From the floor of the sinkhole to the temples on the plain: the places worth your time.
A visit to Jomblang takes a morning. What you do with the rest of the day — and the days either side — is what turns it into a trip.
We have grouped the places below into three: what you see inside the cave itself; the caves, rivers, hills and beaches of Gunungkidul, the limestone regency around it; and the temples, volcano and royal city of Yogyakarta, where you will almost certainly be staying. Each page has practical detail, honest tips and the tours that go there.
Inside Jomblang Cave A 60-metre rope descent into a collapsed cave
Goa Jomblang is a vertical cave — a sinkhole around 50 metres across, formed when the roof of a cavern collapsed. Visitors are lowered on ropes about 60 metres to a floor covered in forest, then walk through a dark tunnel to neighbouring Grubug Cave, where sunlight falls through the roof in a single beam.
Inside Jomblang Cave The sunbeam everyone comes to see
At the end of the tunnel from Jomblang lies Luweng Grubug, a shaft roughly 90 metres deep. Around midday on clear days the sun shines straight down it, and the light catches the mist in the chamber as solid-looking rays — the “cahaya surga”, or light of heaven.
Inside Jomblang Cave A sunken forest on the cave floor
When the roof of Jomblang fell in, the vegetation on top went down with it. Sheltered, damp and lit only from above, the floor of the sinkhole now carries a dense pocket of ferns, mosses, shrubs and trees quite different from the dry teak country on the surface.
Gunungkidul: caves, coast & karst Float through a cave on an inner tube
Half an hour or so from Jomblang, Gua Pindul is a short flooded cave you drift through in a rubber tube, past stalactites and under a skylight in the roof. Most visitors add tubing on the nearby Oyo River, with its small waterfalls and jumping rocks.
Gunungkidul: caves, coast & karst The wilder, quieter river next door
Kalisuci, in the same village area as Jomblang, is a river that slips in and out of caves at the bottom of a jungle gorge. Tubing here is more adventurous and far less crowded than Pindul, but it depends on the water level and closes after heavy rain.
Gunungkidul: caves, coast & karst A hand-pulled gondola over the surf
On a wild stretch of the Gunungkidul coast, lobster fishermen strung a rope cable car across to a rock island. Today visitors ride the wooden gondola — or walk a suspension bridge — above the breaking waves of the Indian Ocean.
Gunungkidul: caves, coast & karst A short scramble to a huge view
Gunung Api Purba Nglanggeran is the eroded core of a volcano that was active tens of millions of years ago. A trail squeezes between giant boulders to a summit around 700 metres high, with a small reservoir, Embung Nglanggeran, below for sunset.
Gunungkidul: caves, coast & karst White coves between limestone headlands
South of Wonosari the karst plateau ends in a string of small beaches: Baron, Kukup, Krakal, Drini, Sundak, Indrayanti, Pok Tunggal and more. The sand is pale, the cliffs are dramatic and the surf is strong — places to walk, eat seafood and watch the ocean rather than swim far.
Gunungkidul: caves, coast & karst A waterfall straight into the Oyo River
At Bleberan village, water from springs on the plateau drops over tiered limestone ledges directly into the green Oyo River. You reach the falls on a short raft ride or a path through the fields, and in the dry season the pools are good for a swim.
Yogyakarta & the temples The world’s largest Buddhist monument
Built in the 9th century and rediscovered under volcanic ash and jungle a thousand years later, Borobudur is a stone mountain of galleries, reliefs and bell-shaped stupas north-west of Yogyakarta. Access to the upper levels is limited by a daily quota, so book ahead.
Yogyakarta & the temples Java’s great Hindu temples, and a show beneath them
The 9th-century Prambanan compound, with its 47-metre Shiva temple, stands on the eastern edge of Yogyakarta — conveniently on the way back from Gunungkidul. In the evening, the Ramayana is performed as a dance-drama on a stage facing the temples.
Yogyakarta & the temples The volcano on Yogyakarta’s horizon
Merapi, around 2,900 metres high, is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes and looms over the city from the north. Visitors explore the lava fields of its 2010 eruption by open jeep, and in active periods watch glowing lava from safe viewpoints at night.
Yogyakarta & the temples The sultan’s city: Kraton, Taman Sari and Malioboro
Yogyakarta — Jogja — is the base for almost every Jomblang trip and a destination in itself: a working royal palace, the ruined pleasure gardens of Taman Sari, batik and silver workshops, student cafés and the endless street market of Malioboro.
For sample day-by-day plans, see the travel guide; to compare organised trips, see the best tours.
Places in the cave are limited each morning. Compare the best-rated Jomblang tours from Yogyakarta, add Pindul, Timang Beach or the temples, and book in a couple of taps.