Pantai Kukup

Central Java


This sweeping stretch of coast, an hour's drive from Yogya, is home to the important cottage industry of seaweed collection. Locals bent double over the rock pools are a familiar sight and there is a strong and delicious smell of ozone, more often associated with cold Atlantic coastal zones. The seaweed (peyek) is deep fried and sold in warungs along the approach to the beach. As can be gauged from the number of stalls here, it gets busy at weekends.

A paved coastal path threads along the cliff edge to a derelict concrete pavilion out at sea: a bracing vantage point from which to admire the rough sea gouge crabs from the rock pools and fling them back onto land. Swimming is advised only with caution here and at neighbouring Drini Beach (famed for an islet joined by a sandbar to the shore).


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