How many days should you spend in Yogyakarta?
Yogyakarta is worth giving two or three nights, rather than squeezing it between a flight and an early temple start. Three nights works especially well on a first visit: you can see Borobudur and Prambanan without treating the city itself as dead time, and still have an evening for food, markets and the streets around central Jogja. Stay longer if you want nearby villages, slower days or a break before continuing to East Java.
Answer
Yogyakarta is worth more than a logistical pause. The temples are the headline, but the city itself gives Java a different texture: food, markets, neighbourhoods, craft, student energy and evenings that make the famous sites feel connected to a living place. Two or three nights is often a cleaner rhythm than a single night wedged between transport and an early temple run. Add more if you want slower food, nearby villages or recovery before an East Java volcano chapter. Rush it and Yogyakarta becomes a taxi between monuments. Give it time and it becomes the part of Java that holds the route together.