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| BATS is usually the best bar in Jakarta during Ramadhan. |
For those who don't want to wait until the end of Ramadan, you can still have some fun, but the atmosphere is different than usual. Each year, the government announces new rules concerning the opening/closure of entertainment venue: The more often, during the first 2 days following the beginning of ramadan, everything is closed and you should really avoid going out. After that, the nightlife start again slowly, with shorter opening hours, for the following venues:
- All the clubs, bars, karaokes, spas that are located inside "hotels". This is the reason why many clubs/massage parlours in Jakarta are calling themselves hotels: Alexis Hotel, Malioboro Hotel, Illigals Hotel, Classic Hotel, Fortune Hotel, Orchardz Hotel, Sun City hotel, Colosseum, Hotel Tematik, etc... All those venues will be open, but they shall not be very busy.
- All the bars in 4 or 5-star hotels, in particular:
- BATS in Hotel Shangri-La : I would say BATS is the best place to go in Jakarta during Ramadan as it will always be a bit crowded and you won't lose time going from one bar to another hoping to see one that's not closed.
- CJ's Club in Hotel Mulia would be my second best choice.
- 30 (Tiga Puluh) in Hotel Le Meridien
- Musro and Manhattan bar in Hotel Borobudur
- MO bar in Mandarin Oriental Hotel
- Burgundy in Hyatt Hotel
- Flirt in Fashion Hotel
- The Play Club in Hotel Alexis
- Club 36 in Hotel Jayakarta
- Blu Martini in Marriott
- Tempus in Ritz-Carlton
- Mille's Club in Lokasari (but apparently, the entrance is hidden so you need to know how to get in)
For all this places, it usually closes earlier than usual, not more than 2AM in any cases. They may also forbid electronic music, to allow only live bands. 2 days before the end of Ramadhan, the clubs should close again completely, and they may not reopen until a few days after Lebaran/Idul Fitri. The few venues that may still operating will not be very happening anyway as the city is deserted. On the contrary, nightlife in Bali is usually very busy during that time.
If you know of any venue not mentioned here, please comment.
- Important: On the 17th day of Ramadhan is Nuzulul Quran, the most religious day of the month. On that day, ALL bars and clubs will be closed.
- Last year, I have been to quite a few places during Ramadhan, and most of them were open and quite crowded. I guess things are much less strict that what they used to be. Golden Crown, Top Gun, Aphrodite, Hard Rock Café and Loewy in particular were all fine.