The Souvenirs That Must Buy in Yogyakarta

After exploring and telling you about all the good things that you should have on the Bali island, it’s time to go back to Java island. On this Java island, there are some interesting cities that you should visit, especially in the special time like this, the end of the year. One example of them is Yogyakarta city. Yogyakarta is known as a cultural city, with its thick Javanese culture that still shown even though in the modern time like this. The Keraton still a big thing in this town and many people still respect their right ruler.

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However, if you ever visited this particular city, you should remember that there’s a must visit location, the Beringharjo market and Malioboro. Those two places are the locations where you can buy some unique stuff as souvenir. So in there, you can buy clothing, accesorries, and many other things. To be able to spend your money wisely, we already made a list that containing all the items that must buy in Yogyakarta.

1 – Dagadu Shirt

The first item in the must buy in Yogyakarta is the Dagadu Shirt. If on the Bali island you can find the iconic Brand, Joger, which has many things offer to you starting from the sandals to umbrellas, then the Dagadu has the authentic shirt for its customers. Dagadu shirt is made by using the quality materials and also design.

Each shirt has the unique letters that sometimes containing funny words in both Javanese or Indonesian. For anyone who wants to get a stylish shirt, then this Dagadu product is a must get. In the city of Yogyakarta, you can find it in some locations, such as Yogyatorium, Malioboro Mall, and also in the North Alun-Alun. However, there are so many “copies” out there, claiming that they are also a part of Dagadu. That’s why you should buy it only in the official places.

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2 – Batik Jogja

The next item in must buy in Yogyakarta is Batik Jogja or Yogyakartan Batik. As you may know already, Indonesia is a country where you can find a unique cloth named Batik. Each area in Indonesia contains their own unique design and sometimes they even use different materials. For example, on the island of Java alone, there are so many different motives of Batik.

This Yogyakartan Batik, is a bit different from its neighbor, Solo. There are about three famous Yogyakartan motives. The first one is Caplok, second one is Kawung, and the last one is Parang. You can find so many items with Batik motives on them, such as shirts, sandals, and many more. But the most favorite one is of course, the Batik shirt, which can be used for so many occasions.

3 – The Leather Puppets

In this world, there are many countries that are known for their puppet. There’s even a tale about the Pinochio, which is also a puppet. In Indonesia, there are different kinds of puppet that you can find and buy. They are Wayang Golek, which is the 3d wooden puppet that usually decorated with ornaments, and the second one is the leather puppets or Wayang Kulit.

Wayang Kulit or Leather Puppet is the traditional Javanese culture that still exists now.  Many people still love to watch it, despite it’s actually an old form of culture that has about hundreds years old. Aside from seing the performance of leather puppet, the tourists can also buy them as souvenir or collection. They can also get the most expensive one that made from the high-quality leather.

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4 – Blangkon

Sometimes, when you see the wedding with Javanese concept, you can see that some men are wearing a thing on their head. That thing is a hat, formed like a snail shell. They usually made out of the Batik cloth. It’s a Blangkon. Aside from used as a head cover for so many events just like weddings and an official meeting in a Keraton, Blangkon can also be bought for souvenir.

You can find this Blangkon at so many places around Yogyakarta. Just explore the crowded places like malls, markets, or even the city squares to find a vendor who can sell you one. The price of it is relatively cheap. So, usually the people are buying more than one Blangkon for their family, especially for the boys back home.

5 – Fried Eel

Aside from the non-food items, in Yogyakarta, you can also buy some snacks for you to enjoy or as souvenirs for your family and friends. One of them, which is the affordable and also the simple one is the fried eel. The eel is processed and added with flavor to make it more delicious. Usually, you can find them in a plastic pack in order to make it easier to save.

However, if you interested to get one, you can just visit one of the stores that located on the west side of Yogyakarta Monument. In the center of culinary in Godean, you can surely find one of them. For the price, it’s a bit expensive. Usually, you should need about seventy thousand to eighty thousand rupiahs in order to get one kilogram of fried eel.

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6 – The Silvercrafts

Yogyakarta city is also known as the main producer of silver-crafts in Indonesia. In the city, you can find the area named Kotagede, which produce the most silver-craft products in Yogyakarta. The silver-crafts can be used as an alternative to the gold-crafts that have way more expensive price than them. You can also use the silver-crafts for investing aside for the other purposes.

The price is very affordable and they look as beautiful as the gold, even more. That’s why, people these days are also interested in silver, especially the women who also love the silver-crafts. They can have a beautiful accesorries such as earrings, necklace, rings, and the others with way affordable price.

7 – Gamelan Miniatures

If you ever visited the city of Yogyakarta, do you remember the Javanese musical instruments set called Gamelan? Gamelan is known to be traditional musical instruments that always used in some events. These days, it mainly used for wayang kulit performance, creating music as a completement to Ketoprak, or the show to welcoming important people from abroad when visiting Yogyakarta.

Many people do feel interested in learning them. That’s why there are many tourists who would try to play at least one instrument of Gamelan in their visit and even planning to buy one. But the sad thing is, the price of it is always expensive. But don’t worry, as a thing for a reminder of this beautiful set of Gamelan, you can always buy the miniatures. Surely they are less expensive than the original ones.

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8 – Yu Djum Dried Gudeg

Inside items that must buy in Yogyakarta, there’s the famous food called Gudeg. Gudeg is an iconic meal of the city that always loved by everyone. Even the most delicious Gudeg is the one that exists in the city. As a souvenir, the famous Yu Djum also serves the dried version of it. Of course, it’s different from the usual Gudeg.

The Dried Gudeg has a long expired date, which is very useful if you want to buy some as souvenirs. It’s a product of Yu Djum that consists of processed jackfruit that not ripe yet. The dried Gudeg is of course served without water. Usually, Yu Djum will sell the customers this product in a red can with a label “Gudeg Wijilan”.

9 – Bakpia Patuk

The next one in the must buy in Yogyakarta is the Bakpia. Just like the Gudeg, Bakpia is also considered one delicious snack from the city. In Indonesia, the Bakpia itself is already spread to some places like Jakarta, Surabaya, Malang, and many other cities in the country. However, many people said that the best one of Bakpia is Bakpia Jogja Merlino.

Other than that, you can also find the other brands that also have their own unique taste. But in general, the Bakpia Patuk always has many variants of flavor, such as cheese, milk, cassava, chocolate, and even green tea. There’s also a strawberry variant that usually loved by kids. For the price, a pack consisting about 20 Bakpia has about Rp40.000,- to Rp50.000,-.

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Aside from those nine different items that you should buy when visiting the beautiful city of Yogyakarta, we also has the other list containing all the side items that maybe can attract you. All of them are actually worth buying and can make your visit in this city more memorable when you see at them after you got home.

1. Chocolate Monggo

2. Chocolate Roso

3. Yangko

4. Sale Pisang

5. Emping

6. Geplak Salak

7. Wingko Babat

So, that’s the article of items that must buy in Yogyakarta city. This epic city is indeed having all the interesting things that buyable, starting from the exclusive items to the old vintage items that have very high value. Even though buying a souvenir is completely optional, but buying one as a memorable item from Yogyakarta shouldn’t be a bad idea. Especially if the thing is really valuable for you.