The reason to visit Bogor
Published/Last edited on 23rd January, 2018.
In the centre of Bogor’s mass of humanity, traffic and chaos, the extensive and beautiful Bogor Botanical Gardens (Kebun Raya Bogor) is not only a respite from the three-ringed-circus, it is one of Asia’s oldest and most magnificent formal gardens and the primary reason to visit the city.
Established in the early 19th century, the 87-hectare site showcases a vast collection of plants including majestic 200-year-old trees and rare orchids, the Istana Bogor (presidential palace), guesthouses and cafes, a zoology museum, Dutch cemetery and research centres. This is one of the world’s great gardens and one of Indonesia’s major attractions—if you have even a passing interest in botany or just enjoy a bit of nature, it is well worth the trip to Bogor.
The area was possibly a formal garden of sorts during the late-15th-early-16th-century Sundanese Parajaran Kingdom. In the mid-18th century Buitenzorg, a temperate climate hill retreat for steamy Batavia’s (Jakarta) VOC Dutch Governors was built on the site, and the area surrounding more formally landscaped as a European-style garden by Stamford Raffles when as the British Lieutenant-Governor of Java, he resided there in what is now the Istana Bogor. A memorial to Raffles first wife, Olivia Mariamne Raffles, who died here on November 26, 1814 can be found within the gardens. The idea of a botanical gardens to study the flora of the region with a view to determining their scientific and commercial value was later raised by the Dutch and the garden officially founded on ... Travelfish members only (Full text is around 700 words.)
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Address: Downtown Bogor
Coordinates (for GPS): 106º47'53.34" E, 6º35'51.2" S
See position in Apple or Google Maps: Apple Maps | Google Maps
Admission: 25,000 rupiah for foreign tourists and 14,000 rupiah for Indonesians
Reviewed by
Sally Arnold
Sally spent twelve years leading tourists around Indonesia and Malaysia where she collected a lot of stuff. She once carried a 40kg rug overland across Java. Her house has been described as a cross between a museum and a library. Fuelled by coffee, she can often be found riding her bike or petting stray cats. Sally believes travel is the key to world peace.