Exploring Bogor, the Enchanting Rainy City

Bogor, known as Buitenzorg during the Dutch colonial era, which means “without anxiety” or “peaceful“, is famous as a rainy city due to its high rainfall, especially in January. It is located in the western part of Java Island, about 59 km south of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. If you come from Bandung it just takes 3 hours.

The history of Buitenzorg dates back to the early 5th century AD, during the Tarumanegara kingdom. Bogor was used as the center of the Sunda kingdom. With its strategic geographical location, fertile land, and ancient kingdom historical background, Bogor is also flanked by 5 mountains: Mount Gede, Mount Pangrango, Mount Salak, Mount Talimun, and Mount Kencana. This attracted the Dutch, English, and Japanese who once ruled Indonesia to develop the city, and even made it their resting place.

Exploring Bogor on a Budget

Since the leadership of Mayor Bima Arya, Bogor has undergone many changes and developments in all aspects. As a satellite city supporting the densely populated Jakarta, access to Bogor is very easy. Tourists can take a bus or train directly from Soekarno-Hatta Airport to Bogor.

Bogor City provides many choices of cheap public transportation. One that is recommended is Uncal (Unforgetable City Tour at Loveable City), the meaning of Uncal (Sundanese) actually is “deer” in Sundanese. Uncal operates every Saturday, Sunday, and national holidays. The operational schedule is: daytime (8:00-15:00) and night time (18:30-20:00).

However, due to the limited number of vehicles and high demand, Mr. Mujiono, one of the Uncal drivers, recommends booking a place 1 week before the tour schedule.

Each registration form can only be filled for a maximum of 10 people. If the number of your tour members reaches 20 people, you must register twice on the form. If the quota of 20 people is reached, you can rent Uncal according to the route you want by following the operational hours.

Tourists can use this service at the Bogor City Hall, which is located near the Parawira Museum and the Bogor Botanical Gardens. Uncal reservations can be made through the Instagram account @uncal.bogor.

Interesting Tourist Destinations in Bogor

Museum Bumi Parawira

The Bumi Parawita Gallery is highly recommended as the first destination for your tour in Bogor. Here, you can learn about the history of Bogor city through various complete facilities, such as an auditorium, cinema, library, art gallery, and community gathering room. The museum is open from 10:00-15:00 every day.

The Gallery of Bumi Parawira presents the stories of leaders in the city from the era of the Pajajaran Kingdom to the present day. Throughout its journey, Bogor has consistently been chosen as the seat of power and the capital of past kingdoms. Order the ticket for free here

Kebun Raya Bogor

Kebun Raya or the Botanical Gardens is a must-visit, with an area of 87 hectares and 15,000 types of plant collections. It has main attractions such as the Rafflesia flower, the tallest tree in Southeast Asia (Pohon Raja), and various interesting flora and fauna collections. Entrance ticket: Rp 16,500 (weekdays) and Rp 26,500 (weekends) for domestic tourists; Rp 26,500 (weekdays) and Rp 50,500 (weekends) for foreign tourists.

Kebun Raya was originally an artificial forest created by Prabu Siliwangi, the leader of the Tarumanegara kingdom in 1474 AD. After Prabu Siliwangi died, the Botanical Gardens were abs was a botanist. With the help of his colleagues, he developed the Kebun Raya.

One of the main attractions of the Kebun Raya is the corpse flower (Amorphophalus titanium), so called because when it blooms, it emits a strong stench of carrion. This flower only blooms every 4 years, and only blooms for 5 days. This flower is also sometimes called the Raffles flower.

In addition, at the Botanical Gardens, tourists can find the tallest tree in Southeast Asia. This tree is known as the “Pohon Raja” (Koompassia excels). This tree is found in many places in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. With a height of more than 80 meters, this tree has very large roots.

For those of you who love jogging or walking. You can go around the outside of Kebun Raya without entering the tourist area. The local government has prepared facilities for the public to exercise around the Botanical Gardens. The circumference of the outer ring of the Botanical Gardens is about 4 km.

To order entrance tickets to the Botanical Gardens, please visit the Kebun Raya’s website.

Suryakencana Culinary Tour

Here you can find various local delicacies & specialties such as soto santan, soto mie, fried bean sprouts, laksa, and many other snacks. This area is a Chinatown and is quite crowded on weekends.

Tips for Touring the City

• Make careful planning, especially on weekends and national holidays.
• Morning is the best time to start a tour.
• Prepare an umbrella or raincoat because it’s rainy city if you are touring during the rainy season.
• The cost incurred by tourists for Uncal and Museum Parawira tours is a voluntary fee. In comparison, if you use it for your tour group only, you only need to give Rp 200,000 to the Uncal driver.

In addition to the places mentioned in the article, there are many other tourist destinations in Buitenzorg that are worth visiting.

These include Taman Safari Indonesia, a zoo that is home to a variety of animals from all over the world; Puncak, a mountain resort town located about 20 km from the city center that is known for its cool climate, beautiful scenery, and many tea plantations; Prasasti Batu Tulis, a 4th-century inscription that is one of the oldest surviving examples of written Sundanese; and the many beautiful mountains that surround Bogor, such as Mount Gede Pangrango and Mount Salak.

Happy exploring!