Old Banten

Banten Lama was the capital of the Banten sultanate, which controlled the pepper trade through the Sunda Strait from the sixteenth century and was for a period one of the largest and richest ports in Southeast Asia, receiving Chinese, Indian, Arab, Portuguese, English and Dutch traders. The Dutch destroyed the palace in 1808 and the site declined into fields. What remains is substantial but ruinous: the Great Mosque of Banten with a stepped roof and a minaret built by a European convert in a form that belongs to no local tradition, the Surosowan palace as a walled foundation plan, the Kaibon palace ruins, a Dutch fort, a Chinese temple still in use, and a museum with finds. The Great Mosque is a major pilgrimage destination, which keeps the site busy.

What you actually see

• The Great Mosque and its minaret - the stepped roof and the European-designed tower.
• Surosowan palace - the walled foundation plan of the destroyed royal compound.
• Kaibon ruins and a Dutch fort - the later phases of the sultanate and its fall.
• A working Chinese temple - Vihara Avalokitesvara, from the port's trading past.

When to go

May to September. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Pilgrimage traffic to the mosque is heavy and the surroundings are commercialised with stalls and vendors. Most of the site is foundations, not standing buildings. It is hot and shadeless.

Nearby

Serang is south; Jakarta is about two hours east.