Luxury hotels in Jakarta

Jakarta guide

Jakarta: Kota Tua and the National Monument

The old Dutch town of Batavia, Monas, Istiqlal and the islands of the Thousand Islands.

Kota Tua, the old town of Dutch Batavia, centred on Fatahillah Square and its colonial museums, is the most cited sight in Jakarta. The National Monument, Monas, rises over Merdeka Square, and the Istiqlal Mosque, one of the largest in Southeast Asia, faces the cathedral across the street.

The National Museum holds an excellent collection of Indonesian art, and the Thousand Islands offer a day at sea. Traffic in Jakarta is heavy, so we plan by area, and most travellers continue to Yogyakarta or Bali.

The Thousand Islands

Kepulauan Seribu, the Thousand Islands, a chain of more than a hundred small coral islands in the Java Sea, is the most cited escape from Jakarta's traffic. Speedboats leave from the Ancol marina, and the closer islands, with Dutch colonial ruins such as Onrust, can be visited in a day.

Further north, private island resorts offer snorkelling, diving and quiet beaches, and Pramuka Island has a sea turtle conservation centre. The dry season, from May to October, brings the calmest seas.

Bogor and the Puncak highlands

The Bogor Botanical Gardens, founded in 1817 and one of the oldest and largest in Asia, are the most cited day trip from Jakarta, about an hour south. The gardens hold thousands of species, including giant corpse flowers that bloom rarely, and border the white Bogor Palace, where deer graze on the lawns.

Above Bogor, the Puncak pass climbs into cooler hills covered with tea plantations, where a plantation walk and a cup of tea with a view are the classic stop. Weekends bring heavy traffic, so we suggest weekdays.