Zoë Sheng

Chinese-Canadian - 20-Feb-23 -

The botanical gardens may not be in your list when visiting Jakarta and for world heritage enthusiasts you will soon move on to better places in Indonesia. I was going to quickly look at the gardens after arrival but the flight was typically delayed and they already close at 16:00 which probably means they'll eventually start sweeping you out before dark. Instead I visited early morning which I highly recommend instead anyway, plus weekday should keep the families away.

You can reach the gardens by car, or even by train which terminates just west of the park. It is super cheap (10,000 plus you need to buy a travel card if you don't have already) for the 90 minutes ride along the red line, and if you need to exchange it shouldn't be much longer. Because of traffic jams I recommend this was and there are commuters going south in the morning, very few going north when you are done. They only problem with the train approach is that the station is a good 15min walk from the entrance gate at the south of the gardens and it means taking the overpass across the street before heading south and eventually crossing to the entrance. I can see that maybe taking a taxi isn't bad, you can also take a moped from the station to the entrance if you wish... Just FYI there were 4 middle aged Americans doing the same as me so it's not a crazy way to get to the botanical gardens.

So you finally made it. Entrance is a mere dollar and no foreigner upscale. There is a visitor center across the ticket area but they only have me a map. As nice and helpful as they were I am wondering why they need 8-10 staff hanging around there if I only get a map.

The area is quite large and it's easy to get lost. You should start with the west and get across the northern side to the Happy Couple Trees. You may be asked to take another path by the MPs guarding the fence to the presidential palace but it's still a nice walk. I found the oldest tree in the park, a barren lychee tree, and lots of imports. You also don't need to worry about the sun here because it's all shaded. As you reach the bridge in there northeast you can enter the orchid and medicine plants area. The building across was closed as I was visiting, a nursery I believe. Further south you'll get to the popular area which didn't interest me as much. Large open fields for picnics and shops to buy snacks. There is also some art as seen in the wide picture above. It was very busy here even at 10am so I ventured forth the Mexican garden and eventually exited. Overall I spent 3 hours in the park and I think that's average of you don't plan to picnic or rest in the orchid area for long - which I didn't do because they were not blooming.

I find the garden not special enough to be a WHS. I feel Indonesia is trying to have a site in its capital and follow Singapore's gardens which I wasn't so impressed with as well although they had a fabulous orchid section. It's impressive that they host so many species of plants but I don't find this unique and I couldn't see how it impacts cultivation of places in the region - perhaps it should be explained but just as a fact it isn't enough. "First botanical garden in SE Asia" is also not a reason. For a general visit it's nice and the signs were quite good.