City of Jakarta • WANTSEE.WORLD

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• Jakarta.

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Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia, and is the world’s second-most populous urban area after Tokyo, with a population of about 35.934 million as of 2020. Jakarta is nicknamed the “Big Durian”, the thorny strongly-odored fruit native to the region, seen as the Indonesian equivalent of the “Big Apple” (New York City).

The popular heritage tourism attractions are in Kota Tua (map) and around Merdeka square (map). Other tourist attractions include the *Thousand Islands, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (wiki, map), *Setu Babakan Betawi Cultural Village (map), *Sunda Kelapa (map) old port and the Ancol Dreamland complex on Jakarta Bay (map).

⇒ Also сheck оut мore info: Download • Street Food • General Information

It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Southeast Asia, and was the de facto capital of the Dutch East Indies when it was known as Batavia. As the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta is the melting point of cultures of all ethnic groups of the country.

Jalan Jaksa (map) and surrounding areas are popular among backpackers for cheaper accommodation. PIK is a relatively new suburb for hangout, while Kemang (map) is a popular suburb for expats.

*Bogor (map) – One of the primary destinations to escape from Jakarta, with well-kept natural habitats, world class botany garden, resorts, and multiple golf courses. The city is most famous for its presidential palace and the extensive botanical gardens (Bogor Botanical Garden), which is one of the oldest in the world.

Museums of Jakarta

Jakarta hosts 142 museums. The *Old Town (map) contains museums in former institutional buildings of colonial Batavia, including *Jakarta History Museum (former City Hall of Batavia, map), *Wayang Museum (Puppet Museum, map), the *Fine Art and Ceramic Museum (former Court House of Justice of Batavia, map), the *Maritime Museum (former Sunda Kelapa warehouse, map), *Bank Indonesia Museum (former Javasche Bank, map) and *Bank Mandiri Museum (former Nederlandsche Handels Maatschappij, map).

Museums clustered in central Jakarta around the Merdeka Square area (map) include *National Museum of Indonesia (map) which also known as Gedung Gajah (the Elephant Building), National Gallery of Indonesia (map), National History Museum at *National Monument (map), Istiqlal Islamic Museum in *Istiqlal Mosque (map) and *Jakarta Cathedral Museum on the second floor of Jakarta Cathedral (map).

Also in central is the *Taman Prasasti Museum (the former cemetery of Batavia, map). *Museum MACAN (map) is an art museum of modern and contemporary Indonesian and international art.

Street Food

Many traditional foods from far-flung regions in Indonesia can be found in Jakarta. For example, traditional *Padang restaurants and low-budget Warteg (Warung Tegal) food-stalls are ubiquitous in the capital.

Jalan Sabang (map), Jalan Sidoarjo (map), Jalan Kendal (map) at Menteng area, *Kota Tua, *Blok S, Blok M, *Jalan Tebet (map) are all popular destinations for street-food lovers.

Chinese street-food is plentiful at Jalan Pangeran, Manga Besar (map) and Petak Sembilan (map) in the old Jakarta area, while the Little Tokyo area of Blok M has many Japanese style restaurants and bars. Thamrin 10 (map) is a food and creative park located at Menteng, where varieties of food stall are available.

Shopping

Some of the most well known shopping complexes are at the heart of the city. Grand Indonesia (map) and Plaza Indonesia (map) are massive upper-class malls next to each other on Jakarta’s busy Hotel Indonesia Roundabout. Jalan Prof.Dr.Satrio (map) is Jakarta’s answer to the famed Orchard Road in Singapore, Ginza in Tokyo and Fifth Avenue in New York.

If you are looking for antique products such as local handicrafts, Indonesian traditional batik or wayang golek (Sundanese puppets), you can go to Jalan Surabaya (map) in Central Jakarta. If you are looking for rare maps, prints or paintings, you can go to Kemang Raya, where there are many galleries including Bartele gallery and Hadi Prana.

Pasaraya Grande shopping mall at Blok M (map), has one dedicated floor for Indonesian antiques and handicrafts. Pasar Seni (map) at Ancol is the centre of paintings and sculpture, including portrait pictures you can have done on the spot.

November to March is the peak of the rainy season, and floods and traffic chaos on many of the streets usually occur. The rain is almost always absent from June through August.

Finding places in Jakarta, especially smaller buildings not on the main arteries, is easier said than done. Conveniently, most navigation apps such as Google Maps or Waze are useful for finding addresses and places throughout Jakarta due to regular updates from users.

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• Public transport.

Information about all types of public transport.

Jakarta may be one of the few cities in the world whose government provides tour buses. Dubbed the City Tour Jakarta, the buses are double-decker and you can ride them for free!

⇒ Also сheck оut мore info: Explore Transportations (jakarta-tourism.go.id)

BUS: TransJakarta / Trafi – App – is a rapid transit (BRT) system. The biggest of the bus terminal is *Pulo Gebang Bus Terminal (map).

TRAIN: Jakarta MRT – commuter trains in Jakarta connect the city centre with the suburbs and satellite cities. The national operator Kereta Api runs multiple daily trains from other cities in Java such as *Bandung, *Surabaya and *Yogyakarta.

AIRPORT: Soekarno–Hatta International Airport is the main airport serving the Greater Jakarta area.

WATERWAYS: The national ferry companies, ASDP Indonesia Ferry and Pelni, operate passenger services from a large number of destinations across the Indonesian archipelago. Indonesia’s busiest and Jakarta’s main seaport *Tanjung Priok (map) serves many ferry connections to different parts of Indonesia.

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