JAKARTA TRAVEL GUIDE AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS FOR 2024

Jakarta, formerly known as Batavia is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It is situated on the North West coast of Java island with a population of around 8.7 million people.

Central Jakarta offers many convenient places for travellers. This area has a lot of hotels of all budgets. It also has a wide selection of restaurants, bars, shopping outlets such as Plaza Indonesia and Entertainment X'nter. You can find designer boutiques at The Plaza Senayan.

The newly opened Plaza Senayan Arcadia has quite a number of restaurants and health centers. Electronic goods and comptuers can be found at Ratu Plaza in South Jakarta.

The public transport around Jakarta is quite accessible to travel around with. The main Gambir railway station and North to South busway running along Jln. Thamrin are suitable for journeys not covered by the busway taxis and are relatively cheap and in numbers.

If you are backpacking, then you have to visit Jalan Jaksa, the main backpacker street in Jakarta.

The international airport of Indonesia is located at Jakarta's Soekarno Hatta International Airport which is located at Tangerang, Banten. The airport serves all international and almost all internal domestic flights around Indonesia. The airport is about 20 km (12 miles) northwest of the main city downtown.

In order for a traveller to reach the city, the person can opt for the hotel to pick up at the airport (known as airport transfer to hotel). This is generally common as many hotels in Jakarta provide this form of free airport transfers.

However if you rather hire a taxi, then you need to get one from the "Taxi" signs located just outside of the terminal. Please take a taxi from the Silver Bird counter. Ignore the many touts.

Silver Bird taxis are considered to be very reliable taxi service operator. However the price is higher than the others at around Rp 120,000 for the trip from airport to the Golden Triangle (includes airport surcharge and tolls). Other taxi operators however will only charge you anywhere between Rp 70,000-90,000.

•   Jakarta Old Town (Kota)
•   Taman Mini Indonesia Indah
•   Museum Nasional
•   Pasar Baru
•   Monas (National Monument)
•   Textile Museum
•   Gedung Proklamasi
•   Lubang Buaya
•   Museum Sasmita Loka
•   Museum Adam Malik
•   Museum ABRI (Military Museum)

It comes with no surprise that most of the travel agencies at Jakarta's airport have reasonable rates for both mid-range and above hotels. There are several types (classes) of hotels in Jakarta :-

•   Budget hotels include Melati 1, Melati 2, Melati 3 (the best).
•   Midrange hotels include Splurge : 1 Star, 2 Stars, 3 Stars, 4 Stars, 5 Stars (the best).
•   The standard room rate for a hotel room includes the published rate + 21% tax and service charges.

The budget hotels in Jakarta comes with a standard room with rates not exceeding US$25 per night. If you prefer backpacker style lodging, then there are backpacker losmen found along Jalan Jaksa, which is nearby the Gambir station.

The dorm rooms starts anwyhere from Rp30.000 per night.

The mid-range hotels in Jakarta comes with a standard room with rates ranging from US$26 per night to US$100 per night.

There are also splurge hotels in Jakarta. Most of these hotels still retain their good value according to world prices. However do take note that the hotel lobbies in these luxury hotels do not always have the same service quality standard in the rooms though.

Rates for a standard room can be priced at more than US$101 per night. If you are planning to travel out of Jakarta, Bandung is a perfect place for you to explore and stay for the next couple of days. Bandung is located about 180 km southeast of Jakarta and is widely popular tourist destination in Java.

The journey from Jakarta to Bandung will take approximately up to 3 hours to reach via the Cipularang toll road.

Another excellent destination out of Jakarta will be Puncak. Puncak is a cool hill resort town with many beautiful views of tea plantations. You can opt to travel to Taman Safari Wildlife Recreational Park located at Jalan Raya Puncak 601, Cisarua, Bogor, 16750.

Puncak is located about 100 km south of Jakarta and the travelling time will take up to 3 hours from Jakarta to Puncak.

Bogor is also a good choice of destination out of Jakarta with its cooler climates and having spectacular botanical gardens just an hour away.

For golf lovers, Bogor boasts some great Golf courses. There is also the Sentul A1 Race Circuit which is located in Citeurerup, Bogor. Travelling time will take up to 2 hours to travel from Jakarta to Bogor. During the weekends or public holidays however, the journey may extend to up to 3 hours instead due to many travellers going to Bogor.