Is Jakarta worth 3 nights?

Not sure if that's worth an answer

It's a major world city, so I'd hope you could find stuff to entertain/interest yourself with over three days. And if the three days are one of arrival, one full day, and the departure day, its not a lot of time to fill.

The place has always intrigued me because it doesn't go much out of its way to welcome tourists or make life particularly easy for them. So if you don't fancy the idea of digging around yourself, you might find it hard going.



and of course, a lot depends on what the alternative would be.....

I'm doing Singapore and Malaysia but have 3 1/2 days with nothing planned and no place to go before flying home out of Singapore. I'm into colonial architecture and there's a fair amount in Jakarta, but the city is so big and then there are the security issues.

Security issues?

I'd worry more about traffic jams than security in Jakarta.

I have been to Indonesia, but not been to Jakarta, and I don't think I'd want to go there. From what I hear, it is another big city with terrible traffic/congestion. There are much better places to visit in Indonesia. As someone responded in your other post, "Where to go out of KL?", I would definitely visit Bali or Yogyakarta instead of Jakarta. I really enjoyed both places very much.

On one of my visits to Indonesia, I spent one night in Surabaya before heading to Mount Bromo, which is an active volcano. I arrived at very late at night and took a cab to a downtown hotel. The next morning a driver was going to pick me up and drive me to Mount Bromo. It would have been easier if I had stayed in a hotel near the airport, but I wanted to visit a Dutch colonial cigarette museum in downtown Surabaya so I stayed at a hotel close by. The next morning, I made the mistake of not walking the 1 mile or so to the cigarette museum. I waited for the driver, so that he could take me there, have lunch at the cafe there, and head out to Mount Bromo. This was a big mistake. The traffic was horrendous. The driver was not familiar with the downtown area and all the one way streets. After 1 hour of trying to get to the museum, I just asked him to give up and decided to get the hell out of the city and head to Mount Bromo. Surabaya is the 2nd largest city in Indonesia, but its population is only around 3 million, compared to Jakarta�s 10+ million. So I would imagine traffic is far worse in Jakarta.

Dunno what security issues you have, but the national museum and Kota Tua (the old town) are both central.

Bogor is the old colonial capital with governors palace and botanical garden (plus lots of rain). Its an hour or so by train or bus (the "or so" can easily double the road journey). You can get a direct bus between Bogor and the airport, so you could make it a two city stop

I ended up taking the bus from the airport to Bogor and the train back from Bogor to Jakarta then the bus back to my hotel near the airport.

The bus was far more enjoyable, stopping across the street from the gardens (albeit not near the entrance). Getting the microbus from the gardens to the train station in Bogor would be classified as not for the faint-hearted. In Jakarta the train no longer stops at the station from which the airport bus departs. And it would be a long walk even if it weren't raining. But the taxi wasn't expensive (except when compared with the bus and train fares).

Bogor gardens were worth the trip. Hopefully you will pick a day when it isn't raining. There will likely be plenty of students wanting to practice their English skills.

Happy wandering

Fred

as the other posters have said: the old town complex and Bogor palace/garden.

there are also other sites scattered throughout the city such as the St. Mary cathedral and others

Outside of the advices above, Jakarta has a suprisingly good nightlife as well! And excellent food.

Is Uber best?

Well, there have been terrorist bombings to say nothing of ISIS being nearby.

Then you'd better stay at home


The last incident was in East Jakarta, where 3 policeman were killed.

But that happened only days after many, many more people were murdered by a terrorist in Manchester. And not long before that there was London... and Paris ... and Nice... and Paris again....and Brussels .... and Berlin.

And then last week we had Barcelona. And multiple times Istanbul. And loads more, but my memory gave out.


If you're going to allow your travel plans to be circumscribed by terror-related events, your available destinations are shrinking daily. And the terrorist wins.

If you instead go to Ubud, Bali you will have much more interesting options in terms of culture and architecture, just my opinion. Or you can go to Jogjakarta to see Borobudur and Prambanan instead.

If you're an SPG Platinum, you can rack up some very enjoyable stays for surprisingly low rates in Jakarta. The Keraton hotel near Plaza Indonesia is very nice. The new Westin in South Jakarta looks decent too, but I haven't been.

Traffic can be horrendous but that's true of many SE Asian cities. If you like to drink booze prices are high and pours stingy IMHO.

Indonesian food is a favorite of mine but if you are not into street food there are some pretty decent restaurants at very attractive price points.

I would agree Bali would be more attractive to me as a three-day break destination but if you haven't been before I wouldn't steer you away from JKT.

Bali would be interesting if I had my girlfriend but I can do beaches and tropics anywhere. I'm alone and redeeming certificates from my Ritz-Carlton card for three free nights.

Has anyone used Uber in Jakarta?