A Day at Parangtritis Beach

After a few days of temple hopping, I was aching to do something else besides seeing ancient temples. I wanted to go to the beaches in Kukup and Krakal, but after asking around I found out that it was difficult to get to those beaches by public transport, so a new friend and I decided to head to Parangtritis instead.

We headed to Giwangan Terminal and waited for the mini-van that went to Parangtritis Beach.
The Black Sand Beach of Parangtritis
We were supposed to leave without much trouble, but the Japanese passenger aboard the van was almost swindled. I say almost because I clarified the price of the van and the entrance fee to the beach with the conductor of Giwangan Terminal before boarding the van. I told the Japanese passenger about the real fees, and he was livid after finding out. Eventually, he got his money back and the driver of the van settled for the right price for the bus. We paid the 10,000 IDR fee for the van and were finally off to Parangtritis. We fellow travelers, my new found friend from the hostel and the other Japanese passenger, became quick friends while we passed the time on the bus.




After paying the 5,000 IDR entrance fee, our motley crew walked around Parangtritis. Apparently, this beach is a popular destination for locals. We saw droves of people on the beach doing whatever. Instead of the sandcastles I would normally see, the locals made replicas of their own temples, the pointed peaks gave them away.




The beach was ok but not impressive, thankfully I wasn't here by myself. The beach was not really for swimming, because the waves just thrashed just a few feet away from the shore. the locals just waded in the water near the shore.

Fishing!!!!!!!!

 

The clouds reflected on the mirror-like surface of the water.

I could not read the vandal on the rock on the left

There were quite a few nice looking rock formations by the beach. We didn't really do much in Parangtritis Beach aside from wandering around. We didn't want to miss the last van back to Yogyakarta, so my friend from the hostel (Zhun Jie, she's from Taiwan) and I left early, our friend from Japan (Yuto) decided to wait till sunset.
How to get to Parangtritis Beach
Getting to Parangtritis Beach is fairly easy, just ride any bus in Yogyakarta city and alight at Giwangan Terminal for 3,000 IDR. From Giwangan Terminal, ride the min-van that goes directly to Parangtritis for only 10,000 IDR one-way, there is a 5,000 IDR fee to enter the beach.