Taman Sari

Taman Sari was built in the 1750s and 1760s for Hamengkubuwono I, the first sultan of Yogyakarta, as a pleasure garden and retreat behind the Kraton - originally a much larger complex of pools, canals, artificial lakes and pavilions, of which the bathing complex and some outlying structures survive after earthquakes and neglect. The Umbul Binangun bathing pools are the set piece, three linked pools with a tower from which the sultan is said to have watched. Away from them is the Sumur Gumuling, an underground circular structure understood as a mosque, entered by tunnel, with five staircases meeting on a central platform under an open shaft - an arrangement that photographs extraordinarily well and which is now the busiest spot in Yogyakarta for it. A kampung has grown up inside the old complex.

What you actually see

• The bathing pools - three linked pools with the sultan's watching tower.
• Sumur Gumuling - the underground circular mosque with converging stairs.
• Tunnels and gates - the surviving fragments of a much larger complex.
• A village inside the walls - the kampung grown up among the ruins.

When to go

All year; early to beat the queue at the underground mosque. Two hours.

Honest expectations

The stair well queues badly for photographs. Guides at the gate are pushy and prices are negotiated. Much of the original complex is gone; what remains is fragmentary.

Nearby

The Kraton is adjacent; Malioboro and the bird market are close.