Jakarta
Jakarta has three hundred regional cuisines on its streets at prices that make the islands look expensive, and the cheapest beds in Indonesia. Old Batavia, and the one museum that explains the whole archipelago.
Jakarta in a nutshell
Jakarta: what to expect
688,000+ stops in Indonesia are planned on Stippl, and this is the shape they make.
Jakarta is the city everyone tells you to skip, and the argument against skipping it is the food. Three hundred regional cuisines are cooked here at street prices, on Jalan Sabang and through Glodok, one of the oldest Chinatowns in Southeast Asia. Kota Tua is what is left of Dutch Batavia, the National Museum is the clearest explanation of the archipelago you will find anywhere, and Istiqlal, the largest mosque in the region, faces the Catholic cathedral across the road by design.
Jakarta is a one-way door into Java. Nearly seven in ten of the trips that include Jakarta begin there and only three in ten end there, the highest opening share of any place in the country. Half of all Jakarta stops are a single night. A room here runs €54, the cheapest bed our travellers log anywhere in Indonesia.
So take the night on the way in and spend it eating. Move on the MRT and the TransJakarta busways rather than in a taxi, because crossing the inner city at rush hour can take two hours, and a JakLingko card caps a multi-leg journey at ten thousand rupiah. Skip Jakarta if you want a beach or a view, because there is neither, and avoid November to March, when the city floods.
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Food travellers, above all
Over 300 regional cuisines, Glodok's street food, Jalan Sabang, and prices that make the beach islands look expensive.
History travellers
Batavia's colonial core, the National Museum, and a Chinatown older than most of the region's.
Budget travellers
The cheapest beds in the whole Indonesian layer, and the country's cheapest onward flights, which is why most people give it 1 night and move.
Java overland travellers
Jakarta is the western end of the island's circuit, and its rail network runs from here.
Maybe not for you: anyone who wants a beach or a view, since there is neither; anyone on a tight schedule, because the traffic will take it; anyone travelling November to March, when the city floods; and anyone expecting the Indonesia of the brochures.
The best time to visit Jakarta
Dry season
May to September
July and August the driest, and September the hottest month of the year.
Wet season
November to March
Rain on most days across the winter, and in a city where much of the land is below sea level the warning is about flooding, not rain. Bring a waterproof rather than avoiding it.
- Jakarta floods in the wet season, and that is the constraint, not the rain itself. Streets go under in January and February; the metro and the elevated roads keep moving, the alleys of Glodok do not.
- Idul Fitri empties the city in the mudik exodus, when millions leave for their home villages. Ramadan changes the eating hours for a month before it; the dates move each year.
- Jakarta is planned about 86 days ahead on Stippl, and July is its month. Most stops are one night before the cheapest onward flight, fixed with the flight.
- Chinese New Year is visible in Glodok in a way it is nowhere else in Indonesia, and Independence Day on 17 August fills the streets with flags. Nyepi does not apply here; this is Java.
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Things to do in Jakarta
Photo by Ravigopal Kesari via UnsplashKota Tua
Walk Fatahillah Square and the surrounding Dutch colonial buildings of old Batavia at a weekend, when the square closes to traffic and the bicycles come out. Free, and Café Batavia is the room to sit in.
The National Museum
Spend two hours in the country's principal collection, the best single explanation of the archipelago anywhere, about €1. Closed Mondays, and the ethnography wing is the one to give the time.
Glodok
Walk one of Southeast Asia's oldest Chinatowns: temples, herbalists, wet markets and street food along Jalan Pancoran. Free, and a morning before the heat.
Street food on Jalan Sabang
Eat along the street given over to it in the evening, from sate to soto for a euro or two a plate. Ten minutes from the Monas end of the centre.
Monas
Ride to the top of the 132-metre obelisk with its gold-plated flame in the middle of Merdeka Square, about €1, for the one view over the whole city. Weekday mornings have no queue.
Istiqlal Mosque and the Cathedral
Visit Southeast Asia's largest mosque and the Catholic cathedral facing it across the road, deliberately and by design, free with a guide from the mosque office. An hour, outside prayer times.
The neighbourhoods of Jakarta
Sudirman and SCBD
Towers, malls, the MRT
The business spine: towers, malls, hotels and the MRT running under it, with the widest choice of international hotels. For convenience and for anyone who wants the metro at the door.
On the MRT, and a district of towers with nothing to walk to.
Menteng
Garden suburb, embassies, galleries
The planned garden suburb the Dutch built for themselves, now embassies, villas, tree-lined streets and the city's art scene around Cikini. For art lovers and for a quiet base with trees.
Trees and galleries in a city short of both, and a taxi for everything.
Kemang
Expat dining, bars, coffee
The expat and dining quarter in the south: restaurants, bars and coffee, the city's best eating outside the street stalls, with villas and serviced apartments. For foodies and long stays.
The restaurant scene at its densest, and an hour in traffic to the old town.
Kota Tua
Colonial square, canals, museums
The Dutch colonial core in the north: Fatahillah square, the old city hall, canals and museums, closed to traffic at weekends, with a few heritage hotels. For history and for the weekend crowds.
The only part of Jakarta that looks like its past, and a long way from anywhere else.
Glodok
Chinatown, temples, street food
One of the oldest Chinatowns in Southeast Asia: temples, herbalists, wet markets and the food that goes with them, with plain budget hotels. For street food and for budget travellers near the old town.
The best street eating in the city, and a rough edge after dark.
Mangga Dua
Wholesale markets, one night
The wholesale and market district near the old town, well connected by bus and rail, with mid-range hotel volume. For a single night in transit and for nothing else.
A bed by the trains, and a district of warehouses.
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Where to stay in Jakarta
Stay on Sudirman or in SCBD, within a walk of an MRT station: in a city where crossing the centre can take two hours, that is worth more than any view. A hotel here runs about €54 a night in what travellers log, the cheapest in Indonesia, because business stock and weak weekend demand keep prices down. For a single transit night, Mangga Dua beats an airport hotel.
Sudirman and SCBD
International towers and business hotels above the MRT, €40 to €120, with weekend rates well below weekday ones.
Menteng
Boutique hotels in the old villas and a few heritage places, €50 to €130, on tree-lined streets.
Kemang
Serviced apartments and small hotels among the restaurants, €35 to €90, with no rail line.
Kota Tua
A few heritage hotels in colonial buildings, €40 to €100, and hostels with station shuttles from €8.
Glodok
Plain budget hotels and hostels with free breakfast, €10 to €35, among the temples and the wet markets.
Mangga Dua
€10–40
Mid-range hotel volume above the malls, €25 to €60, well connected for a single night in transit.
What to eat in Jakarta
Fried rice with kecap manis, egg and krupuk: Indonesia's national dish, and a Jakarta street staple
The Jakartan soto: beef in a coconut-milk and broth base with potato and tomato
Glutinous rice and duck egg cooked over charcoal on a flat pan into a savoury crust, a Betawi street dish that exists almost nowhere else
Blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh and egg under peanut sauce
Rice steamed in coconut milk with pandan, served with a spread of sides
The Glodok tradition: noodles, roast meats and pork dishes in a Muslim-majority city
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Jakarta customs and what not to do
Etiquette follows the district
Muslim-majority and cosmopolitan at once: SCBD and Kemang are as relaxed as any capital, and Glodok, the markets and the outer districts are not. Cover shoulders and knees away from the malls.
Ramadan changes the rhythm
Eating and drinking in public during daylight is avoided and the city transforms after sunset; Idul Fitri at the end of it empties the city entirely for a week.
Shoes off at the mosques
Istiqlal, the largest in Southeast Asia, welcomes visitors outside prayer times and provides robes; shoes off at the door, and women cover their hair inside.
Jakarta is not Bali
No canang sari, no sarongs, no Nyepi; a different island, religion and culture, and the right hand for giving and receiving is the rule that carries over.
Do
- Ride the MRT and use JakLingko; it caps the fare at about €0.60
- Eat on the street rather than in the malls
- Go to Kota Tua at a weekend
- Check whether your dates hit Idul Fitri before you book anything
Don't
- Plan more than two or three fixed appointments in a day
- Take a taxi across the city at rush hour if the MRT goes there
- Visit between November and March if you can avoid it
- Expect a beach
What a Jakarta trip costs
Budget
€13–26
Hostel dorm, street food and warungs, TransJakarta and MRT.
Mid-range
€39–80
Business hotel on the MRT, restaurant eating, Grab.
High-end
€130+
SCBD tower hotel, Kemang dining, a car and driver.
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Fun facts about Jakarta
Greater Jakarta holds nearly 34 million people, second only to Tokyo. Jabodetabek covers about 6,392 square kilometres, and crossing the inner city can take two hours at rush hour.
Parts of North Jakarta are sinking by up to 25 cm a year. Groundwater extraction has put roughly 40% of the city below sea level, which is the reason a second capital exists.
The flame on top of Monas is clad in 14.5 kg of gold. The 132-metre National Monument was Sukarno's project, and the lift to the platform under the flame is the city's best view.
Southeast Asia's largest mosque was built facing the cathedral on purpose. Istiqlal and Jakarta Cathedral stand across the road from each other, and a tunnel now links them.
Kerak telor exists almost nowhere outside Jakarta. The Betawi street dish of glutinous rice and duck egg is cooked on a charcoal pan, and the sellers cluster around Monas and Kota Tua.
Indonesia has had two capitals since 2024. Under Law 2/2024 Jakarta remains the legal and economic capital while Nusantara in East Kalimantan is the political one.
Jakarta was Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies. Kota Tua is what remains of it, a colonial square and canal district in the north of the city.
Local tips for Jakarta
Use the MRT and TransJakarta
Not taxis: the single most useful sentence about this city. The metro runs under the main avenue, the bus lanes cover the rest, and a JakLingko card caps a multi-leg journey at about €0.60.
The best rail in Indonesia
Eight hours to Yogyakarta and forty minutes to Bandung on the high-speed line, which is why Jakarta anchors the Java circuit. Book on the KAI app; Gambir is the executive-class station.
Most people stay one night
51.28% of stops are a single night, the arrival or the departure. One is enough for Kota Tua and the National Museum; the second is Bogor.
Traffic hits pedestrians
The primary physical risk is the road, on foot as much as in a car: pavements are intermittent and drivers are not looking for you. Cross at the bridges and take a Grab bike.
The wet season floods the city
About forty per cent of Jakarta is below sea level and the north is sinking; from December to February the streets go under after a storm. Allow the extra hour to the airport.
The air is genuinely poor
Jakarta regularly ranks among the most polluted major cities in the world. Anyone with a respiratory condition should keep the stay short; the hospitals here are the best in the country.
Jakarta questions, answered
As the way in to Java. Jakarta opens 68.00% of the trips it appears in on Stippl, more than any other Indonesian stop, because the long-haul flights land here and the overland run east starts here. Put the train to Yogyakarta into Stippl on the second morning.
Two nights for the food and the museums, and one is what most people give it. Travellers planning Jakarta on Stippl give it 1 night. Kota Tua, the national museum and one evening of street food is a fair account of two days here.
Every guide argues against skipping it, and 51.28% of Jakarta stops planned on Stippl are a single night regardless. The case for staying is the food, which is the best in the country, and the museums. The case against is the traffic, which is as bad as its reputation.
The MRT and the TransJakarta busway, with one card that caps what you pay across the network. Not taxis, and never at rush hour: the same journey can take four times as long. Motorbike taxis booked through the ride-hailing apps are how locals cross the city when they are in a hurry.
Yes, for now. It remains the legal capital and the economic centre while Nusantara, the new city being built on Borneo, takes on the political role. The move has been legislated and not yet implemented, so anything declaring the capital has already changed is running ahead of itself.
Yes, and fast. Parts of North Jakarta are subsiding by centimetres every year, groundwater extraction is the main cause, and a large share of the city already sits below sea level. It is the reason a new capital is being built, and it is visible if you walk the northern waterfront.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Jakarta in Stippl
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