Borobudur: climbing the stone mandala

The largest Buddhist monument in the world rises above the Kedu plain, its galleries of carved stories leading pilgrims in slow circles towards the sky.

Area

Temples of the plain

Start from

Yogyakarta

Distance

about 40 km north-west

Time needed

1 day

Best season

All year; April – October is drier and clearer

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Hired car and driver, ride-hailing car, or public bus to Borobudur town

Tickets & rules

Entrance ticket to the temple park; a separate, limited ticket with a guide and special sandals to climb the monument; modest dress

Why go

No photograph prepares you for the scale of Borobudur. Seen from the entrance path, it looks like a low stone hill with a crown of stupas. Climb it and it becomes a book in stone: gallery after gallery of carved panels telling the life of the Buddha, scenes from Jataka tales and the search for enlightenment, leading up to the round upper terraces where seated Buddhas look out from behind latticed stupas.

The setting is just as beautiful. Borobudur sits on a gentle rise in a wide green plain ringed by volcanoes: Merapi and Merbabu to the east, Sumbing and Sindoro to the north-west, and the long Menoreh hills to the south. In the early morning, mist lies in the valleys and the volcanoes float above it.

Visiting has changed in recent years. To protect the stone, the number of people allowed to climb the monument each day is limited, and climbers must go with a local guide and wear special woven sandals. It makes the experience calmer and more respectful than it was in the old days of crowds sitting on the stupas.

The story

Borobudur was built in the eighth and ninth centuries, roughly between 780 and 830, under the Sailendra dynasty. It is not a temple with an interior but a stepped pyramid over a natural hill: six square platforms topped by three circular ones, crowned by a large central stupa. Originally it held 504 Buddha statues; the walls and balustrades carry around 2,670 relief panels. Walking clockwise up through the galleries is about 5 km in total and symbolises the path from the world of desire to the formless world of enlightenment.

Some time after its completion, the centre of power in Java shifted east and Borobudur was gradually abandoned. Volcanic ash and jungle covered it. In 1814, during the brief British rule of Java, Thomas Stamford Raffles heard reports of a monument in the forest and sent an engineer, H. C. Cornelius, who cleared it with a team of local workers over about six weeks.

There were two major restorations. The Dutch engineer Theodoor van Erp worked on it from 1907 to 1911, and a huge international project led by Indonesia and UNESCO in 1975–1982 dismantled and rebuilt the lower terraces stone by stone to add drainage and a concrete foundation. The monument became a World Heritage Site in 1991.

One of its secrets is the ‘hidden foot’. At the base, a band of 160 panels showing cause and effect, the Karmawibhangga, was covered by an extra stone platform, perhaps for structural reasons. A few panels at the south-east corner are left exposed. Each year at Vesak, monks and pilgrims walk in procession from Mendut temple through Pawon to Borobudur, carrying candles and lanterns.

Getting there

Borobudur is about 1–1.5 hours by car from central Jogja, depending on traffic. A hired car with driver for the day is the easiest option and can be combined with Mendut and Pawon. Public buses run from Jombor terminal in the north of the city to Borobudur town, but they are slow.

The new Yogyakarta International Airport is further away, about 1.5–2 hours, so if you arrive by plane it’s worth basing yourself near the temple for a night.

A suggested plan

1. 5:30Leave Jogja early to reach the temple park around opening time.
2. 6:30Walk up through the park; your climbing slot and guide take you up through the galleries clockwise.
3. 8:30Back down, visit the exposed Karmawibhangga reliefs and the site museum.
4. 10:00Coffee in the village, then Pawon and Mendut temples, both a short drive east.
5. 12:30Lunch and return to Jogja, or stay on for the villages route.

Where to stay

Staying near Borobudur, in one of the many guesthouses and homestays in the villages around the temple, lets you be there for the morning light and see the area without day-trip crowds. Otherwise Jogja is fine for a day trip.

Good to know

• Book the climbing ticket well ahead online when possible, as daily slots are limited and sell out on holidays.
• Walk the galleries clockwise, keeping the monument on your right, as pilgrims do.
• Bring a hat and water; there is very little shade on the monument.