Start with a visit to Monas, the National Monument built in the 1960s and 1970s to honor the Indonesian people’s fierce patriotism and strong commitment to freedom. The tower is 450ft (137m) tall and topped with a large bronze plate coated in 35 kilgrams of gold. The bottom of the monument is a museum, while the top has an observatory that offers an excellent view of the city.

More landmarks include the Taman Mini Indonesian Indah, or miniature park, which has cultural exhibits from each of Indonesia’s provinces. Don’t be fooled by the name—the park spans several hundred acres. Other museums are the Satria Mandala Museum, dedicated to the history of the armed forces, the Central Museum, which houses artifacts of Indonesian culture and history, the Museum Komodo, featuring large dioramas of regional wildlife, and the Jakarta Museum, home to the city’s large collection of maps and antiques from the 1700s, when the Dutch East India Company held significant sway over the islands.

A fun place to take children is the Ragunan zoo, which houses nearly 300 regional and exotic species. There is also the Taman Impian Jaya Ancol (also known as Ancol Dreamland), a 4-part amusement park with water rides, roller coasters and ferris wheels. There is a dolphin show in the Sea World section of the park.

Central Jakarta is the part of the city that caters most to tourists, with an abundance of hotels, restaurants, bars and stores.