Lying in the center of Central Java, the Dieng Plateau is an ancient caldera with fascinating scenery and many ancient Hindu temples. The diversity of the Dieng Plateau’s volcanic makeup is its main asset.
There are a couple of volcanoes and around two dozen crater lakes and cones in the Dieng Plateau complex, covering an area of several square kilometers. The altitude is around 2,000m meaning fresher, cooler air, and the road there is pretty scenic going by way of tobacco plantations.
The sacred Hindu temples in the Dieng Plateau date back to the 9th century and there were originally hundreds of them built by the Javanese Hindus. Only eight of these temples remain today, however.
If you have come to Dieng Plateau purely to see the temples, it is best to stick to the more easily accessible towns of Prambanan and Borobudur nearer to Yogyakarta.
Getting There & Away
Semarang is home to the main airport in Central Java and is less than an hour’s flight from Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta. Buses run to the gateway town of Wonosobo for the Dieng Plateau, via Secang, and via Magelang if flying to Yogyakarta.