Best Place to Visit?

go to taman mini indonesia indah (TMII). that will describe Indonesia in brief but will give you quite understanding about what is Indonesia. then you can start visiting other things.

understanding is the key, once you know what is Indonesia, it'll be easier for you to know your way, which museum to visit and what restaurant you should try. Good luck:)

Museum:

1) National Monument (Monumen Nasional/Monas). Underground level, you could see dioramas of Indonesia's struggle for independence. Climb up to the top level, you could see the whole Jakarta :)

2) National Museum ("Elephant" Museum/Museum "Gajah"). It's called Museum Gajah because there's an elephant statue, gift from the Thai kingdom. The museum shown lots of ancient artifacts.

3) Traditional Puppet Museum (Museum Wayang). It shown wide range of variety of tradition puppets (wayang) from all over the world and of course, Indonesia.

4) Fatahillah Museum. This was the residence of Netherland's governor general. You could found canons, original furniture, also underground prison.

5) If you want to see miniatur of Indonesia, go to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. It has all the traditional houses from 27 provinces, along with miniatur lake showing Indonesian islands. Ride the gondola, it's fun. Also watch a movie with giant screen in Golden Snail Teater (Teater Keong Emas).

Shopping centres:

1) Central: EX (read: e - x) Plaza Indonesia

2) South: Plaza Semanggi, Plaza Senayan, Plaza Blok M, Pasaraya Grande, Pondok Indah Mall, Cilandak Town Square

Plaza Indonesia, Plaza Senayan, Pasaraya, and Pondok Indah Mall are for the mid-high class. You could find international branded goods there.

Cilandak Town Square is mainly filled by restaurants. In every shopping centres, you could find good restaurants and food courts.

a good resturaunt would be at Senayan City (senayan city is a mall) its called urban kitchen it has foods from many different countries. Senayan city is is one the best malls in jakarta.

If your travelling with children try going to artha gading mall. They have things for kids there. Like a trampoline and a great arcade.

I think eX and Plaza Indonesia are the best mall. (Both are connected) Its also near the HYATT.

Pondok Indah mall is huge, plaza senyan its okay, Kelpa Gading mall is nice, and Grand Indonesia I havent been there but it looks huge. You should go there!

Cheap malls where you can buy clothes for only rp. 30,000 . The malls are called ITC KUNINGAN and MANGA DUA are the best for cheap malls. But you need to speak good bahasa if u wana go. Also you need to be a bargainer.

Thats about it.

yeah- all the those places are cool. Especially the museums, which are good for paintings and stuff, restaurants, where I would recommend first ordering and then eating the food, and shopping centers where you might consider puirchasing something.

In addititon to what others have said, I think you should try some real Indonesian food. Although there are lots of places to eat in malls, I prefer to eat in local, reputable (not street-side) restaraunts. My favorite is their fried rice and grilled seafood.