Top 3 places in Bogor (Indonesia)

The photo is the view of the Astrid Garden and a giant lily pond.

The Astrid Garden is my family's favorite place whenever we stop by at Bogor Botanical Gardens. We always pick a day between Monday - Friday as the place is quite crowded on week ends.

Bogor could be reached within 30 minutes driving from Jakarta via a toll road. Fast and convenient.

Whenever we run out of ideas and have to think hard to find a place to go to during the rest of the children's long vacation, Bogor becomes the easiest solution.

Tropical climate and the huge size of Bogor Botanical Gardens will certainly make you feel exhausted during your visit there.

Take a rest at Cafe de Daunan (daun = leaf) which serves popular meals in Indonesia. Here you can also enjoy the view of a giant lily pond as well as shade and gentle wind.

Recommended:
Fruit juice (various options of fresh fruit)
Oxtail soup with white rice
Fried Capcay (sauted vegetable) ...and many more

Open daily:
Sun - Fri: 10am - 10pm
Sat: 10am - 11pm

The Sundanese Kingdom (669 - 1579 AD) was once a great kingdom in west Java area. It reached its glory under the rule of Sri Baduga Maharaja (1482-1521). History shows that the initial formation of Bogor Botanical Gardens already existed at that time and was called Samida (= artificial forest or garden).

There were not only one samida, but two. One was created not far from the Kingdom's capital in Bogor and the other one was about 75 km away in an area between Bogor and Cianjur. Those Samidas were set up to protect rare species of wood.

During the Dutch colonialism period in Indonesia, one mansion was built in the location of each Samida as a country retreat for the Dutch Governors, including also during the period of British administration.

The Bogor mansion was built in 1744 and became the residence of Thomas Stamford Raffles in the early 1800. Assisted by W. Kent, who had taken a part in the creation of Kew Garden in London, Raffles turned the mansion yard into a traditional British style garden.

A botanical garden was officially opened in 1817 which covered 47 hectares land around the Bogor Mansion. Its name was 's Lands Plantentuin.

Today, Bogor Botanical Gardens cover about 80 hectares and have more than 15,000 species of trees and plants. Meanwhile, the Bogor mansion is now called Bogor Palace and included as one of 6 Presidential Palaces in Indonesia.

You could reach Bogor by car or bus fast and conveniently from Jakarta. It is only about 60km away and there is a a toll road connecting them.