Photo: M Yusril Mirza (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A self-guided audio tour of the temples of the Prambanan plain, driving between them and walking each one; the drives are not narrated, and Ratu Boko, on its hill above the plain, has its own ticket. It begins at the Buddhist twin main temples of Plaosan Lor, with male Bodhisattva figures on the north side and female Tara figures on the south, and the fallen shrines of Plaosan Kidul. Candi Sojiwan follows, with its fables carved around the base, among them a monkey riding a crocodile. At Ratu Boko the tour passes through the double gateway, reaches the so-called cremation temple, whose ash proved to be burned wood, not bone, and the pendopo terrace and bathing pools. It continues to Candi Banyunibo and its relief of Dewi Hariti surrounded by children, the Hindu terraces of Candi Barong, and Candi Ijo on Bukit Ijo at about 357 metres, with small parrots carved in the mouths of its makaras. Back on the plain come Candi Kalasan, which King Rakai Panangkaran dedicated to the goddess Tara, the monastery of Candi Sari, Candi Kedulan, buried under about eight metres of volcanic lahar, and the sunken Shiva sanctuary of Candi Sambisari, where the tour ends.
13 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 100 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 16 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Plaosan Lor: the twin main temples, Candi Plaosan Kidul.
Candi Sojiwan, Ratu Boko: the gateways, Ratu Boko: the cremation temple, Ratu Boko: the pendopo and the pools, Candi Banyunibo, Candi Barong, Candi Ijo.
Candi Kalasan, Candi Sari, Candi Kedulan, Candi Sambisari.
Twin Buddhist temples that once held six bodhisattvas each, with male Bodhisattva reliefs on the north side and female Tara figures on the south.
The double gateway on the hill, three doorways and then five on successive terraces, the most fortified point of the complex.
A large andesite platform named for ash found in its central shaft, which later examination showed was burned wood, not bone.
A terraced Hindu complex on Bukit Ijo at about 357 metres, with a Linga-Yoni encircled by a Naga in its main chamber and parrots carved in the makaras' mouths.
A Buddhist sanctuary that King Rakai Panangkaran dedicated to the goddess Tara, ringed by 52 stupas and still bearing traces of vajralepa coating.
A Shiva sanctuary buried by volcanic deposits and dug out, reached by stairs down into its sunken enclosure.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 13 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 13 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in The Prambanan Plain — Plaosan, Sojiwan and Ratu Boko, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
13 narration points, including Plaosan Lor: the twin main temples, Candi Plaosan Kidul, Candi Sojiwan, Ratu Boko: the gateways and Ratu Boko: the cremation temple. That is about 19 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~4–5 hours with the drives total, but you walk at your own pace. 13 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.