FAQ – English –
About the festival
When is it?
As the date is based on Buddhist lunar calender, the date in current calender changes every year.
- Thu 23 May 2024
- Tue 13 May 2025
- Sun 31 May 2026
The above dates are “Hari Raya Waisak“. The main Waisak events such as Parade, Lantern possibly be held 1 day before of the above dates. For example, in 2017, Hari Raya Waisak was 11 May, but the events were on 10 May.
Who organizes the festival?
An Indonesian Buddhist organization named WALUBI is responsible for the festival.
Event schedule?
Normally there are some religious events for 3-4 days including Parade and Lantern. Every year the schedule is slightly different because all events will be planed for full-moon time.
The basic schedule is as below. The detail time schedule is published just a few days before of Waisak.
| Day 1 | Bring the holy water from Umbul Jumprit to Mendut Temple |
| Day 2 | Bring the holy natural fire from Api Abadi Mrapen to Mendut Temple |
| Day 3 | Pray in Mendut Temple in the mornning. Parade from Mendut Temple to Borobduru Temple in the afternoon. Lantern. Meditation and Chanting in Borobudur Temple “Detik-detik“. |
How can I join in?
You should have a participant card/invitation or a ticket to join.
Waisak Participant Card
To join in religious events and rituals. For example Parade, Meditation in Borobudur Temple etc.
The Lantern is not included in this ticket.
This ticket is not sold for public.
Lantern Ticket
Specially to join in The Lantern.
Ticket is sold for public.
The ticket price in 2018 was Rp 100,000 per person, Rp 200,000 per person in 2022, Rp 300,000 person in 2023.
Dress code?
If you join in some religious activities like Parade or Meditation in Borobudur Temple, long-sleeved whitish clothes are required.
What if it rained on the day?
Basically, if it just rains lightly, the event will be continued. If it rains heavily, the event could be interrupted for a while. All decision will be made by the festival organizer.
About our Waisak Tours
I want to be picked up in Yogyakarta and dropped off in Borobudur.
Yes, please inform us of your locations when you book the tour. Of course, pick-up in Borobudur and drop-off in Yogyakarta is possible too. In the case that you have big/many baggage(s), please inform us in advance.
How many is the minimum number of participants?
All of our tours are confirmed to go from 1 participants.
I want to bring my photographing/filming equipment.
Yes, it’s no problem. Just please be careful that your equipment not to bother other participants in the tour car. If your equipment is too big to put on your knees/under your legs, we will prepare an another seat for your equipment with an additional fee.
Can you provide vegetarian/vegan food?
Yes, please inform us of your food preference in advance.
What if it rained on the day?
We will follow the festival organizer’s decision. As long as the event goes on, our tours also go on.
Is there any place to let my kids sleep nearby during Lantern?
Lantern is held in a big yard of Borobudur Temple Park. Unfortunatelly, there are no place to sit nor lay down in the yard nor nearby. If you didn’t mind, we will open our tour cars that are parked near the yard as a place to take a rest.
What kind of car do you use?
For private tours, we can tell the car type when we confirm your booking. Normally we use TOYOTA Avanza for 1-2 persons group, TOYOTA Innova for 3-5 persons group, TOYOTA Hiace for more than 6 persons group.
For group tours, we can’t tell the car type in advance because we confirm the cars when we finalize all bookings. Basically we prepare TOYOTA Hiace, but if there weren’t many other travellers around your pick-up location, we could use a smaller car.
Available English guide only?
For our group tours, yes, available languages are English and Indonesian only.
For our priavate tours, we can assign an other language guide upon your request in advance. French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese(Mandarin) are available.
About our Waisak Ticket
Can I enter Borobudur Temple with the lantern ticket or the participant card?
Unfortunatelly the answer is “NO”.
When some Waisak events such as Meditation, Chanting are held in Borobudur Temple, you can go in the temple with the participant card to join in the event. But if you want to see Borobudur Temple as sightseeing, you should buy Borobudur Temple Ticket (Normally Borobudur Temple is closed for public from 12:00 noon of Waisak Day).
The lantern ticket allows you to get in the lantern place at night only.
Can I get my ticket a few days before the day?
Because the festival organizer sells the tickets on the day, we can give you your ticket on the day too.
Can I get my ticket by email/WhatsApp?
Because the festival organizer supplies the paper tickets only, we can give you your ticket at our office only.
Can I add more tickets on the day?
Unfortunately, we can’t take any responsibility on unconfirmed bookings. If we still had some stocks, you can buy more tickets directly in our office.
You couldn’t find an answer to your question?
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