What to See in Indonesia - Top Sights and Attractions

Tourist attraction in Ubud, Indonesia. The Ubud Palace, officially Puri Saren Agung, is a historical building complex situated in Ubud, Gianyar Regency of Bali, Indonesia.

The palace was the official residence of the royal family of Ubud. It was on his travels that Rsi Markandya received a divine revelation that in Bali he was to bury five precious metals on a mountain slope where the mother temple of Besakih now stands today. Along with a group of followers, Rsi Markandya was magnetically attracted to a destination located in the central foothills of the island that radiated light and energy. This place was Campuhan in Ubud at a junction in the Wos River and it was here that he felt compelled to build a temple by the name of Pura Gunung Lebah.

On subsequent expeditions around Bali, Rsi Markandya built a number of other significant temples and created a shared irrigation system for the terraced landscape that is still practiced by farmers today. The formation of the banjar, which is a village council responsible for community and religious affairs, was also inspired by Rsi Markandya. In essence, it can be said that Rsi Markandya is responsible for the foundation of Balinese Hinduism in its purest form referred to as Agama Tirtha or the religion of holy water.

Since being discovered back in the 8th century, the area of Campuhan has always been highly regarded by the Balinese for its immense spiritual powers. Even the term Ubud is derived from the term ubad, meaning medicine in reference to the traditional healing properties of the array of plants that randomly grow here. Generations of Hindu worshippers have made special pilgrimages to the fork in the Wos River to mediate, bathe and collect holy water for temple ceremonies and cleansing rituals.

There had always been ties between Java and Bali, but it was the disintegration of the once mighty Majapahit Empire in the 15th century that saw a mass exodus of nobles to Bali. A new kingdom on the island's east coast called Gelgel was consequently established and gave sanctuary to many important ruling families. They brought with them an artistic legacy and the principles of the caste system.

By the 17th century Bali invariably experienced a rapid emergence of new kingdoms, including the founding of several royal houses in Ubud. However, this period also saw much conflict between the royal clans with supremacy as the ultimate goal. A prince from Klungkung was sent to create a palace in Sukawati as a centre of great power and aesthetic beauty. Artisans came from all over Bali to help in its construction and once completed many of them chose to stay. Sukawati today is a community that strongly supports all forms of artistry as well as dance and music.

With the successful establishment of a reigning authority in Sukawati, palace retainers were then sent in the late 1700s to secure the area of Ubud. A pair of cousins formed rival communities in Padang Tegal and further north in the area of Taman. Following subsequent fighting between these neighbouring villages the king of Sukawati sent his brothers Tjokorde Ngurah Tabanan to Peliatan and Tjokorde Tangkeban to Sambahan to establish palaces with the notion to control these troubled areas.^[3]

Shopping mall in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. Senayan City is a mixed-use development located in Senayan area, Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The complex comprises a seven-floor high end shopping mall, two boutique office towers and an apartment tower. During construction, premium hotel chain Sofitel had planned to open in Senayan City with an estimated opening for 2007, which was ultimately scrapped. Senayan City is built on a land area of 48,000 m2 owned by the Bung Karno Stadium Authority. It is built and managed by Manggala Gelora Perkasa, a subsidiary of Agung Podomoro Group, under the BOT contract for 50 years which starts in 2005. They used Pulau Intan as their main contractor, Structure and mechanical engineering contractor. The development was designed by DP Architects.

The shopping mall, soft opened on 23 June 2006 and grand opened on 21 September 2006.^[5]

Prambanan Temple Compounds is the World Heritage designation of a group of Hindu temple compounds that lie on the border between Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia. It comprises Prambanan, Lumbung, Bubrah and Sewu temple compounds, all are located within Prambanan Archaeological Park.

These temples are known locally as candi in Indonesian and Javanese languages. The temple compounds are located along Opak River valley within Prambanan Plain or Kewu Plain, an archaeologically rich area dotted with numerous Hindu temples dated from the 8th and 9th centuries CE, historically linked with the Mataram kingdom. The diversity and sophistication of the temple compounds and archaeological sites in this area are comparable to Angkor archaeological site in Cambodia.^[6]

Legendary historic bathing complex. Taman Sari Water Castle, also known as Taman Sari, is the site of a former royal garden of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. It is located about 2 km south within the grounds of the Kraton, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Built in the mid-18th century, the Taman Sari had multiple functions, such as a resting area, a workshop, a meditation area, a defense area, and a hiding place.

Taman Sari consisted of four distinct areas: a large artificial lake with islands and pavilions located in the west, a bathing complex in the centre, a complex of pavilions and pools in the south, and a smaller lake in the east. Today only the central bathing complex is well preserved, while the other areas have been largely occupied by the Kampung Taman settlement.

Since 2017, the Historical City Centre of Yogyakarta including Taman Sari has been listed as a tentative World Heritage Site.^[7]

Serene, long-standing botanical garden. The Bogor Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia, 60 km south of central Jakarta. It is currently operated by Indonesian Institute of Sciences. The Garden is located in the city center and adjoin the presidential palace compound of Istana Bogor. It covers an area of 87 hectares and contains 13,983 different kinds of trees and plants of various origin. The geographic position of Bogor means it rains almost daily, even in the dry season. This makes the Garden an advantageous location for the cultivation of tropical plants.

Founded in 1817 by the order of the government of the Dutch East Indies, the Garden thrived under the leadership of many renowned botanists including Johannes Elias Teijsmann, Rudolph Herman Christiaan Carel Scheffer, and Melchior Treub. Since its foundation, Bogor Botanical garden has served as a major research center for agriculture and horticulture. It is the oldest botanical garden in Southeast Asia.^[12]

Active volcano with 3 craters. Tangkuban Parahu is a stratovolcano 30 km north of the city of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. It erupted in 1826, 1829, 1842, 1846, 1896, 1910, 1926, 1929, 1952, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1983, 2013 and 2019. It is a popular tourist attraction where tourists hike or ride to the edge of the crater to view the hot water springs and boiling mud up close, and buy eggs cooked on the hot surface. Together with Mount Burangrang and Bukit Tunggul, it is a remnant of the ancient Mount Sunda after the plinian eruption caused the Caldera to collapse.

In April 2005, the Directorate of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation raised an alert, forbidding visitors from going up the volcano. "Sensors on the slopes of the two mountains - Anak Krakatoa on the southern tip of Sumatra Island and Tangkuban Perahu in Java - picked up an increase in volcanic activity and a build-up of gases, said government volcanologist Syamsul Rizal." On the mountain's northern flank is Death Valley, which derives its name from a frequent accumulation of poisonous gases.^[14]

Historic structure with scenic grounds. The Bogor Palace is one of six Presidential Palaces of Indonesia, it is located in the city of Bogor, West Java. The palace is noted for its distinctive architectural and historical features, as well as the adjoining botanical gardens. Istana Bogor was opened to the public in 1968 to public tour groups, with the permission of the acting President of Indonesia, Suharto. The gardens of the palace covers an area of 284,000 square metres.

During the colonial era the palace became favorite residence of the Governors-General due to Bogor's more adaptable climate. It was also favored by the late President Sukarno and became the official presidential residence until his downfall in 1967. The palace remained mostly unused until February 2015, when the new president Joko Widodo moved the president's office from Merdeka Palace to Bogor Palace.^[16]

Ancient stone palace complex. Ratu Boko or Ratu Boko Palace is an archaeological site in Java. Ratu Boko is located on a plateau, about three kilometres south of Prambanan temple complex in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The original name of this site is still unclear, however the local inhabitants named this site after King Boko, the legendary king mentioned in Roro Jonggrang folklore. In Javanese, Ratu Boko means "Stork King".

The site covers 16 hectares in two hamlets (Dawung and Sambireja) of the village of Bokoharjo and Prambanan, Sleman Regency. In striking contrast to other Classic-period sites in Central Java and Yogyakarta, which are remains of temples, Ratu Boko displays attributes of an occupation or settlement site, although its precise function is unknown. Probably the site was a palace complex which belonged to the kings of Sailendra or Mataram Kingdom that also built temples scattered across the Prambanan Plain. The argument was based on the fact that this complex was not a temple nor building with religious nature, but a fortified palace instead which evidence of a remnant of fortified walls and the dry moat of defensive structures. The remains of settlements also founds in Ratu Boko vicinity. This site is located 196 m above the sea level, on the highest point in the site, there is a small pavilion from which one will be able to see a panoramic view of Prambanan temple with Mount Merapi as the background.^[19]

Kedulan temple is the ruin of a 9th-century Hindu candi located not far from Sambisari temple. The temple is located in Tirtomartani village, Kalasan subdistrict, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The style and architecture bear striking similarities to the nearby Sambisari temple. And just like Sambisari, the temple compound is buried around 6 metres below the present surface, as the result of lava flow from the past eruption of Mount Merapi in the north.

The temple complex took form as a compound enclosed in stone walls, with some parts still buried underground. Within the enclosure, there are four temples; one main temple facing east, and three smaller ancillary temples (candi perwara) in front of the main temple on the eastern side in a row running north to south. The style and layout is quite similar to Sambiari temple, however Sambisari temple faces west, and is located around 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) to the southwest.^[21]

Museum in Surabaya, Indonesia. The House of Sampoerna is a tobacco museum and headquarters of Sampoerna located in Surabaya. The main building's architectural style influenced by Dutch colonial-style compound was built in 1862, and is now a preserved historical site. Previously used as an orphanage managed by the Dutch‚ it was purchased in 1932, by Liem Seeng Tee‚ the founder of Sampoerna‚ with the intent of it being used as Sampoerna's first major cigarette production facility. The compound consisted of a large central auditorium‚ two smaller buildings on the east and west sides and numerous large‚ single story‚ open-space structures behind the central auditorium. The side buildings were converted to family residences and the large warehouse-like structures were used to accommodate facilities for tobacco and clove processing‚ blending‚ hand-rolling and packaging‚ printing and finished goods processing. In commemoration of Sampoerna's 90th anniversary in 2003‚ the central complex has been painstakingly restored and is now open to public. The original central auditorium is now a museum and a shop. The east side has been transformed into a unique structure containing a café and an art gallery. The building on the west side remains the official family residence.^[23]

Museum in Kuta Selatan, Indonesia. Museum Pasifika is an art museum in Bali, Indonesia. It presents the Asian Pacific’s variety of cultural artefacts. The museum was founded in 2006 by Moetaryanto P and Philippe Augier, and designed Popo Danes.

The museum's collection includes more than 600 artworks by 200 artists from 25 countries. The museum has a number of galleries:

• Room I: Indonesian Artists
• Room II: Italian Artists in Indonesia
• Room III: Dutch Artists in Indonesia
• Room IV: French Artists in Indonesia
• Room V: Indo-European Artists in Indonesia
• Room VI: Temporary Exhibition
• Room VII: Artists on Indochina Peninsula: Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia
• Room VIII: Artists on Polynesia and Tahiti
• Room IX: Premier Art of Vanuatu and the Pacific Islands Paintings of Aloi Pilioko and Nicolai Michoutouchkine
• Room X: Tapa of Oceania and Pacific
• Room XI: Asia: Several artworks on Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar and the Philippines

Theme park in Makassar, Indonesia. Trans Studio is the world's third-largest indoor theme park, located in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The 20,000-square-metre, 20-metre high building houses the indoor theme park. Trans Studio is built on 12.7 ha with investment up to IDR 1 trillion. The indoor theme park was inaugurated by the Vice President of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, exactly on September 9, 2009. Trans Studio itself is a part of The Trans Studio World project, which will include Trans Walk and Rodeo Drive, Trans Studio, Trans hotels, and offices of Mega Bank. Under the management of PT. Trans Kalla, the Mega Development Project will provide an integrated development, comprising not only an indoor theme park, but also shopping mall, supermarket, hotel, office area, recreational beach area, and residential area. The whole project was scheduled to be completed sometime in 2010.^[28]

Beach in Indonesia. Dreamland Beach, now officially known as New Kuta Beach, is a beach located in Pecatu on the Bukit Peninsula on the island of Bali, Indonesia. A popular surfing beach, it was formerly secluded and had casual refreshment stands and inns. It has since become the beach of an extensive tourist development.

The beach, called Cimongka by the Balinese, was named Dreamland Beach by Australians. It was popular with surfers and also with nudists, and became the most popular beach in Pecatu. Starting in the 1980s, warungs (refreshment shacks) and cheap inns were built at the beach.

PT Bali Pecatu Graha, a company owned by Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of former Indonesian president Suharto, bought land including the beach in 1995 and the following year began development of the 400-hectare Pecatu Indah Resort; the beach was renamed New Kuta Beach and the resort eventually also became New Kuta Beach. Development was paused from 1998 to 2004 because of the Asian financial crisis and the 2002 Bali bombings; in the late 2000s, approximately 38 businesses were relocated from the beach to purpose-built shops.

The beach remains open to the public.^[33]

Museum in Indonesia. Museum Angkut is a transport museum located in Batu, East Java, Indonesia and located on hillside of Mount Panderman, part of Mount Kawi-Butak. The museum has more than 300 collections of types of traditional to modern transportation. The museum is divided into several zones decorated with the background of building models from the continents of Asia, Europe to America. Especially in the European Zone, its setting by 1800-1900s French-style with various vintage European cars. Museum Angkut is the first all type and mode of transportation museum in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

In addition to vintage cars, one of the newest transport collections is the Tucuxi electric car owned by former Indonesian minister of BUMN and owner of Jawa Pos Group, Dahlan Iskan who had previously had an accident on a road located on the slopes of Mount Lawu in Magetan when tested. In the museum, there is also a Flight Simulator vehicle located on the third floor of the main museum building.

Museum Angkut is owned and operated by Jawa Timur Park Group which also has Batu Secret Zoo, Batu Night Spectacular (BNS), Eco Green Park and Wildlife Museum. The museum was founded on 9 March 2014.^[34]

Buddhist temple in Ngawen, Indonesia. Ngawen is an 8th-century Buddhist temple compound in Magelang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. Located in Ngawen village, Muntilan sub-district, 6 km to the east of Mendut temple or 5 km to the south of Muntilan town center. Ngawen temple compound consists of five temples, however today only one is successfully reconstructed.

Ngawen is thought to be connected with the other three Buddhist temples nearby — Mendut, Pawon and Borobudur — all of which were built during the Sailendra dynasty (8th–9th centuries). According to the satellite map observation, the four temples; Borobudur, Pawon, Mendut and Ngawen are actually forming a straight line spanning west to east slightly tilted northeast with eastern end pointing to the peak of Mount Merapi. From the detail and style of its carving, this temple is estimated to be slightly older than Borobudur. The temple is notable for its exquisite statues of rampant lions on each corners of the temples. Since its discovery in 1874, the temple has suffered looting and artifact theft.^[36]

Baiturrahim Mosque is a mosque located in Ulee Lheue, Meuraksa sub-district, Aceh Province, Indonesia. As a legacy of the Sultan of Aceh in the 17th Century, it is one of the historical mosques in Indonesia. Back then the mosque was named Jami Ulee Lheu Mosque. In 1873, when the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque was burned by the Dutch, all the worshipers held a Friday prayer at Ulee Lheue. Since then the name of the mosque became Baiturrahim Mosque.

Since its establishment, the mosque has been restored several times. Initially the building was completely made out of wood, with a simple shape and was located next to the location of the present mosque. Because it was made out of wood, building did not last long as weathering had torn the building down. In 1922 the mosque was re-built with long-lasting material by the Government of Dutch East Indies with European architectural style. But this construction did not use iron or bone braces, and built with bricks and cement only.

In 1983, Banda Aceh was rocked by a devastating earthquake and it undermined the dome of the mosque. After that people rebuilt the mosque but they no longer installed the dome, thus replacing it with an ordinary roof. Ten years later, a massive renovation of the mosque was commenced, leaving the front part the only original part of the building. 60 percents of the remaining parts were renovated. Until today, the original part of the mosque still looks solid on the front.

On December 26, 2004, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami leveled the entire buildings around the mosque, thus made Baiturrahim Mosque the only surviving structure in the area. Condition of the part of the mosque which made of bricks only damaged about twenty percent, and the people of Aceh highly honored this mosque as a symbol of God's greatness.^[38]

Toll road in Indonesia. Bali Mandara Toll Road or Nusa Dua-Ngurah Rai-Benoa Toll Road is a toll road carried by a bridge stretching across the Gulf of Benoa 12.7 km in length. The Rp 2.48 Trillion highway connects the city of Denpasar and South Kuta, Badung Regency, Nusa Dua and Ngurah Rai International Airport. The reason behind construction of Bali Mandara Toll Road was to prevent traffic jams on the Ngurah Rai Bypass Road, previously the only road connecting areas of Bali south of the airport with areas north of the airport. The Ngurah Rai Bypass Road, a land-based route, could not be widened because of the location of the airport runway. Consequently, the Bali Mandara Toll Road was built over water.

Bali Mandara Toll Road began construction in March 2012 and was completed in October 2013. The road was officially opened on 23 September 2013 by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. At the 2013 APEC Summit in Bali, the toll road was passed by several state leaders.^[40]

Historic palace with exhibits and vendors. Maimoon Palace or Maimun Palace is an istana of the Sultanate of Deli and a well-known landmark in Medan, the capital city of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Today, it serves as a museum. The name is the Arabic word for "blessing".

Built by Sultan Ma'mun Al Rashid Perkasa Alamyah in years 1887–1891, the palace was designed by the Dutch architect Theodoor van Erp and covers 2,772 m² with a total of 30 rooms. The Palace has become a popular tourist destination in the city, not solely because of its historical heritage status, but also because of its unique interior design of the palace, combining elements of Malay cultural heritage, Islamic and Indian architecture, with Spanish and Italian furniture and fittings.

It is the last surviving Melayu palace, the rest having been destroyed in the 1946 social revolution. Nearby British troops protected it.^[44]

Sculpture in Indonesia. Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue is a 122-meter tall statue located in Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park, Bali, Indonesia. It was designed by Nyoman Nuarta and inaugurated in September 2018. The total height of the monument, including the 46-meter base pedestal is 122 m. The statue is about 30 m higher than the Statue of Liberty, but Liberty is tall and thin, while Garuda is almost as wide as it is high — its wingspan is 64 m. The statue was designed to be Indonesia’s tallest statue, and is inspired by a story that finds its roots in Hinduism about Garuda's search for Amrita, the elixir of life. According to this story, Garuda agreed to be ridden by Vishnu in return for the right to use the elixir to liberate his enslaved mother. The monument was completed on 31 July 2018 and inaugurated by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on 22 September, 2018.It is the tallest statue of a Hindu deity and the tallest statue in Indonesia.^[46]

Iconic building housing history exhibits. Fort Rotterdam is a 17th-century fort in Makassar on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is a Dutch fort built on top of an existing fort of the Gowa Kingdom. The first fort on the site was constructed by the a local sultan in around 1634, to counter Dutch encroachments. The site was ceded to the Dutch under the Treaty of Bongaya, and they completely rebuilt it between 1673 and 1679. It had six bastions and was surrounded by a seven meter high rampart and a two meter deep moat.

The fort was the Dutch regional military and governmental headquarters until the 1930s. It was extensively restored in the 1970s and is now a cultural and educational centre, a venue for music and dance events, and a tourist destination.^[48]