Bogor Botanical Garden

Bogor botanical garden is the first botanical garden in Indonesia. It conveniently lies in the heart of Bogor. People love to spend a day here exploring the many manicured gardens and going for a picnic. You can learn a lot about flora since it is the center of botanical research with massive plant collections from all over Indonesia. You also can learn about fauna in the zoology museum inside this park.

Bogor Botanical Garden – the view of Astrid Garden from the Oil Palm Monument.

Bogor Botanical Garden used to allow visitors to drive their cars or motorcycles inside the park on weekdays. However, under the new guidance in 2023, all visitors must park their vehicles in the designated parking areas near the exits. From there, you can explore the park by foot, buy a shuttle bus ticket, or rent a bicycle, an electric scooter, or a golf car.

You will see the whole botanical garden in the least amount of time by taking the shuttle bus because it will go on one trip circling the park non-stop with the information from the driver – doubling as a guide – about the plants and gardens you see along the way. On the other hand, Bogor Botanical Garden has many walking paths made of cobblestones that can only be explored on foot. Lost yourself under the canopy of giant old trees and dream of exploring a jungle instead of walking in the middle of the city. Then suddenly, you will reach manicured gardens, such as Teisjmann, Sudjana Kassan, Mexican, and Aquatic Garden. Things are looking good, except when it suddenly rains, which is common in Bogor! The bad news is shelters are rare here. So, do not forget to bring an umbrella or a raincoat with you :)

Giant waterlilies with its white and pink flowers in Bogor Botanical Garden.

Bogor Botanical Garden is famous for its giant waterlily (Victoria amazonica or Nymphaeaceae). Originally from the Amazon, this giant waterlily has enormous circle leaves. Since it blooms at night, its nickname is "The Queen of The Night." During its short lifecycle, this flower can change from a white female flower to a pink male flower.

The famous Astrid Boulevard was built in 1929 to welcome Queen Astrid from Belgium.

Bogor Botanical Garden is also famous for its massive lawns. People love to have picnics and gathering here. The popular ones are Cappelen, Melchior, Reinwardt, and Otto Avenue. They are close to Astrid Garden and Boulevard, where the Giant Waterlily pond and Raasaa Restaurant are located.

Astrid Garden and Boulevard was built in 1929 to welcome Queen Astrid from Belgium. They look different than the rest of the botanical garden. First, its location is on the other side of the river. So, between these two sides of the bridge, one looks like a rainforest, while the other looks like a palace garden. It looks grander, with tall pine trees on each side of the boulevard, and the separation is filled with red and yellow flowers that blossom all year long. These red and yellow flowers represent the Belgian flag.

Zoology Museum in Bogor Botanical Garden

The blue whale exhibit in Zoology Museum Bogor.

Ticket:

Mon-Fri: Rp.15,000

Sat-Sun: Rp.25,000

Although the Zoology Museum in Bogor Botanical Garden has good collections, the display rooms are musty and dark, while the preserved animals are dusty. The only highlight of this museum is the skeleton of a blue whale. The whale washed ashore on Pameungpeuk beach, Garut, in December 1916. Since it was 27.25 meters long, the bones weighed 64 tons. It took forty-four days to transport these bones from Pameungpeuk beach to Bogor (approx. 300 km). The blue whale became the most famous exhibit in the Zoology Museum since then.

Besides these famous and historical spots, Bogor Botanical Garden has many other gardens. Most of them are clustered according to their functions or species.

Gardens in Bogor Botanical Garden

Kolam Gunting (Scissor Lake in English) got its name due to its shape. Unfortunately, you can only see the shape of the scissor from above (but flying a drone is forbidden in this area) or look at the map. It is a famous spot in Bogor Botanical Garden because it serves as the border; between the presidential palace and Bogor Botanical Garden. Here you can see and take pictures of the iconic backside of the Bogor Presidential Palace with waterlilies in the foreground. From the botanist's point of view, this lake is an ecosystem, a home for various water plants and freshwater fishes. Plus, the tiny island in the middle of this lake is home to many species of birds.

Kolam Gunting (Scissor lake) with the iconic view of Bogor Presidential Palace.

The other end of Kolam Gunting (Scissor lake) with a bridge to the tiny island.

Dr. Melchior Treub built Teisjmann Garden in 1884 as a homage to Johannes Elias Teisjmann. They keep the structure of a symmetrical European garden, but it is no longer a rose garden.

People love to picnic on the lawn of the Teisjman Garden.

Mexican garden showcases many species of succulents, including cacti. Most of the plants come from Central and South America.

Griya Anggrek (Orchid House in English) is a greenhouse for orchids, both hybrid (the orchids sold by commercial nurseries) and indigenous orchids (Indonesian often call them anggrek species). Compared with the hybrid orchids, the indigenous orchids have sweeter fragrant and are smaller. Too bad very few orchids are blooming during our visit in March 2023. This orchid house has expanded into two massive buildings made of glass in the back. We couldn't get access, but from the outside, the orchids don't have any flowers. Actually, Bogor Botanical Garden has more than one orchid conservatory. In addition to Griya Anggrek, you also can see black orchids (Coelogyne Pandurata) and Grammatophyllum at Taman Anggrek Hitam (Black Orchid Garden in English) and see giant orchids in the Orchidarium inside Taman Obat (Herbal garden in English).

Nephenthes garden, a conservatory for seven species of Nepenthes (Kantong Semar in Bahasa Indonesia).

The Aquatic garden has several ponds to showcase various water plants that live along the shore (emergent plants), float on the surface, and submerge.

Bogor Botanical Garden also has several orchards that exhibit the commodity plants from Indonesia, such as coffee, durian, bamboo, and oil palm trees.

Tired of walking and playing in Bogor Botanical Garden? It's time for downtime :) It is a popular place for a picnic. Usually, large groups or families bring their own food and mats and set up their picnics on any available lawn. Alternatively, you can buy refreshments from the food carts at the end of Kolam Gunting. If you want someplace more comfortable, try Raasaa Restaurant in front of Astrid Garden (the restaurant has its own entrance gate – Gate 4) or Olive Store and Secret Garden near Gate 1.

History of Bogor Botanical Garden

Initially, the Bogor Botanical Garden was a forest built by the Kingdom of Sunda (1474-1513). Its function was to retain and breed rare woods.

Raffles, a British Governor General (1811-1816) who lived in Bogor Palace, started to create an English garden in the backyard of this palace, which became the starting point of the current botanical garden. On May 18, 1817, Governor General Van der Capellen consented to open a botanical garden named Slands Plantentiun te Buitenzorg in this area. The first chief of this garden was Reinwardt, a German botanist who migrated to Dutch. He was also the founder of Herbarium Bogoriense. One hundred and eighty-nine years later (2006), his services are commemorated by placing a monument in front of the lake facing Bogor Presidential Palace.

Today Bogor Botanical Garden has become the center of botanical research in Indonesia. It has a massive collection of plants from all over the country, such as collections of palm trees, bamboo, orchids, cacti, and many more. It is also a home for various birds, insects, and bats.

Do you know?

Ciliwung river runs through Bogor Botanical Garden.

Ciliwung river runs through Bogor Botanical Garden and divides it into two parts. Several bridges connect both sides of the garden. Standing in the middle of one of the bridges, here is the view of the river on a rainy day.

How to Go to Bogor Botanical Garden

Tap/click the map to go to google map and get directions to Bogor Botanical Garden.

Addressed at Jalan Ir. H. Juanda no. 13, Bogor Botanical Garden is easily reached by private vehicles and public transportation. Although it has four gates, visitors can only use two – Gate 1 at Oto Iskandar Dinata street and Gate 3 at Pajajaran street. Gate 4 is closed, while Gate 2 is reserved for entrance to Bogor Presidential Palace.

I used to prefer to drive my car when I explored Bogor Botanical Garden on weekdays because I could ride around and park it wherever I wanted to. But now I think the Commuter Line train is a much-preferred mode of transportation. For one, the train ticket is much cheaper than the parking ticket inside the park. Second, the train station is less than two kilometers from the botanical garden. Third, you will not get stuck in the heavy traffic between Bogor and Jakarta. Once in Bogor, you can easily hail an app-based taxi, either car or motorcycle (Gojek or Grab).