London to Jakarta, Indonesia from £476

🌍 About Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta isn't a postcard city — it's a 30-million-person sprawl that most travellers transit through on the way to Bali or Yogyakarta, and that's exactly why fares here run cheap. What's worth your time is Kota Tua, the old Dutch Batavia district, where Fatahillah Square is ringed by colonial warehouses now holding the Jakarta History Museum. Eat soto Betawi, the local beef soup made rich with coconut milk and broth rather than the usual turmeric — it's the dish the Betawi (Jakarta's indigenous people) are known for. One real fact that shapes a visit: north Jakarta is sinking several centimetres a year from groundwater pumping, which is why Indonesia is building a new capital, Nusantara, on Borneo. Come June to September, the dry season, when rain and humidity drop. Avoid January–February, the wettest months, when flooding genuinely snarls the city.