Pinus Pengger forest is a true Instagrammer’s paradise. With its many cute setups, this forest is excellent for taking pictures any time of the day. The sunset gives it a little bit of extra magic, with the changing colours in the sky and the city lights of Yogyakarta at night.
How to get there
Pinus Pengger is about a 40-minute car drive from Yogyakarta, in an area where there is no public transport. A reliable internet connection can also be tricky to get in this area, so I recommend to book your transportation in advance. We had our private driver waiting for us in the parking lot while we watched the sunset.
Entrance fee
We had to pay fees to enter Pinus Pengger forest and for the parking as we came by car, but these costs together were less than Β£1 per person. Just make sure to carry some cash with you.
The Hand of Pinus Pengger
From the entrance of the park, we followed the path and took the second turn to the right. We then stumbled across several beautiful photo spots.
The most famous photo spot in Pinus Pengger is the Hand, so of course we had to take pictures with it. If you have trouble finding the Hand, look for “Pancawara” on the Pinus Pengger map at the beginning of the forest.
At first, we took pictures from the Hand before sunset with our own phone:
However, after sunset, a team of local professional photographers had taken over the place. We had to buy a ticket to enter the queue of people who wanted their pictures taken.Β Remember to ask how to pronounce the number on your ticket in Indonesian, as they don’t announce it in English.
After our shoot, we could buy the pictures we liked at a small price.The pictures we bought were sent to us by email:
It was delightful to see the locals gather at the Hand of Pinus Pengger to watch the sunset and enjoy their time together. Also, the views of Yogyakarta’s city lights at night didn’t fail to impress.
Other photo opportunities
Our other favourite sunset photo spots in Pinus Pengger forest are the Rock and the Arch.
By climbing the Rock, and taking the picture in a certain angle, it looks like we’re watching the sunset from the top of a cliff:
Our other favourite photo spot was from the Arch, from where the views were incredible:
