EF#21 Affordable Places You Must Visit in Jakarta

Shoot!  I didn’t have extra time to gather all the pictures!  But no excuse,  I still gotta tell you about this to answer the BEC challenge week #21, holiday destination under Rp.  100.000 (or around less than US$10) you must see!

Well, sounds impossible?

I don’t think so, it is very doable and I strongly suggest you to try it!  Especially for you who live in Jakarta.  There are so many places you gotta see and you can do that with only a hundred thousand rupiah in your pocket.

I assume you prepare yourself well by bringing your own supplies since the most expensive part of visiting a park in Jakarta is the price for your food and drink.  So, bottle up water and prepare homemade cooking will be a big help for you to have a wonderful trip.

So if you happen to live in Jakarta,  these are my must visit places around the city with only a hundred thousand rupiah:

1. Ragunan City Zoo

Spacious, clean, abundant fresh air and you can teach your little ones or even yourself some knowledge about animal kingdom. You only need to pay  Rp. 4.500 for adults and even cheaper for kids.  Less than 50 cents of US dollars.

Don’t ride taxi to get there of course. It will blow up you budget.   Try to ride on a TransJakarta bus.  You can get on it from nearly anywhere in Jakarta and head to Dukuh Atas station.  Change route to Ragunan and enjoy the ride till the last stop.  You only need to pay Rp. 3.500,-.  (around 30 cents)

I wrote my wonderful experience visiting the zoo in Indonesian before.

2. National Monument Park (Monas)

Get bored with the cooing bird or lazy sleepy lion easily? You can always get out of the zoo,  get yourself on a TransJakarta bus again and head to Central Jakarta.  Find yourself at TransJakarta Gambir stop.

There you will find one of Jakarta’s  (most probably Indonesia’s) most known landscapes. The Indonesia  National Monument Park  or simply Monas.

You can climb up to Monas sight seeing area and get a glimpse of Jakarta from an aerial view. Or,  you can always go down under the towering monument if you have a faint heart for the height. There is a diorama museum below which you can learn about Indonesia’s independence day.  I used to think about so many things when looking at those small figures enacting the actual historical events.

And how much do you have to pay the entrance fee?  It is also ONLY Rp. 5.000,- (around 45  cents)

Or you can try my favorite activity while in the park,  strolling around the vast pathwalk around it.  Enjoy the trees providing shades from blistering hot sun and wind breeze here and there,  catch happiness radiates from children running around there or watch lovers spend their time and lost in meaningful conversations.  And it is all of course totally free!

3. National Museum (Elephant Museum)

Want to know more about past stories of Indonesia and not getting what you’re looking for around Monas?

Get out of the park area,  have a nice walk in Jakarta’s warm weather under the shade of trees around Monas and head towards Indosat tower.  Cross the street which you will find a TransJakarta stop in the middle.  Voila!  You get yourself into one of the biggest museum in Central Jakarta.

In front of the museum, welcoming you there’s an elephant statue which most probably why people call it Elephant Museum beside it’s official name, National Museum.

You can learn about so many things here.  It has three stories full of artefacts from all around Indonesia.  I was lost in awe learning about rich Indonesian culture.

And you (again)  ONLY need to pay Rp. 5.000,- (another 45 cents)

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Those three are already too much for a day actually.  And now,  calculating the amount of money you will need to visit all three:
– First TransJakarta bus to Ragunan: Rp.  3.500,- (30 cents)
– TransJakarta bus from Ragunan to Monas: Rp.  3.500,- (30 cents)
– TransJakarta bus back : Rp.  3.500,- (30 cents)
– Entrance to Ragunan: Rp.  4.500,- (40 cents)
– Entrance to Monas Jakarta aerial sightseeing area: Rp.  5.000,- (45 cents)
– Entrance to Monas Diorama Museum : Rp. 5.000,- (45 cents)
– Entrance to Elephant/National Museum: Rp.  5.000,- (45 cents)

Hypothetically if you visit all of the places above you will spend Rp. 30.000,- (US$ 2.85) and you still can have yourself fresh sweet drinks and try Jakarta version of Gado-Gado or Ketoprak from street food vendors around.  By the end of the day you might not need to prepare food from home and still manage to save around Rp. 40.000,-.

Gosh! Writing this made me realize that I have never given a thought that having fun in Jakarta can be this affordable!  I only mentioned 3 affordable places you must visit in Jakart while in fact there are still so many others worth visiting.

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