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Colourful scenes, Jakarta

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Travel to Jakarta

Flying to Jakarta

Jakarta's international airport is located 30km (18.5 miles) west of the city centre. Airlines offering flights to Jakarta from the UK include Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Cathay Pacific and Emirates. Flights to Jakarta from London take about 16 hours (including approximate stopover time).

Flight times: 

From London - 16 hours.

There are no direct flights from Europe and the USA to Jakarta - most transit Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) or Singapore.

Travel by road

Summary:

Traffic in Jakarta drives on the left. Nearly half of the road network is paved. There are good road communications within Java and, to a lesser extent, on Bali and Sumatra. The other islands have poor road systems. Speed limits are usually 30-40kph (19-25mph) on inner city streets, 60-70kph (37-43mph) on inter-city roads and 80-100 kph (50-62mph) on motorways. An International Driving Permit is required to drive in Jakarta.

Emergency breakdown service:

Tel: 0800 140 1287.

Routes:

Express roads supposedly connect Jakarta with most of the other main cities on the island of Java, but in reality conditions can be poor and congestion is a serious problem. There is a ring road around the city. Toll roads already operate out to the airport and also connect Jakarta with Bandung.

Coaches:

Jakarta has four principal bus terminals. Kalideres is 15km (9 miles) north of Merdeka Square and serves the likes of Merak and Labuan. Kampung Rambutan is 18km (11 miles) south of the city centre and offers buses to Bogor and Bandung. Pulo Gadung is 12km (7.5 miles) east of the centre with services to the likes of Padang and Bukittinggi. Lebak Bulus is 15km (9 miles) south of Jakarta's centre with handy services for tourists to Yogyakarta and Bali.

Myriad bus companies operate to and from Jakarta. Two of the most popular are Safari Dharma Raya (tel: (021) 548 5644; www.safaridharmaraya.com) and Kramat Djati (tel: (022) 420 0858).

Travel by rail

Services:

Jakarta has four railway stations: Kota, Gambir, Pasar Senen and Tanah Abang. The largest and of most use to travellers is Gambir Station on Merdeka Square, which serves destinations to the east such as Yogyakarta and Surabaya.

Operators:

PT Kereta Api (tel: (021) 691 2276; www.kereta-api.co.id) is the state operator running all services throughout Indonesia.

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