My Instagram feed seems to have been filled with beautiful photos of Indonesia lately.  Several of my favourite bloggers have been exploring the region as part of a press trip organised by Indonesia Travel.  It’s piqued my interest about a part of the world that I previously knew very little about.

Did you know that Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world? That it has the world’s largest Muslim population? That it’s made up of 922 permenantly inhabited islands? Or that more than 300 local languages are spoken there?

I’d also never heard of Bogor, despite it being Indonesia’s third largest city and the former capital of the Sunda Kingdom.

Bogor is just 43 kilometres from Jakarta, yet its elevation means that it offers a welcome respite from the heat and humidity of the country’s bustling capital city.  It’s also surrounded by terraced rice paddies, tea plantations, and tropical rainforests.

Here are three sights and activities I’m most excited to incorporate into my future visit to Bogor.

Kebun Raya Bogor (Bogor Botanical Gardens)

I love botanical gardens, and if I notice that a town or city I’m visiting has some close by, I’m immediately googling them and figuring out how to get there.  Those in Pisac, Peru, had the most impressive display of cacti, whilst those in Viñales, Cuba, were probably the most bizarre (dismembered dolls heads hung from trees like something out of a horror film).

Bogor’s botanical gardens cover an area of 210 acres and are home to over 15,000 species of flora.  Orchids are one of my favourite flowers so I was thrilled to discover that there’s an Orchidarium (area for breeding orchids) here as well as numerous glass houses containing approximately 500 species of orchid.

Photo by Victor Ulijn via Flickr

Bogor’s botanical gardens are the oldest in Southeast Asia and also the largest of their kind.  For that reason most people who come to Bogor come to see its botanical gardens.  If you’d like to stay close by, you can’t get much closer than Hotel Santika Bogor, located in Botanical Square, directly opposite the gardens.  For more information, click here.

Hiking in Mount Halimun Salak National Park

Due to its location, Bogor makes a perfect base for hiking in Mount Halimun Salak National Park – the largest area of true rainforest remaining on the island of Java.

There are gushing waterfalls and pristine rivers, and many endangered species of bird can be seen here, along with the West Javan Gibbon and the Javan Lutung.

Although the terrain can be challenging in parts, I reckon my hikes through the Picos de Europa mountain range and along the Inca Trail will stand me in pretty good stead.

Photo by Mohamad Zeina via Flickr

Taman Kencana and Suryakencana

On these two streets it’s all about the food!  Taman Kencana is the gastronomic and entertainment centre of Bogor and Suryakencana is Bogor’s Chinatown, and is a great place to pick up some authentic local eats and fantastic street food.

Indonesian cuisine is one of the most vibrant and colourful cuisines in the world and, as a result of the country’s huge variety of indigenous cultures, it’s also one of the most diverse.  I’m excited to try even a small selection of Indonesia’s 5350 traditional dishes!

Photo by LWYang via Flickr

Have you visited Bogor?  Where else should I add to my Indonesian bucket list?

**Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Traveloka but as always all content and opinions are my own.  All photos have been sourced from Flickr under their ‘commercial use allowed’ licence**