Right in the city centre, you will find the Sultan’s Palace, Keraton Yogyakarta – often written as Kraton– whose full official name is ‘Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat’.

The Keraton is effectively a city within a city; within its walls you will find people’s homes, a market, shops, a mosque and schools. Some of the people living within the Kraton are employees of the Sultan.

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Much of the Kraton palace complex is open to the public, including even part of the main building where the Sultan lives with his family.

The entire Kraton Jogja palace complex was opened in 1755. The palace is currently listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What you’ll see at the Kraton complex

The Kraton Jogja Palace has two separate entrances, each with its own admission fee.

You can enter the palace without a guide.

• Tepas Keprajuritan (see map) – located directly on the south side of the large Alun-alun Lor square, this entrance provides access to the military and ceremonial palace areas; however, the tour is considerably shorter than at the other entrance.
• Tepas Parawisata (see map) – includes entry to the Sultan’s main palace and other adjacent buildings and areas

Inside the palace, you will see communal rooms as well as some chambers open to tourists.

The outdoor areas include several religious buildings, beautiful, peaceful and shaded little squares, and souvenir shops.

On the main street between the two entrances, you can also visit the museum of the sultan’s horse-drawn carriages. Admission to this museum is included in the entrance fee for both of the aforementioned sites.

Walking from the centre, you will pass the vast Alun-Alun Lor square, an open space filled with immaculately maintained volcanic sand and featuring two banyan trees.

We recommend leaving the palace complex via the south-western exit (see map) and continuing on foot for about 15 minutes to the magnificent water palace of Taman Sari.

Admission and opening hours

The entire Kraton Jogja complex, including the main sultan’s palace, Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, is closed on Mondays.

From Tuesday to Sunday, it opens at 8.00 am. Closing times vary depending on the day of the week:

• Tuesday to Thursday – closes at 14:00
• Friday – closes at 11:00
• Saturday and Sunday – closes at 17:00

Ticket prices are as follows and apply to each section separately. Therefore, if you wish to visit both the military section of the palace (Tepas Keprajuritan) and the civilian section (Tepas Parawisata), you will need to pay twice the following amounts:

• 25 000 idr – foreign visitors
• 15 000 idr – local visitors

The price also includes the performances you can watch in the indoor pavilion (Tepas Parawisata entrance).

On Tuesdays and Thursdays (10:00–12:00), you can enjoy a performance by a traditional percussion orchestra; on Wednesdays (10:00–12:00) and Saturdays (9.00–12.30) you can watch a Javanese puppet show, whilst on Fridays (9.00–11.00) you can listen to local poetry and on Sundays (11.00–12.00) you can enjoy Javanese dance.

Beware of traders who will try to lure you into the Sultan’s workshop with fabrics called batik; they’ll only take you to an ordinary, yet overpriced, fabric shop.

Accommodation in the area

The surrounding alleyways exude the atmosphere of old Yogyakarta. The houses here are low, small and crammed together, and the dense network of winding alleyways offers tranquillity and welcome shade.

Around the Kraton Palace, you’ll find many small guesthouses and local hotels with very low prices starting from 25 usd per night.

We would recommend the following accommodation options, which offer the best value for money:

• The Patio Yogya
• BSH (Bu Sud's House) Yogyakarta

How to get there

The Keraton Yogyakarta is situated in the central part of the city, about 400 metres south of the end of Malioboro, the main shopping street.

The nearest bus stops are about 500 metres away, directly in front of the Vredeburg Museum. In the details for this location, we list all the bus routes that pass through these stops.

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