Discover the best luxury spa hotels in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The name’s pronounced ‘Jogjakarta’, with inhabitants calling their home simply ‘Jogja’. The clear draws are the city's royal palace, colonial architecture, and traditional arts and crafts, such as gamelan music, Javanese shadow puppetry and classical dance. Away from these touristy pleasures, visitors can make the most of finding themselves among so many students, joining up for short courses in language or dance. Better still, explore the 500,000-population city on random excursions, shopping, eating and relaxing like a local. Beyond the city limits, the ancient temples of Borobudur and Pramnanan provide a fascinating glimpse of times past. The architectural heritage of the centre was largely spared by the 2006 earthquake, but in residential areas, recovery is still ongoing.