Best Time To Visit Yogyakarta

July and August are the driest and clearest months. August is the driest month of the year, receiving a small fraction of what falls in January.

They are also the most crowded. The Indian summer holidays and the European season overlap here, so book Borobudur transfers and hotels well ahead.

September is still dry and much quieter once the holidays end. On weather and value together it is the best month of the year to come.

October is the turn of the season and the point at which the rain returns. Early October usually holds; by the end of the month it does not.

November and December are wet, and the rain builds steadily through both. Afternoon storms are the pattern, so temple visits need to be finished by early afternoon.

Mornings are still usable, which is why a wet-season trip works if you accept a 5am start and treat the afternoons as indoor time in Kraton, the batik workshops and Malioboro.

January is the wettest month of the year and February is close behind. This is the weakest window for Yogyakarta, because everything you came to see is outdoors and unshaded.

Nowhere in Indonesia is dry in these two months. For fixed dates, Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo is at its driest in February and Phu Quoc in Vietnam is mid dry season.

March and April are wet but improving, with the rain falling away from January's peak through both months. April is the better half of the pair.

Late April is a fair compromise if you want the dry-season sites without dry-season pricing, and it pairs well with a stop in Jakarta or Ubud.

For Borobudur and Prambanan, come between June and September. Both are open, unshaded stone sites, and the sunrise and late-afternoon light that makes them worth photographing needs a clear sky.

For Mount Merapi jeep trips, the dry months are also the only reliable ones, because the tracks turn to mud and the summit view closes in once the rain sets in.