The archipelago is served by Dewadaru Airport which provides scheduled airline services to Semarang and Surabaya.

The Karimunjawa islands comprise a district (kecamatan) which is made up of three villages (Karimun, Kemujan, and Parang) and forms a part of the Jepara Regency (kabupaten) of Central Java province.

Apart from use as a pirate base, the islands are believed to have been uninhabited until a penal settlement was established during the British occupation of Java in the early nineteenth century.

[6] The archipelago consists predominantly of pre-Tertiary continental islands primarily of quartzites and shales covered by basaltic lava.

Travel to the islands from Java is sometimes limited during the rainy season around the January–March period during bad weather which can bring large waves to the area.