What's a good 3-day itinerary for Jakarta?

Jakarta's traffic can eat 3 hours of your day. One neighborhood per day solves this. Day 1 stays in Kota Tua and adjacent Glodok. Start at the Jakarta History Museum by 8:30 AM, while the Fatahillah Square cobblestones are still cool under your feet. The museum takes 45 minutes. Walk south into Glodok by 10 AM for dim sum at Pantjoran Tea House on Gang Gloria. The pork bao cost around 15,000 IDR each and the black tea comes in a heavy ceramic pot. September heat sits around 33°C and feels closer to 38°C with the humidity, so retreat into Ragusa Es Italia on Jalan Veteran by noon. The parlor opened in 1932 and still scoops durian gelato for 25,000 IDR. Walk north to Sunda Kelapa harbour at 3 PM. Makassar pinisi schooners line the dock, and the air smells of dried fish and tar. Cafe Batavia on Fatahillah Square serves sunset beers for 85,000 IDR. About 5 km of walking for the day.

Day 2 moves to Central Jakarta. Monas, the 132-metre National Monument opened to the public in 1975, starts taking visitors at 8 AM. Arrive by 7:45 to queue for the elevator to the gold-flame observation deck at 115 metres. Budget 90 minutes. Cross Merdeka Square west to the National Museum of Indonesia, founded in 1778. The Hindu-Buddhist bronze collection on the ground floor is the strongest in Southeast Asia. Upstairs, the ethnographic wing holds Dayak textiles and Torajan funeral effigies and tends to sit empty on weekends. Lunch at Soto Betawi H. Husein in Kebon Sirih, a 10-minute Grab ride east. The coconut-milk beef soup runs 35,000 IDR and arrives with a saucer of emping crackers that taste faintly of bitter melon. Spend the afternoon in Menteng, where rain trees throw heavy shade and the hum of cicadas drowns out the motorbikes one block over. Dinner at Lara Djonggrang on Jalan Teuku Cik Ditiro. The Javanese rijsttafel runs about 250,000 IDR per person in a dining room filled with carved stone figures lit in amber. About 7 km of walking plus two short Grab rides.

Day 3 heads south and east. Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, opened the same year as the monument across town, covers 150 hectares in Cipayung. Take a Grab at 8 AM before the school groups arrive around 9:30. The park holds 27 full-scale provincial pavilions. The Javanese joglo and the Minangkabau rumah gadang are worth your time. Skip the rest unless Papuan longhouses hold specific appeal. The aerial gondola across the park's lake costs 30,000 IDR and takes 15 minutes. At 50 metres up, the traffic noise drops and you can hear gamelan drifting from the speakers below. Budget 3 hours. Head to Kemang in South Jakarta by noon. Lunch at Sate Khas Senayan on Jalan Kemang Raya, where 10 skewers of sate ayam with thick peanut sauce and lontong rice cakes run 75,000 IDR. Small galleries and warung coffee shops line Jalan Kemang Selatan, and the foot traffic is lighter than anything north of the Semanggi interchange. End at Eastern Promise for a 55,000 IDR pint of Bintang. About 4 km of walking plus Grab rides totalling 35 km.

Getting around Jakarta means TransJakarta BRT at 3,500 IDR flat fare and the MRT running north-south from Lebak Bulus to Bundaran HI. Grab and Gojek handle longer hops. A 10 km ride costs around 35,000 IDR. Avoid the MRT between 7 and 9 AM, when the cars pack tight enough that the 24°C air conditioning barely registers against the body heat. A 10 AM departure gives you a seat and breathing room. Jakarta sidewalks along roads like Jalan Sudirman vanish into motorbike parking without warning. Open drainage grates are a genuine ankle risk after dark. Mind you, Menteng and Kemang have better sidewalks than most of the city. Keep walks to 500-metre stretches between specific stops and ride Grab for the rest. Carry 50,000 and 20,000 IDR notes for street food stalls in Glodok and Kebon Sirih. Restaurants in Menteng and Kemang take cards. Download Grab before you land at Soekarno-Hatta Terminal 3. The taxi queue can run 45 minutes. The Grab pickup area moves in 10.