Travel Jakarta

Central JakartaAn aptly named district and the site of Jakarta’s symbol, the National Monument. The old part of Jakarta (Batavia), The Presidential palace, office buildings, hotels, Mangga Dua shopping center, Bundaran HI (Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle) and the elite Menteng residential area are all found in Central Jakarta.

West Jakarta (Jakarta Barat, 11XXX) – Jakarta’s Chinatown, this district includes museums, trading centers, nightlife entertainment centers, shopping centers and malls. This is also the site of Jakarta’s old town.

South Jakarta (Jakarta Selatan, 12XXX) – The place where you can find upscale shopping centers, malls, restaurants, hotels, nightlife the entertainment center, Blok M, Senayan sports complex, affluent residential areas.

East Jakarta (Jakarta Timur, 13XXX) – Location of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Utan Kayu art community, Cibubur camping ground, industrial parks and Halim Perdanakusuma airport.

North Jakarta (Jakarta Utara, 14XXX) – Beautiful Thousand Islands, Ancol Bayfront City, and Kelapa Gading shopping centers.

Suburbs:

Tangerang (15XXX) – Soekarno Hatta airport, golf course, industrial parks, Lippo Karawaci
Bogor (16XXX) – Beautiful palace, world class botany garden, golf course.
Depok, Bogor (164XX) – Home to the University of Indonesia
Bekasi (17XXX) – Industrial parks.

Orientation

Finding places in Jakarta, especially smaller buildings not on the main arteries, tends to be difficult due to poor signage and chaotic street names. Sometimes, the same name is used for different streets in different parts of the city, and it’s often difficult to find the correct street/address without the postal code/region.

Alleys off a main road are often simply numbered, in a sequence that may not be logical, so a street address like “Jl. Mangga Besar VIII/21″ means house number 21 on alley number 8 (VIII) off or near the main road of Jl. Mangga Besar.

If you don’t want to waste time, ask for the descriptions/name of nearby buildings, billboards, color of the building/fence and the postal code of the address. If you still cannot find the address, start asking people in the street, especially ojek (motorcyle taxi drivers).