Last updated on September 3rd, 2026 at 11:12 am
When you start researching things to do in Jakarta, the list you find will likely be filled with this shopping mall and that monument, and honestly, I am not interested in either.
So if you find yourself in Indonesia’s capital, also known as The Big Durian, and you don’t like malls or monuments either, here is a little Jakarta travel guide with a few other ways to spend your time.
We needed to transit through Jakarta after an amazing week diving in The Last Paradise, and rather than just swinging straight through onwards to Sumatra, we decided to spend a few days in Indonesia’s enormous capital city and see what Jakarta was all about.
CONTENTS
- About Jakarta
- Travel Tips for Jakarta
- Getting to/around Jakarta
- Where to Stay in Jakarta
- Unique Things to Do in Jakarta
About Jakarta
According to the UN, Jakarta is considered the largest city in the world, with the extended metropolitan area being home to a whopping 42 million people (London is around 15 million, and Bombay just over 22 million) – so that is a BIG CITY!
Jakarta is notorious for its terrible traffic, and it gets so bad that extreme measures have to be taken. One such being that the city operates on an odds/evens license plate system, and if you have a license plate number ending in an even number but you’re driving on an ‘odd’ day, you’ll get a big fine!
Unless in Jakarta for business reasons, many foreign tourists just use Jakarta as a landing strip for their travel in Indonesia, and scoot on off to their next destination, which is normally Bali.
Indonesia has just over 17,000 islands; around 7,000 of them are inhabited, and something like 60% of Indonesia’s tourists just go to one – Bali. I can definitely see why Bali was popular once, but guys, the time has passed – Indonesia has so much more to offer!
I’m not saying that Jakarta itself is a great holiday destination, but if you are travelling through Indonesia, there are certainly worse places you can spend a few days!
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Travel Tips for Jakarta
Here are a few snippets of information about Jakarta to help you know what to expect when you visit:
- Jakarta is big, hot, rainy, and congested. Bring a raincoat!
- Jakarta has an amazing cafe/coffee culture, so a good brew is never far away
- It’s all about modern convenience here. Need to do some laundry? Your entire suitcase of clothes can be picked up, washed, dried, ironed and returned to you within 3 hours – for less than £5.
- Jakarta is generally safe for tourists; just keep an eye out for pick-pockets, although it is much rarer here than in European cities
- Jakarta is a fairly easy city to navigate, mainly because Indonesian people are so friendly. Not in the Iraqi way where they are refusing your money and inviting you over for dinner, and not in the incredibly nosy way you might find in India; no, Indonesians are generally chill, easy, kind and very used to tourists.
Honestly, the most difficult thing about navigating Jakarta for me was the food, not because it was bad, just because it was confusing. There are hundreds of thousands of eateries, from casual street carts all the way up to some of the best restaurants in the world (we attempted both).
Not only is the amount of choice overwhelming, but knowing what to order, and what you are ordering, is not straightforward. I actually booked a food tour with Walk Guru for the first night, so we could get the lay of the culinary land, but the host did not show up. Abandoned to our own devices, our food experience in Jakarta was a mixed bag. We made some mistakes (milky tripe soup), but we also found some yummy stuff.
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Getting to/Around Jakarta
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is in West Jakarta, and the quickest way to get from there to the city is to get the train, due to the city’s unbelievable traffic. The train station is between T1 and T2, and taking the free Skytrain between airport terminals is easy.
We were staying in the area of Menteng, and so we got off the train at Sudirman Baru BNI, and the journey took around 40 minutes. From outside the station we got a Bluebird Cab (Jakarta’s official, metered taxis) from outside the station to our hotel. We definitely could have walked the 30 minutes from BNI to where we were staying, but after a long journey, laziness won in this instance.
After our time in Jakarta, on the way back to the airport, we took a taxi via the Grab app, as we were leaving at 5:30am and would miss all the traffic. The cost was 150,000 IDR (£6), plus tolls of 20,000 IDR (80p), and the journey took 30 minutes. It is actually cheaper to get a taxi as opposed to the train, but yeh, traffic.
To get around Jakarta, download Grab & Gojek; Gojek in particular is great to weave around much of the traffic; it’s a convenient way to nip around and will set you back only a dollar or two for a 5km journey.
Gojek drivers do bring extra helmets for their passengers, but you should bring a hairnet if putting a stinky, sweaty helmet on is a concern to you. That doesn’t really bother me, but I would suggest wearing a face mask, because the exhaust fumes can be a bit much.
If it starts raining, it can be hard to get a Gojek/Grab, just FYI. It is better to wait it out in a cafe, of which Jakarta has many.
RELATED POST: My Top 5 Paradise Islands in the World (coming soon!)
Where to Stay in Jakarta
We stayed in the area of Menteng, just because we liked the look of the Kosenda Hotel and it was in a convenient location. Glodok (Chinatown) is also a good option for budget travellers and foodies, or Kota Tua for history and culture.
Budget – Wonderloft Hostel (Kota Tua)
Mid-Range – Kosenda Boutique Hotel (Menteng)
Lux – House of Tuga (Kota Tua)
We were really happy in Kosenda; it was so comfortable, centrally located, with a little gym, big chill-out area (perfect for blogging), nice rooftop, I couldn’t really ask for much more.
Unique Things to Do in Jakarta
So if you’ve read other blog posts for things to do in Jakarta, you’ll notice they are not that inspiring. This mall, that monument. I pored over countless blogs and kept asking the same question: Is that all there is to do in Jakarta?
So here is my list. And while there isn’t heaps of stuff to do on it, hopefully you’ll find at least one thing that piques your interest.
1. Indulge in cocktails at one of Asia’s 50 Best Bars
- Modernhaus
- Carrots Bar
- Cosmo Pony
- Pantja (okay, it’s number 68, but it’s really good)
2. Have a ‘Family Massage’ at Kokuo
Hint, hint – if the spa has family massage in the name, it essentially indicates they don’t offer anything illicit (drugs or sex). I have had an embarrassingly indulgent amount of massages during this trip to Indonesia, and yes, some of the spas were giving brothel vibes, not to say the massages weren’t good.
Kokuo family spa was the best though – we did the 60-minute signature massage which was 180K IDR (£7). It was exceptional. It is family style, so you’re all in one big room, around 20 beds, all divided by curtains, but with water fountains and soft spa music you barely noticed the other customers.
3. Indonesia National History Museum
Some of Indonesia’s best museums are in Jakarta, and I chose to go to the National History Museum. This museum is divided into 3 floors: early history, Islam, and colonial resistance. A nice place to spend a couple of hours, very quiet (no screaming kids, whoop), and foreigners pay 150K IDR (£6) to get in.
4. Wander around Chinatown and Old Town
Glodok is the old Chinatown section of Jakarta, and it is definitely worth wandering around. You can people-watch from local cafes (we liked LIT Cafe), sample street food (if you’re feeling brave), and taste tea at Pantjoran Tea House.
Koto Tua is the Old Town, where you can wander around, rent a bicycle from Fatahillah Square, have a coffee at Cafe Batavia, and stop in at the Jakarta History Museum.
5. Social Padel House
Padel is the new thing in Sydney, Australia, where I was living most recently. I was really excited to see a Padel House in Jakarta as well. It is a fun way to spend a few hours, and to do something ‘normal’ rather than touristy.
6. Take a food tour
I love doing free walking tours the first day I arrive in a big city to get the lay of the land, especially if the focus is on food. We booked one with Guru Walk for our first night in Jakarta, but sadly our guide didn’t show up.
Therefore, my food knowledge of Jakarta is very limited, so I won’t do a section on places to eat in Jakarta in this article, just because it’s not something I really succeeded at.
BUT we did find a really delicious soup place where we went for breakfast near to Kosenda. It was 20K IDR (80p) for a bowl of chicken soup with rice, not just any old chicken soup though; it was my favourite meal I had in Indonesia. Long live Soto Ayam!
So here is a summary of how to spend 3 days in Jakarta, if you don’t like malls or monuments…
Day 1 – Chill, check out Asia’s Best Bars!
Day 2 – Soto Ayam Breakfast, Koto Tua, Chinatown, Cafes
Day 3 – National Museum, Padel, Massage
You can probably squish this into two days, or drag it out more. There are lots of things we didn’t see or do obviously, but we really enjoyed our time in Jakarta, which was mostly about resting, before we headed into the depths of Sumatra.
Thank you for reading my travel guide on how to spend 3 days in Jakarta!
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Happy Travels! xx
