Welcome to New Malioboro

Malioboro Street is a major shopping street in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; the name is also used more generally for the neighborhood around the street. It lies north-south axis in the line between Yogyakarta Kraton and Mount Merapi. This is in itself is significant to many of the local population, the north south orientation between the palace and the volcano being of importance.

The street is the centre of Yogyakarta's largest tourist district surrounded with many hotels and restaurants nearby. Sidewalks on both sides of the street are crowded with small stalls selling a variety of goods. In the evening several open-air streetside restaurants, called lesehan, operate along the street. Less obvious to the tourist, but more for the local population, side streets, lanes and structures that lead on to Malioboro are as important as the street itself.

In the history, Malioboro is built slowly as the center of economic activity. Ancestor from Chinatown area in the region, which emerged from the lane I picked up a Chinese Captain, Tan Jin Sing, in 1755. Javanese name, Setjodingrat, and lived in Ndalem Setjodingratan (now located in the east of the Grand Post Office). Since around 1916, south Malioboro settlement known as Chinatown, marked by the houses shops selling grocery items, gold and clothing.

This area is becoming more crowded after the palace building Gedhe Market (now Market Beringharjo), operating since 1926. Regions Chinatown began to spread northward, to the Tugu Station (built in 1887) and Grand Hotel de Yogya (founded in 1911, now Hotel Garuda). Malioboro be a liaison point to the Fortress Rusternburg station (now Vredeburg) and Kraton.