Jakarta

Monas, Kota Tua and Blok M, district by district by rail

Plan Jakarta district by district and move between them by rail, because a short hop on the map can take an hour by road. One day covers Merdeka Square, Monas, the National Museum and Kota Tua; a second adds Sunda Kelapa harbour and Blok M; a third suits the Thousand Islands or Bogor.

• One day: start on Merdeka Square before the heat builds. Ride the lift up the 132-metre Monas, then cross to the National Museum on the square's western side. Istiqlal and the gothic cathedral face each other a short walk away. After lunch, take the train north to Jakarta Kota, the old BEOS station, for Fatahillah Square. The Jakarta History Museum fills the 17th-century town hall there and the Wayang Museum stands on the same square. Eat in Glodok, the Chinese quarter next door.
• Two days: spend a morning by the old harbour. Wooden schooners still tie up at Sunda Kelapa, and the Maritime Museum occupies a row of Dutch warehouses nearby. In the evening take the MRT south to Blok M or Kemang.
• Three days or more: leave the city behind. Pulau Bidadari is about 20 minutes by boat from Marina Ancol and makes an easy day out. Pramuka and Tidung lie further into the Thousand Islands and deserve a night; a fast boat from Muara Angke reaches Tidung in about 1.5 hours. Inland, Bogor's botanical garden is the classic commuter-train escape.

Island boats and guesthouses on Tidung do fill at weekends and on holidays, while weekdays stay quiet. Many travellers give the city a single night before a train to Yogyakarta or a flight to Bali. A second night lets you see Kota Tua properly.

If you rent a car, learn the odd-even number-plate rule that applies on 16 main roads.

Planning Jakarta around rain, flooding and Java Jazz

Choose Jakarta dates by rainfall, since temperatures barely change, with monthly means of 27.3 °C to 28.8 °C. Java Jazz fills three days each March.

Rain is the real variable. In the wettest weeks rivers and drains back up while high tides push into districts already sinking through subsidence.

The drier stretch from June to September is the easiest time to walk Kota Tua or catch the island boats. Haze is thicker then, and pharmacies sell masks. The shoulder months of April to May and October to November bring afternoon showers.

The city's anniversary falls on 22 June, when giant Ondel-ondel puppets stand in hotel lobbies. The Jakarta Great Sale runs from mid-June to mid-July with discounts across the malls. Java Jazz, the best-known music festival, fills three days each March. Ramadan shortens the night: most bars close at midnight and some stay shut all month. At Lebaran the city empties as people head to their home towns and hotels cut their rates. Outbound trains and flights are full, though, and malls open only from 13:30 on the day of Eid.

Betawi food, wartegs and street carts in Jakarta

Eat Betawi food in Jakarta, the cooking of the city's original townspeople: soto Betawi, a rich coconut-milk beef soup, kerak telor omelette with glutinous rice, and nasi uduk for breakfast. Lunch where office workers do, at a warteg, find Chinese snacks in Glodok, and spend evenings in Blok M or Kemang.

Betawi cooking, the food of Jakarta's original townspeople, borrows from Chinese, Arab, Portuguese and Dutch kitchens. Soto Betawi is the signature: beef and offal in a broth made rich with coconut milk or cow's milk. Kerak telor is an omelette cooked with glutinous rice and topped with shredded coconut plus dried shrimp. Mornings call for nasi uduk: rice steamed in coconut milk under a pile of fried chicken with sambal. Sop iga sapi turns a plain Dutch rib soup into something heavily spiced.

A warteg serves cheap, simple plates to office staff plus labourers.

Street carts (kaki lima) sell some dishes you will not find indoors. Join the stall with a queue and skip any vendor who is pushy or oddly cheap. Lenggang Jakarta and the Lokbin sites gather relocated street sellers under one roof with better hygiene.

Convenience stores have not sold alcohol since 2015; supermarkets and specialist shops still do.