Cibodas Travel Guide
Cibodas lies between Bogor and Bandung to the southeast of Jakarta in West Java. It is a botanical garden high up on the slopes of Mount Gede and is also the gateway to Gede-Pangrango National Park.
- What is It?
- Cibodas is a botanical garden in West Java.
- When to Go
- It is cool any time of year, but the best time is just after the wet season in late April/May.
- Nearest Town
- Cianjur, 23kms to the southeast, with the main town of Bogor lying 40kms to the northwest.
- Don't Miss
- the striking glasshouse and its massive collection of plants and trees.
- Trivia
- Cibodas was the first place that Cinchona trees were grown in Indonesia for their health-giving, quinine-rich bark.
Cibodas Botanical Gardens (Kebun Raya Cibodas) is the main highlight of Cibodas; a 125-hectare garden featuring thousands of specimens across hundreds of species. The Glasshouse collection alone has 4,000 items across 350 species of plants and trees. The gardens are located at around 1,200m above sea level on the slopes of the volcanic Mount Gede, meaning cool temperatures for much of the year.
Dutch botanist Johannes Elias Teysjmann founded Cibodas Botanical Gardens back in 1862 as an offshoot of the resplendent Bogor Botanical Gardens. The gorgeous mountain panorama was the reason for the setting which comes with mountains, streams, waterfalls and lakes.
Although the botanical gardens are the main highlight of a visit to Cibodas, many visitors also primarily come for the hiking in the nearby Gede-Pangrango National Park, as well as on mounts Gede and Pangrango.
Travel to Cibodas - Getting There
Cibodas is a few kilometers off the Jalan Ray Cipanas highway, lying between Bogor and Cianjur. Direct access is provided from Jakarta (100kms) via toll way for the most part. Soekarno Hatta International Airport to the west of Jakarta is the nearest major airport, a 3-hour bus ride away.
