Yogyakarta is the capital city of Yogyakarta Special Region in Java Island, Indonesia. It acquired the status of Special Administrative Region, since Yogyakarta is the only region in Indonesia that has monarchy structure. In the past, Yogyakarta is a part of Mataram Sultanate, a great Islamic Kingdom in Java before the colonialism of the Dutch. Then in 1756, the sultanate was divided into two kingdoms, one of them is Yogyakarta Sultanate. Since the independence of the Republic of Indonesia till now, Yogyakarta Sultanate becomes a province and its sultan becomes its governor.

Before the Mataram Sultanate was established, in the era of Ancient Java, there was a great Hindu-Buddhist Javanese Kingdom called Mataram Kingdom. The word Mataram itself refers to the southern plain areas of Mt. Merapi. The heritage of the ancient kingdoms to this day makes Yogyakarta is a very attractive place to visit. The renowned ones are Borobudur Temple (Candi Borobudur) and Prambanan Temple (Candi Prambanan) that were built around 9th century. Both are among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Borobudur is known as the largest and the world?s largest Buddhist temple as well as one of the greatest Buddhist temples in the world. Meanwhile, Prambanan is known as the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and one of the greatest in Southeast Asia. And for the Mataram Sultanate heritages, you can find it around Yogyakarta as well, such as Kraton (the Palace) that still exists to this day and other Royal related sites.

Borobudur Temple

Prambanan Temple

Not only is its cultural heritage, the beautiful nature of Yogyakarta is also a fascinating attraction for both tourists and researchers. Yogyakarta lies at the southern part of middle Java Island. Its north border is Mt. Merapi, which is known as one of world?s most active volcano and the most active volcano in Indonesia. Its unique volcano characteristic makes so many researchers from around the world come to study it. Then at the south border of Yogyakarta is the Indian Ocean, where you can find so many beautiful beaches there.

Mt. Merapi

Your visit to Yogyakarta won?t be complete without trying its local culinary. The most famous Yogyakarta local food is Gudeg. That?s why, Yogyakarta is also known as Gudeg City (Kota Gudeg). Gudeg is made from young unripe jackfruit boiled with coconut milk and palm sugar for several hours, therefore it has sweet base taste. It is usually served with steamed rice and other dishes such as eggs, chickens, tofu, tempeh and sambal goreng krecek (stew made of crisp beef skin). You can also try other food masterpieces of Yogyakarta such as Sate Klathak, Bakmi Jawa, Oseng-oseng Mercon, Bakpia and Jadah Tempe (Tempeh) Merapi. Other than local food, you can also find so many Yogyakarta local products as excellent gifts and souvenirs to be brought back. Some of them are Batik Yogyakarta, Silver Crafts and Pottery (Gerabah).

Gudeg

 
Sate Klathak

Besides dubbed as Cultural City and Gudeg City, Yogyakarta is also dubbed as the City of Education. The high standard education in Yogyakarta attracts students from around Indonesia to come and study there. Therefore, Yogyakarta is an excellent venue for the 48^th IPhO 2017 that can inspire the participants on how the modern high standard education harmonically meet the modest city rich of cultural heritage.

Foreigners that are planning to visit Indonesia for purposes such as: Holiday, Family, Social, Art and cultural; governmental visit; non-commercial sport activity, Benchmarking, short course, short training, Giving consultation and training in implementing technological innovation on industry to improve Indonesian industrial product design quality, and foreign marketing, Working in a very urgent matters, journalistic (with approval by Minister of Foreign Affairs), Non-commercial movie making (with approval by Minister of Foreign Affairs), Business meeting, buying goods or products, Giving lecture or following seminars, participating on international exhibition, attend meeting held by Head Office or Branch office in Indonesia, Audit, quality control, inspection to a branch office in Indonesia, foreign workers on probation, transit, and join a transportation mode in Indonesia, may choose one of these visa :

1. Visit Visa on Arrival

Foreigners can apply this visa upon arrival in Indonesia, if the nationality included on Visa on Arrival (VoA) country list. You can check the county list in:

A holder of Visit Visa on Arrival is given 30 days stay and can be extended in Immigration Office for 1 (one) time, to have another 30 days stay.

2. Visit Visa

Foreigners can apply visit visa in Indonesian Embassy or Consulates, or the guarantor could apply to the Directorate General of Immigration in Jakarta, Indonesia Visit Visa is issued in Indonesian Embassy or Consulates A holder of Visit Visa is given up-to 60 days stay and can be extended in Immigration Office for 5 (five) times, each extension will be given another 30 days stay.

3. Multiple Visit Visa

Foreigners that travel frequently to Indonesia for Family, Business, and Governmental visit purposes, may choose this type of visa. Foreigners can apply visit visa in Indonesian Embassy or Consulates, or the guarantor could apply to the Directorate General of Immigration in Jakarta, Indonesia Visit Visa is issued in Indonesian Embassy or Consulates A holder of Visit Visa is given up-to 60 days stay and can be extended in Immigration Office for 5 (five) times, each extension will be given another 30 days stay for more information about visa guideline, please visit

The weather in Yogyakarta is tropical and thus has two seasons, the wet and the dry seasons. There is little variation in temperature throughout the year although high levels of humidity, particularly during the wet season, can make it feel hotter. The wet season is between September and April and the dry season is between May and August. The temperature ranges between around 22 °C (72 °F) to 31 °C (88 °F) during the wet season and is slightly warmer in the dry season, ranging from around 25°C (77°F) to 33°C (91°F). Average humidity ranges between sixty five percent in the dry season and eighty five percent in the wet season.

Most people travel to Yogyakarta during the dry season, although the wet season does not mean that there is continual rain all day every day. Mostly there are relatively short intense periods of rain, although there can sometimes be longer periods of continual rain.

In Yogyakarta, Indonesia you can expect the 2 pins socket and plug as used in the larger parts of Europe. Whether you are staying in a hotel or in a private villa you should be able to get an adapter if you ask for one, but for avoiding any inconvenient circumtances you better provide the suitable adapter by yourself. The pins are round, not flat or rectangular.

Need an Adapter:

If you come from Australia, Japan, USA, Malaysia, UK, Canada, Singapore, and some countries in Africa you will most likely simply need a plug adapter. Otherwise, the plugs for your electrical appliances will not fit into the "Indonesian Socket", although the voltage should be o.k.

The standard used in Yogyakarta is a two-pin plug (round)

The voltage used is around 220 V, the frequency 50 Hz and the power sockets are in type C or F.

The Indonesian archipelago is divided into three time zones. And Yogyakarta which is located at the Central of Java island of Indonesia shared for Indonesia Western Standard Time or Waktu Indonesia Barat (WITA). Yogyakarta is within WITA is 7 hours ahead of UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

There are numerous international flights to and from Yogyakarta. Depending on where do you fly from, there are plenty of alternatives to reach Yogyakarta, from affordable flights to the rather expensive one.

However, since the direct flights from abroad that reach Yogyakarta are only from Singapore and Malaysia by using budget airlines, the participants that come from other countries have to transit first either in Jakarta, Surabaya or Bali. Or, you can also transit first in Singapore or Malaysia and then continue the flight to Yogyakarta.

The organiser will provide the transportation during the Olympiad, from 16 to 24 July 2017, including pick-up (16 July 2017) and drop-off (23-24 July 2017) at the Adi Sucipto International Airport, Yogyakarta.