Java is the most populous island in the world at over 150 million people. It is home to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, which as of November 2025 is the world’s most populous city at ~42 million. How this happened is an interesting story of its own.
We visited Yogyakarta (known by most as Yogya or Jogja, both pronounced “Jog-ja”) in central Java. Yogya is known for arts & culture, textiles, and access to the massive temples of Borobodur and Prambanan.
We stayed at the Meliá Purosani Hotel in the middle of Yogya. It’s a huge, modern hotel with all the conveniences, and a short walk from many sights. In yet another extremely hot region the pool was very much appreciated!
Meliá Purosani has several dining options, and we quickly learned their strengths and weaknesses. El Patio is great for their huge breakfast/brunch buffet, which has so many options of so many types from so many cuisines that it feels like you could eat there for any meal. However.. that’s not how it works. For lunch and dinner they switch to a far less exciting to-order restaurant and are underwhelming. Meanwhile Ching San is the in-house Chinese restaurant and to our surprise.. amazing. Huge menu, excellent quality, and attentive service! It feels like a separate entity from the hotel, although both are equally snazzy.
Shocking nobody, on the first night in Yogya we made it a goal to enjoy/review the best gelaterias in the city. Not known to be lazy when it comes to important tasks like this, we “worked” hard on our goal most days we were there. We went to seven gelaterias in central Yogya that had the highest ratings across reviews I had read. Click in for details..
Tempo Gelato
The first place we tried and it set the bar high. Lots of flavors and solid quality. Beautiful, fun venue, especially for families. It’s not amongst the tourist throngs which is a plus too. I think it wins the coolest gelato venue.
Malio Gelato
Malio is on the main social street so gets a ton of foot traffic. It’s fairly big but mostly filled with a queue. The counter is big and the servers fast but it not a relaxing scene. The gelato itself, after what can be a long wait.. amazing! This was the tops in terms of actual gelato authenticity and quality.
My Gelato
My Gelato is actually just a small kiosk within the Kalluna Cafe & Restaurant (excellent!). You don’t have to eat at the restaurant to go there, although we did. The gelato selection is basic (likely not made in-house) but tasty. Not our favorite by any measure but a good option after a nice meal.
Monggo Gelato
Monggo Gelato (aka Chocolate Monggo or House of Chocolate & Gelato) is, as the other names suggest, more than just a gelateria. It is an upscale chocolateria, cafe, store, and a gelateria. They have a large variety of flavors and great quality as well. We of course had bunch of chocolates while we were there (they encourage trying samples) so had a fun time. They are also located on Jalan Gerilya, a top street for art with a couple great restaurants. As an overall destination, Monggo is tops on our list.
La Moda Gelato
We hunted for La Moda Gelato for quite some time. We knew it was somewhere in the Malioboro Mall, but all the mapping apps put it in different.. and incorrect locations. It turns out it’s just a small kiosk on the second floor at the top of the escalator and above the front entrance. It was very much “mall gelato”, refreshing if you are hot (in Yogya, you are), but not made in-house, no vibe, not really a place to sit, and mediocre quality. They did have some unique flavors like durian listed but that would be more.. “unrefreshing” to me. 🫢
Alo Gelato
We had high hopes for Alo Gelato as it is a few blocks away from the main drag. We managed to get there in the pouring rain but.. it was closed. Really closed, like not sure it still exists dead. Right in the middle of the day. So we didn’t get to try it at all. Despite the good reviews I wouldn’t try to go again. It’s not an inviting neighborhood and the C28 place next door (where we went to get a coffee and wait out the rain) was disappointing. If anybody visits please let us know your experience!
Ng’laras Coffee & Gelato
Ng’laras is an airy and peaceful place for a quick bite and a simple gelato fix. It’s not the best or most creative gelato but as we found in so many cases, culinary experience is about more than the food itself. The is a convenient drop-off spot since it is on the eastern end of Jalan Gerilya, it has a bathroom, it has AC, and it wasn’t full either time we went there.
All in all I’d say we got a real variety of gelatos and found the best ones. Tempo, Malio, and Monggo lead the pack by a huge margin. If I could only pick one right now I’d pick Monggo. The gelato experience was excellent, and made even better by the comfortable seating area, world-class chocolate, and engaging staff. It also makes me laugh because of course it reminds me of Blazing Saddles.
April 2nd, 2026 was the Sultan’s 80th birthday. Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X is the regional sultan and the only monarch in Indonesia. They shut down the main tourist street, Jalan Malioboro, for the day and thousands of people participated in parades. The sidewalks were packed with people as well, enjoying the festivities and paying their respect via dance and giving tributes. Jalan Malioboro is oriented such that one end points north to huge volcanic Mount Merapi that overlooks Yogya, and the other end goes directly into the Kraton (Sultan’s Palace). The parades shut down much of the main tourist areas and march into the palace.
Tuk-tuks are common across SE Asia, including Indonesia. They are motorized three-wheelers with one wheel in the front and two in back with a seat on them for riders. Indonesia is well-known for also having bentors, which are motorized three-wheelers like tuk-tuks but with the two wheels and riders in the front. Great view but you are the crumple zone!
You’ll also see becaks in some areas, which are like bentors but unmotorized. Neither bentors nor becaks are particularly good in the rain btw. Our driver put a plastic sheet over the front to protect us but of course it was old and functionally opaque so we had to peek around it. You see some crazy shit out on the road (ourselves included!).
Shopping opportunities are everywhere in Yogya! They are known for textiles, especially batik, but you can find anything. For inexpensive (once you barter!) clothing we went a few times to Pasar Beringharja, a huge covered marketplace on Jalan Malioboro. There are hundreds of vendors packed into narrow aisles in the intense heat. I tower over most Indonesians but it’s still claustrophobic with walls of clothing all around. They let you try things on but of course in the heat everything clings to.. everything. The pricing is amazing though, and the variety mind-blowing. The vendors are both sweet and demanding. After some time you learn their real price ranges and how to work deals. Savitri is a master haggler!
Right across the street is one of the biggest shopping stores around, Hamzah Batik. They have lots of clothing downstairs and tons of cheap handicrafts, furniture, you-name-it in the upper floors.
For a conservative religious country they sure have a lot of bottle openers and.. dongs. Due to what I can only assume is consumer demand these have been combined.. for convenience?
We visited a high-end silver design and handcrafting center, Borobudur Silver. This is a stand-alone store with vast rooms of high quality silver pieces, as well as the artisans creating them. Of course they still barter substantially, but it’s a whole different type of conversation than with a street vendor. This part of Yogya has been known for fine jewelry for ~five centuries, and the silver is all mined in Indonesia. We’d definitely recommend it, even if only to calibrate your understanding of silversmithing.
Yogya is filled with art of all sorts. I find myself drawn to the gritty graffiti especially. Jalan Gerilya is particularly well-represented here.
Even our hotel featured local artists in a mini gallery that was quite interesting.
While walking near Jalan Gerilya we found Batik Winotosastro, a batik production factory. They are to batik as Borobudur Silver is to silver. This is the real deal. There are many kind people carefully using time-proven techniques to apply a series of layers of wax and dye to fabric by hand. You can tell it’s hard and they were so focused that I’m not sure that they were always aware that we were looking over their shoulders.
With all things valuable comes the opportunity for scammers. If somebody approaches you and tells you about a special gallery or special deal, it is almost definitely special because it is a scam. We did go to this gallery and did buy one piece but fortunately paid FAR less than they pushed for and got something we liked so.. art’s art.
Batik is one of my favorite forms of artistic fabric/clothing and I realized on this trip that my favorite batik shirts that I had worn for years were made in Indonesia.
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