With an official birth date of 24 July 750, Salatiga is Indonesia’s second oldest city. Spanning just under 55 square kilometres and situated 571 metres above sea level, it enjoys a cool climate of 22 to 24°C all year round. In 1746, because of its strategic location, the Dutch East India Company built De Hersteller fort in Salatiga and populated it with colonial buildings. The Dutch used to call it de schoonste stad van Midden-Java—”the most beautiful town in Central Java”.
Some of these buildings remain to this day, and Indonesians hail Salatiga as one of the country’s most tolerant cities thanks to its many religious festivals, and one of its best places for retirement. Yet it remains largely overlooked as a domestic destination, eclipsed by the overlapping spheres of influence of neighbouring
