Jakarta Fast-Turn: Suggested Highlights
 

So I decided to go for the JAL NY-CGK deal for lifetime OW Sapphire. Jakarta has never been on my to-do list for travel, and I only have a day and a half there, so I am open to suggestions for things to do and where to go, eat, etc.

I land at midnight on the arrival day, so my plan is to stay near the airport the first night, then transfer to central Jakarta the next morning, have one full day there, one night in a nicer 5* hotel, and my flight departs late evening the following day, so I have about a 1/2-3/4 day on my departure day to do other things.

Primarily interested in architecture, religious sites of significance, art, shopping malls (I love to look at brands and products in other countries), and nicer quality Indonesian food (bonus points for melt-in-your-moth beef rendang and any coconut curry noodle soup).

I know this OW Sapphire run has been fairly popular with other FT'ers, what has been on the itinerary list for those with shorter stays?

Better to travel to downtown hotel on arrival - at midnight it will only take 30 minutes ( vs double or triple that in the morning).
Plaza Indonesia is large and central, with mix of local and western brand names.
Attached to Grand Hyatt, and across from Mandarin Oriental and Kempinski Hotels.

I’d recommend staying somewhat nearby where you want to sightsee. Lots of old Dutch stuff near the old city, Kota. Huge cannons, rental bikes with mostly 15-25 year old girls riding around. Monas is a big muslim monument. Lots of museums nearby, too. Wayang (Javanese puppet shows) can be interesting, too.

You might want to hire a tour guide/driver for the day. The late 11:55pm JL flight from NRT is usually pretty easy to go through customs.

Not sure if you’ll stay at a Marriott property. We’ve stayed at the JW, RC and their serviced apartments. The Grand Hyatt is nice. Two big malls are nearby. We like the Doubletree a few km away. Not a 5 star, but very pleasant staff, and nice pool.

Silverbird is the luxury taxi at the airport, a division of Blue Bird taxi, the countries largest. Coming in after midnight is ideal, as it’s a bit cooler, and traffic is not as bad. Are you coming during the week?

Thank you both!

Yes arriving on Thursday and departing on Saturday night. I’m not sure about choosing a Marriott because one of the unique features of Jakarta is being able to stay at a true 5* hotel like the Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, etc for 1/4 the cost of that same hotel in Japan or Europe. Since I can issue the hotel booking in my GDS, I can select a Virtuoso or FS preferred rate to get breakfast, WiFi and other amenities.

Since the luxury hotels all seem clustered in the same area, does one property stand out with a stellar breakfast buffet and more modern rooms? I assume there won’t be a problem storing bags with the bell desk if we check out in the afternoon and want to go for dinner and relax until it’s time to go to the airport.

What is the typical taxi fare to that part of Jakarta and is the VIP arrival service useful at that hour to help with inbound immigration and getting a car to the hotel?

Well, I’ve never used an arrival service. I don’t think midnight is that busy of a time to arrive. Unless you want to feel important, or something. ;)

I don’t know that I’ve ever stayed in a super duper fancy hotel in Jakarta. The RC was probably the fanciest. I’ve stayed in some presidential suites and such, but I’m more interested in great service and food. I often stay for 10-25 days at a time in Jakarta, so look for good elite benefits, and comfortable rooms that are also affordable.

I stayed at the JW and RC for about $60 a night this summer, but had bought into their voucher program in 2020. You can find some very nice places for under $200 a night. I’m sure you’ll find some place great.

Yes, hotels are very good about storing luggage.

Thank you - I ended up booking the Mandarin Oriental through Amex so I can get the $200 hotel credit, the rate comes with upgrade, breakfast buffet, wifi, 4PM checkout, and 50 minute massage at the spa. Net to me, the cost ended up being very low with the credit, and it was the cheapest Amex FHR option.

I think I will skip the arrival service if immigration is easy at that hour. I have the MyBlueBird app installed and setup, and downloaded the PeduliLingdungi app to also setup.

Any suggestions on nicer 'local' restaurants to try in that general area, or easily accessible by transit or taxi? I have beef rendang on my to-do list, since it's really hard to find truly authentic, good quality versions in my area. I saw Natrabu Minang Restaurant has good reviews for this dish, but I'm open to other options. Although I know it's not Indonesian per se, also a good option for coconut curry laksa would be a plus - another dish that seems impossible to find good versions of in Southern California.

I often find the high end restaurants in Jakarta no better, and 5-10x more expensive than the original local varieties. I remember when Tony Bourdain did an episode of his show, and went to one local Sundanese place that he loved. It’s where they have all the precooked dishes stacked up in the window, most food is traditionally eaten with your hands, although I’m sure they have silverware, too.

My wife loves Sundanese food, local meatball soup (Bakso) and quite a few other local cuisines. I can try and get some recommendations for you. She worked in the area for a number of years before we met.

I'd recommend just staying in one hotel the entire time; checking-in to an airport hotel only to check out a few hours later is more of a drain on you than it is on the hotel. Not to mention, traffic in the morning is brutal going to the city ... rather, traffic is generally bad, but at your arrival time, it should be relatively smooth sailing to the Grand Indonesia/Plaza Indonesia.

As for food, I like Beautika; there's a branch not so far (in Jakartan terms) from the Mandarin Oriental. They serve Manado cuisine (Manado is a mostly Catholic city in Sulawesi, and they eat pretty much EVERYTHING.) Perhaps it's the spiciest regional Indonesian cuisine.
I also liked this Sunda chain called Dapur Sunda, but a couple of friends say it's gone downhill. However, I was a fan for their raw vegetables, colenak (stewed cassava with palm sugar), empal (sweet dried fried beef), and sinks with soap!

n.b. not sure when you're going, but October-March/April is the rainier season (it's tropical, rain comes when it wants to), so that makes the airport run even more arduous.

Hopefully bocastephen doesn't mind me soft hijacking this thread but I'm also planning a quick trip to Jakarta and was wondering if the Bundaran HI area was the best for a first time visitor to stay at? I plan to visit Monas, Kota Tua/Glodok and Kemang so it seems like the Bundaran HI location would be the most convenient, especially if I plan to mainly rely on public transport. The only other area I was considering was the area around Cikini or Gondangdia but those areas seem less convenient for the big sites.

No, not at all - the more questions the merrier. I think the Mandarin Oriental, where I selected is in Bundaran HI, and that puts it in a very convenient area.

Taxis and public transportation
 

I had to lookup Bundaran HI, as that’s not what I’ve called the area when I’ve visited in the last 20 years.

Certainly this area around Plaza Indonesia is a great place to be based out of.

We usually stay near the Cikini train station at the Doubletree. We find that a good location. The hotel has plenty of things, food carts nearby and fast food. A movie theater with an attached Starbucks is next door.

When I was single, I rode the Transjakarta buses, and mini-buses at times, along with the trains. The subway is a more recent mode of transport that I haven’t taken here yet. The app based transportation are fairly good. I know 4-5 years ago, the drivers would always want to call to verify where you were. Since before Covid I haven’t booked any, personally.

The normal taxi companies are pretty good. Blue Bird is the largest. Very good service. We often book their luxury version, Golden Bird to/from the airport. Unless you booked a flat rate, make sure the taxi uses the meter before leaving. There are some scummy taxis, outside seedy bars and such that will try to rip foreigners (Bules) off. They may try to rip you off, and just quote a flat price, or usually no price at all. Then a big surprise when you reach your destination.

There is usually a minimum fare for a taxi that is dispatched to you by a hotel. Compared to the west, fares are quite low. The last time I took a Blue Bird, the minimum was 25k IDR, about $1.75 USD. Hotels usually have a hotel stand with 3-10 vehicles waiting, if it’s a busy time. Some taxi brands used to use the old taxi rates, and had a big sticker Tariff Lama in their window. 10-20% lower prices. This might be older info now, though. Express and Taxiku were other companies that I’ve used, the latter using slightly smaller vehicles.

If you take a metered taxi to the airport, you’re expected to pay any toll and parking fees. Flat rate covers everything. Remember, traffic can be notorious. I used to take my wife to work when we began dating. I was usually at the Grand Hyatt. Going to her work, 3 KM away, it cost $3. Coming back was $2. Traffic and routing was different.

As far as I know, there are still traffic restrictions in the Bundaran HI area on Sunday mornings. They turn the whole road into a pedestrian and bike area. So if you need to go to the airport at 10am, give it some extra time, as they have to go through a maze of back roads to get you out.

A very popular transportation method is on a Ojek. This is a small motorbike. Able to drive through tight spaces, and much quicker than normal vehicles. Grab is the major player. You’ll see the drivers in their green vests. They’re supposed to have a helmet for one passenger. Bookable on their app, or a flat rate. Usually 12k to 30k (80 cents to $2), for short to medium routes.

When a downpour occurs, all bets are off! Many Ojek’s stop working, and wait times can get crazy. Usually these downpours (Hujan deras) are short, 5-20 minutes. Then things go quickly back to normal.

There isn’t much actual crime for tourists in Jakarta. I don’t recommend getting rental cars for the city. Parking can be a pain. Don’t leave expensive stuff in vehicles, as breaking windows for a smash and grab does occur, especially in Mall parking garages. I have heard of pickpockets on buses, but it’s not a big thing.

I’ve found most Indonesians very welcoming since I’ve started visiting 20 years ago. Hotel staff in particular really go the extra kilometer, even at 3 or 4 star properties. Room rates include a 10% service charge, which is usually split amongst all the staff. This often provides 50% of their monthly income. If we have a lot of baggage, we might tip a little bit. Tipping for everything is not common here. We quickly find that hotel staff become part of the family. We’ve been to staff weddings, welcomed many babies and similar events.

Hotel restaurants usually have a 10% service charge added into the bill. They may have another tip line on the bill, but we leave it blank. Smaller restaurants may add no service charges. There is a national tax of about 10%, so you might see 10% and then a 5% service charge at smaller places.

The sights you selected and your interest in public transport are fortuitously well aligned :). Transjarkarta's line 1 joins most of your dots from the old town down to Bloc M, and in partnership with the Metro will take you into South Jakarta and the delights of Kemang - though you might need a short hop in a taxi for the last stretch. In theory you could stay anywhere on the busway route - frim the smart luxury of the reassuringly expensive Hyatt, Kempinski, Manarin Oriental or the more modest Holiday Inn Expresses. Glodok has a very comfortable Holiday Inn more or less across from a Transjakarta stop.

Though be aware that work on constructing the metro extension to Kota Tua has created chaos for pedestrians and road traffic, and a couple of the busway stops are suspended, For efficient use of the transport network (including suburban trains around the city and to Bogor) you'll need a "touch and go" card. but these are easy to obtain and recharge.


Sadly the works for the extension of the metro line to Kota Tua have disrupted traffic, including Transjakarta, quite badly

Ack, Jalan Hayam Wuruk was bad enough before, now there's metro traffic?

And someone up-thread mentioned visiting Glodok, ostensibly because it's Jakarta's Chinatown? Ehh, I wouldn't recommend it.

Walking in that pollution, in areas where sidewalks double as holes in the gutter, and with more cigarette smoke flowing your way than at Moulin Rouge in the 1980s, it's not so pleasant. There's no standard issue Chinatown feel, either. Massage parlors? Sure. Discotheques? Yep. Snake blood at night? You got it. But geese hanging in the window by a paifang (gate)? Hardly.

Come to think of it, ​​​​​​​having visited Medan and Surabaya, too, Indonesian Chinatowns are quite lacking; it may have had something to do with the 1998 riots.

I thought the main attractions of the area were budget shopping and dodgy nightlife. But I don't stand in judgement :D

I enjoy jalarta, but I'd be hard pressed to identify a worthy tourist attraction beyond the national museum (it helps put Indonesia perspective) and the shopping malls. Monas you see anyway, and traipsing round it or up it wouldn't be pleasant; Kota Tua and Fatahillah maybe, but not really worth a detour.

Any thoughts on a 1/2 day Thousand Islands tour? The only options I could find were a full day