The green, central heart of the city — the leafy diplomatic district of Menteng, the National Monument and Merdeka Square, the great mosque and cathedral, and the main hotels and malls along Thamrin. The most convenient, well-connected base, close to the big sights and on the new MRT; comfortable and central, if short on old-city charm.
A look around
What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.
€130–300
typical per night in Indonesia
You pay for the postcode
One of the pricier addresses in Jakarta.
Where it sits
The circle is Menteng & Thamrin and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.
How far is everything?
From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.
- Grand Indonesia & mall culture3 min walk218 m
- SCBD rooftop nightlife11 min taxi3.6 km
- Glodok (Chinatown)16 min taxi5.5 km
- Café Batavia & the old town cafés20 min taxi6.7 km
- Kota Tua & Fatahillah Square20 min taxi6.7 km
- Indonesian street food22 min taxi7.4 km
- Sunda Kelapa harbour23 min taxi7.8 km
- Taman Mini Indonesia Indah43 min taxi14.4 km
On your doorstep
What you’re living next to if you stay here.
- 1.National Monument (Monas) — The 132-metre marble obelisk crowned with a flame of gilded bronze that is the symbol of independent Indonesia, rising from the vast Merdeka Square at the city's heart. Ride the lift to the top for a view over the sprawl, tour the diorama museum of Indonesian history in the base, and join the locals relaxing on the huge park lawns around it. The essential first stop.
- 3.Istiqlal Mosque — The largest mosque in Southeast Asia and the third-largest in the world — a vast, serene modernist hall of gleaming white marble and stainless steel, its great dome sheltering up to 200,000 worshippers. Non-Muslims are warmly welcomed on guided tours (dress modestly, robes provided); a peaceful, awe-inspiring space, and a powerful symbol of tolerance facing the cathedral across the road.
- 4.Jakarta Cathedral — A beautiful neo-Gothic Catholic cathedral of soaring spires and stained glass, standing directly across the road from the great Istiqlal Mosque — the two houses of worship deliberately facing each other, sharing car parks on each other's holy days, as a celebrated emblem of Indonesia's religious harmony. A lovely, peaceful interior, and a moving pairing with the mosque opposite.
- 5.National Museum of Indonesia — The best museum in the country and the ideal primer for the whole archipelago — vast, well-laid-out collections of prehistoric finds, Hindu-Buddhist statuary, ethnographic treasures from a thousand islands, and a hoard of royal gold. Known as the 'Elephant Building' for the bronze elephant out front; cool, calm and genuinely world-class, it gives real depth to any Indonesia trip.
When are you staying?
Booking.com & Airbnb open searched to Menteng & Thamrin; flights via Google Flights.