Taman Mini Indonesia Indah: Visit All Parts Of Indonesia In Just 1 Day

Promoting Indonesia’s diversity

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah is a 150 hectare (370.66 acres) cultural park, founded in 1975 by former Indonesian first lady, Tien Suharto, for the purpose of promoting Indonesia’s rich cultural diversity to the world. This park is so huge that it will take you all day to explore. What can we see inside this humongous park? Read on and you will be amazed!

An aerial view of Indonesia on a lake

The Indonesian archipelago, which is known as ‘the emerald of the equator,’ has 13,466 islands. This makes Indonesia the world’s largest archipelagic country. It’s not an exaggeration for this archipelago to have such a beautiful nickname because Indonesia has the largest tropical forest areas, which means most of its islands are green when seen from the sky. This greenness is well represented on maps, including what you will find at Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park.

You will find a map in the middle of the park, however, it is not a regular one. It is a giant replica of the Indonesian archipelago on a man-made lake, where every island can be found on the lake’s surface. You can see parts of the replica from land, but to have a better view of it, you can ride a cable car, from where you will travel across this huge park and see all parts of the replica archipelago from above.

The unique traditional houses

1/2 taman mini indonesia indah: visit all parts of indonesia in just 1 day | the unique traditional houses

2/2 Batak House #2

There are more than 300 different ethnic groups in Indonesia and many of them are culturally represented in this park, based on the provinces where they come from; from Aceh in the west to Papua in the east. What is so good about it? Well, most visitors don’t have the time to travel all over this vast country, but amazingly, here you can explore the country in just 1 day!

There are 34 cultural pavilions (or ‘anjungan’ in Indonesian), and each of them represents the cultures of ethnic groups in Indonesia. Besides the well-known, unique building exterior and interior architectures (e.g., the thatched roofs of Papuan houses and the pointed roof tips of Minang houses in Sumatra), you will also find unique traditional clothes and cooking utensils, such as ‘kebaya’ (combination of long-sleeved blouse and long skirt with flowery motifs, often worn by females in Java and Bali), and the grinding tool made of stone named ‘cobek.’ You can buy several of these unique goods from the souvenir shop in each pavilion.

Also, in each pavilion, there is a stage where live ethnic performances of traditional ceremonies and dances, such as the graceful Balinese dance and the dead ceremony of the Torajan (from Sulawesi) people, showing at different times throughout the week.

Religious buildings

Indonesia’s national motto, ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika,’ which means ‘diverse but united,’ is appropriate as this country has become one of the most tolerant of religious diversity in the world. People of different religions live together peacefully. It’s not uncommon to see several different religious buildings in the same neighborhood and this is what this park tries to replicate. There is a mosque, 2 churches (Protestant and Catholic), a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple located side by side. Indeed, tolerance is beautiful.

Many more kid-friendly attractions

The park has many other attractions, especially for kids. There is a waterpark named ‘Snowbay’ where you and your kids can play on many kinds of water rides. For example, you can relax on Typhoon River, where you will drift slowly along the pool, or you can try a challenging ride, like Tube Coaster, where you will slide through a tunnel from the height of several meters down to the pool.

There are also educational attractions, such as ‘Keong Mas,’ which is a cinema where the building looks like a giant golden snail, that plays films about Indonesian ethnic groups and their cultures. You’ll also find a transport museum, where you will see collections of vehicles from around the world, including the Indonesian ‘becak,’ which is a the human-pedaled tricycle taxi, and the wooden horse carriage called ‘dokar.’

Your kids will also love the Children Palace (or ‘Istana Anak;), a building resembling the iconic building of Walt Disney, where they can learn about Javanese puppets, ‘wayang,’ and traditional Indonesian musical instruments such as the tambourine (gendang).