Borobudur Sunrise Tour

Last week we went on a little mini family holiday to Jogjakarta. The kids and I spent the first few days of this year in Jogja, but we wanted to go back again with Mr. Chef to check out Borobudur.

Borobudur is definitely Java’s main and most significant tourist attraction. For good reason. That place is AMAZE. Seriously. I’m not a big temple person, and crowded temples + being out of bed before sunrise is, like, waaaaaayyy down towards the bottom of my favourites list. But there was really something wonderful about this place.

Borobudur is an 9th Century Buddhist temple, built over three generations as a temple to the Buddha and as a pilgrimage site. I didn’t know this, but apparently it is sill visited yearly by Indonesian buddhists, which is maybe why it feels so beautiful and peaceful there?

I’m not the first person to write about visiting Borobudur, clearly, as it is literally the most visited tourist attraction in all of Indonesia, but owning a blog makes me compelled to add my two cents to a topic which eeeeeeveryone already knows all about, you know? ;) 

BOROBUDUR SUNRISE TOUR

We rose in the middle of the night for our four am departure time. We organised a tour through our hotel (which sounds extravagant, but is actually surprisingly affordable) and we were met by our tour guide and our driver at four am. The drive to the temple takes about an hour from Jogja. Watch out for a bustling, hustling, crazy busy market along the way that is a major trading point for farmers in the region. It’s going strong at 4:30 am selling all sorts of agricultural produce. But by seven am, all traces of the market have been swept away. Cool, right?

Strictly speaking, tourists who want to participate in the sunrise tour must be guests of the Manohara Borobudur hotel. But as with everything in Indonesia, theres a workaround. You arrive early in the morning, “check in” to the hotel for a small feel, and then you’re set for sunrise viewing. 

The climb up the temple isn’t that intense. But it is very dark. Making your way up, it really feels like you’re alone in a sacred space. The dark of the night, stars twinkling overhead, hushed voices, sounds muffled by night. We found a spot to sit and watch the horizon as a warm glow slowly appeared in the east. In July when we visited, the sun rises directly between the mountains on the horizon, which is amazing because symmetry, right?? ;)

Once the sun was up, I wandered around the temple, snapping a few pictures, being totally blown away at how amazing this country is, and wondering how it is even possible that vistas could be this lush and this beautiful. Here are some pictures if you’d like to see. 

Anyway. Borobudur. You should visit it if you’re ever in the neighbourhood. And even if you’re not in the neighbourhood. It’s worth a little jaunt to Jogja. Do the sunrise tour. You won’t regret it.

Oh, and one note, we didn’t bring our kids along on this outing. And I’m glad we didn’t. It would have been 100 times less peaceful with them complaining of being bored (stella!!) and trying their best to hurtle themselves down the million steps (Hugo.) And really, I would suggest that for smaller children, it might be best to avoid the sunrise tour. Little kids stumbling around in the dark = a tempting the gods for a broken ankle, I think.