Handpicked experience · Jakarta
Jakarta, Indonesia
A quarter that exists because of an expulsion in 1740, and a culture that was illegal to display in public until 1998.
The national museum is the first and biggest museum in Southeast Asia.
The National Monument which is in the middle of Merdeka Square is a 132 Meter tall monument with a gold-leaf flame on top, symbolizes the nation’s independence.
Visit China Town which became the location of Chinese settlements since the 1500 century to the present.
The Dharma Bhakti Temple as the oldest Confucianism temple in Jakarta
Jakarta Old Town:- This area was the center of Dutch colonial government.
After walking around you can take a break at Café Batavia which is in front of the Fatahillah Museum
Jakarta History Museum (Fatahillah Museum):- Visit the former Dutch governor general's office which has a collection of various types of furniture and classic items from the Dutch colonial period.
wayang studio and meet a wayang master who will show you how to create, play and explain the philosophy of the puppet.
Nineteenth-century shophouses and the lanes between them
Working temples explained as places of practice, not exhibits
A market where the trade is the attraction
Indonesian-Chinese cooking as a cuisine in its own right
A pace set by your interests rather than a fixed route
A full-day private Jakarta city tour built around Glodok, the city's Chinatown. Rather than a circuit of highlight places seen from a car window, it explores one district properly: shophouses, working temples, a market and Indonesian-Chinese food.
Glodok exists because of a single event. Chinese traders had lived in Batavia for generations when, in 1740, the colonial authorities turned on them: thousands of the city's Chinese residents were killed over several days. Those who survived were resettled outside the city walls, in a designated quarter — and that quarter is where you are standing. Almost three centuries later the district is still the centre of Chinese-Indonesian life in the capital, and the reason for its position on the map is that expulsion.
Much of what you will see looks recent, and there is a reason. From 1967 until 1998, public expression of Chinese culture was banned in Indonesia: Chinese-language schools closed, characters could not be displayed publicly, Lunar New Year could not be celebrated openly, and many families were pressed into changing their names. The restrictions were lifted after 1998 and the New Year became a national holiday in 2003.
So the bright signage, the lion dances and the crowded temple festivals are not an unbroken tradition — they are a revival, within living memory, by people who spent three decades practising quietly. Ask your guide about it; most families here have a direct account.
The main temple in the alleys off the market dates from the mid-seventeenth century, which makes it older than Glodok itself — it survived the events that created the quarter, and has burned and been rebuilt more than once since. It is a working place of worship rather than a monument: people are there to pray, incense is lit continuously, and visitors are welcome provided they behave as guests.
Food is bought at the stalls and counters, so bring small notes. Temples ask for modest dress and quiet, and some accept a donation rather than charging entry. The market lanes are narrow, uneven and busy with handcarts, and a private vehicle means you can cut a section short if the heat wins — say so early rather than enduring it.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Because survivors of the 1740 killings were resettled outside the city walls in a designated quarter. That quarter became Glodok, and it has been the centre of Chinese-Indonesian life in the capital ever since.
The colonial authorities turned on Batavia's long-established Chinese population and thousands were killed over several days. The relocation of the survivors is the origin of the district.
Because public expression of Chinese culture was banned in Indonesia from 1967 to 1998 — schools closed, characters could not be displayed, New Year could not be celebrated openly. What you see is a revival rather than an unbroken tradition.
The restrictions were lifted after 1998, and Lunar New Year became a national holiday in 2003. Most families here can tell you what those decades were like.
Older than the streets around it — mid-seventeenth century, and rebuilt after more than one fire since.
Yes, provided you behave as a guest — modest dress, quiet, and respect for people who are there to pray rather than to be photographed.
No. Market tastings and the food court are ordered and paid at the counters, so bring small notes.
Yes — that is the point of a private vehicle and guide. Say early if you want to shorten a section or spend longer somewhere.