is the Royal Cemetery, a site of ancient grandeur, where visitors are required to wear traditional Javanese dress to enter.

Continue walking through small lanes where you see people going on with their daily lives until the end point where you are picked up by your driver and are brought to a local restaurant for lunch.