Jakarta

Museum Nasional

The National Museum is the best of its kind in Indonesia and an essential visit. The enormous collection begins around an open courtyard of the 1862 building, which is stacked with magnificent millennia-old...

Merdeka Square

It is here that Jakartans come to take a breather from the traffic. The figurative centre of Jakarta, Merdeka Square (merdeka means independence) is actually a trapezoid measuring almost 1 sq km. In the 19th...

Kota’s central cobblestone square, surrounded by imposing Dutch colonial buildings, is Jakarta's most attractive location and a popular gathering spot for tourists and locals. The stately bell-towered former town...

Families will love Jakarta's kite museum, located in a quiet backstreet in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta. Inside a traditional Indonesian house, complete with courtyard, there's a collection of around 600 kites. A...

Over 1700 works of art by foreign and Indonesian artists are part of the National Gallery collection. While only a few works are on display at any time, there are also large spaces for regular – and well-curated...

This museum presents an engaging and easily consumed history of Indonesia from a loosely financial perspective, in a grand, expertly restored, neoclassical former bank headquarters that dates from the early 20th...

Opened in late 2017, Museum Macan is Indonesia's first modern and contemporary art museum and an exciting cultural development for the city. It was built to house the private art collection of businessman...

This large Chinese Buddhist temple compound dates from 1755 and is one of the most atmospheric and important in the city. The main structure has an unusual roof crowned by two dragons eating pearls, while the...

This 100-hectare park has full-scale traditional houses for each of Indonesia's provinces, with displays of regional handicrafts and clothing, and even a mini-scale Borobudur. Museums, theatres and an IMAX cinema...

RUCI Art Space & Cafe

RUCI Art Space has become a favourite on the city's burgeoning art scene. Occupying an industrial space in the hip neighbourhood of Senopati, the gallery hosts regular solo and group exhibitions from local...

On Jakarta's bayfront, the people’s ‘Dreamland’ is a landscaped recreation complex popular with families. It has worn amusement rides, and sporting and leisure facilities, including bowling, but it gets crowded...

Ingloriously dubbed ‘Sukarno’s final erection’, the 132m-high National Monument (aka Monas), which rises into the shroud of smog and towers over Merdeka Square, is both Jakarta’s principal landmark and the most...

During WWII, thousands of people were made prisoners of war and killed in and around Jakarta. Early victories by the Japanese killed scores of troops from colonial Dutch military as well as the British...

This atmospheric mansion saw historic events as Indonesia proclaimed its independence at the end of WWII. It was the home of the Japanese naval commander Tadashi Maeda and is where, on 16 August 1945, Sukarno and...

Near Jakarta's historic port are several 17th-century VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; the Dutch East India Company) warehouses that comprise the Museum Bahari. This is a good place to learn about the...

The striking, modernist Masjid Istiqlal is adorned by patterned geometric grates on the windows. Completed in 1978, it's the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, with five levels representing the five pillars of...

One of two bank museums within a block of each other might have you scratching your head, but it's worthwhile popping in to explore the behind-the-scenes inner workings of a bank, and the interior of this fine...

Jakarta History Museum

The Jakarta History Museum is housed in the old town hall of Batavia, a stately whitewashed Dutch colonial structure that was once the epicentre of an empire. This bell-towered building, built in 1627, served the...

The presidential palace (one of six in Indonesia) stands to the north of Merdeka Square. It was built in 1879 and was Sukarno's official residence during his reign, although Suharto spurned it. On 27 December...

Sandwiched in-between a Starbucks and modern Novotel hotel is this impressive 18th-century grand residence. The restored structure has a traditional Chinese curving roof, a tou-kung roof frame and moon gates....