A Guide to Jakarta's Best Neighbourhoods

Jakarta rarely reveals itself all at once. Its character lives in its neighbourhoods: the colonial streets and independence museums of Menteng, the galleries of Kemang, the restaurants of SCBD and Senopati, the street food of Blok M. Each asks for a different pace and a different time of day. Bundaran HI, the roundabout at the symbolic heart of the city, sits within easy reach of all of them. Our Location page maps out what lies closest, and Getting Around Jakarta covers the quickest routes to the rest.

Menteng: Where Jakarta Feels at Home
There is a particular quiet to Menteng. Planned a century ago as Jakarta's first garden suburb, it is where the city's history sits closest to the surface: the Museum Perumusan Naskah Proklamasi, where the declaration of independence was drafted in 1945, and Gedung Joang '45 on Jalan Menteng Raya, which tells the story that followed.

But Menteng is best understood over coffee. Its colonial houses have quietly become some of Jakarta's most inviting cafés, each keeping the feel of the home it once was. A living room becomes a dining room; a front porch becomes the best table in the house. The architecture does most of the work, and the result is less a place to stop than a place to settle in

Kota Tua and Glodok: Where Jakarta Began
Long before the towers of Thamrin, there was Batavia. Head north for 30 to 45 minutes, and the city rewinds four centuries. Around Fatahillah Square, the old Dutch city hall now holds the Jakarta History Museum, while its neighbours house the Wayang Museum, devoted to Indonesia's shadow and rod puppetry, and the Museum of Fine Art and Ceramics. The buildings are as much the collection as anything inside them. Several have become cafés, where high ceilings and heavy timber shutters frame the square much as they did a hundred years ago.

A few minutes south, Glodok tells a different chapter. Jakarta's Chinatown has been home to the city's Chinese community since the colonial era, and it still moves to its own rhythm. Incense drifts from Vihara Dharma Bhakti, one of the oldest Chinese temples in the city, into the lanes of Petak Sembilan, where the market sells everything from dried herbs to red lanterns. Then there is the food: noodles made the same way for generations, old coffee houses that have barely changed, and traditional snacks you will not find anywhere else in Jakarta.

SCBD and Ashta District 8: After Hours, Jakarta Comes to Eat
There are two versions of SCBD. The first wears a suit and keeps office hours. The second arrives around sunset, when the towers empty and the restaurants fill, and it is the one worth staying up for. This is where Jakarta's most ambitious kitchens have chosen to open, and where the city's well-travelled crowd comes to see what they are cooking next.

Ashta District 8 offers a gentler way in. Cafés spill out onto open terraces, conversations move from coffee to cocktails without anyone checking the time, and concept stores and events give the plaza a sense of occasion. It is less a stop on the way to dinner than the reason dinner starts late.

Blok M: Where Jakarta Eats Late
Blok M makes no effort to impress, which is exactly why it does. A direct ride south on the MRT, this is where the city comes to eat after dark: sate smoking over charcoal, martabak folded thick at the roadside, nasi goreng from warung kitchens that stay open long after the rest of Jakarta has gone home.

Look a little closer and a new Blok M appears. M Bloc Space, once staff housing for the national mint, now holds independent shops, cafés, small eateries and a live music venue, while Jalan Melawai has kept a cluster of Japanese restaurants and izakaya going for decades. For many guests, it becomes the evening they talk about most.

Plan Your Stay
The Jakarta most visitors see is only a fraction of the city. From Bundaran HI, SCBD and Ashta are minutes away, Menteng and Senopati a short ride, Kemang and Blok M an easy afternoon to the south, and Kota Tua and Glodok a journey north into the city's past. Base yourself at the centre, and every neighbourhood becomes part of the stay.

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