🇮🇩Halal Travel Guide to Indonesia

Capacity 200,000, opened 1978, and designed by Friedrich Silaban - a Christian architect chosen by open competition, which Indonesians still cite as the point. Free guided tours for visitors daily; robes provided.

Deliberately built with no dome, no minaret and no drum - a modernist argument that none of these are religiously required. In Menteng, near the old port.

The sultan's mosque on the north square of the Kraton, with a three-tiered joglo roof, wooden pillars and a raised platform for the court. The clearest example of Javanese mosque architecture.

Founded in the 15th century by the Walisongo, with one of its four main pillars said to be assembled from wood chips by Sunan Kalijaga. The origin point of Islam in Java.

Its minaret is a red-brick Hindu-Javanese temple tower, built that way in 1549 by Sunan Kudus to make the new religion legible to a Hindu population. Cattle slaughter is still avoided in the town out of respect.

Six hydraulic umbrellas in the courtyard, opening like the ones at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, plus an observation tower with a view to the sea.

Black domes and white walls, built by the Dutch in 1881 to replace the sultanate mosque they had burned. It stood through the 2004 tsunami and sheltered survivors; the city rebuilt around it.

A roof shaped like the horned Minangkabau rumah gadang rather than a dome, and engineered as a tsunami evacuation shelter. One of the most original mosque designs anywhere.

Lombok's landmark mosque, finished in 2016, with a 114-metre minaret you can ride a lift up for a panorama of the island.

A tiny bamboo-and-thatch mosque on a stone platform, the oldest on Lombok and still standing. Associated with Wetu Telu, Lombok's syncretic local tradition.

Built in the form of a Chinese temple, honouring the Ming admiral Zheng He, a Muslim, whose voyages brought Islam along the trade routes. Red, gold and unmistakable.

On the central alun-alun square with a lawn of artificial grass where families sit all evening, and two towers you can climb for a view of the city bowl.

Historic Qur'an manuscripts from across the archipelago and the Mushaf Istiqlal, a monumental hand-illuminated Qur'an decorated with motifs from all of Indonesia's regions.

The oldest mosque in Surabaya, at the centre of an Arab quarter of date sellers, prayer-bead stalls and Yemeni coffee. Pilgrims arrive by the busload; go early.

Not an Islamic site, but the largest Buddhist monument in the world and the single most impressive thing in Indonesia. Built around 800 CE and rediscovered under volcanic ash.

A powerful building about the 2004 disaster, which killed over 160,000 people in Aceh alone, and about the peace agreement that followed it.

A park of full-scale pavilions for all 38 provinces, with the Qur'an museum on site. Dated in places but an efficient way to see the range of the archipelago in an afternoon.

A long-running halal-certified chain doing well-executed Indonesian classics in a comfortable setting. The safe, air-conditioned first meal after landing.

The best-known Padang chain in the country, with branches in nearly every city including Bali. Reliable rendang and gulai, and open late.

Jakarta's classic beef and coconut-milk soto, served since the 1940s. Rich enough to count as two meals.

Certified noodle chain - useful because Chinese-Indonesian noodle shops are otherwise the one category to be careful with.

The name in gudeg since 1951, with several branches around the city. Order it with krecek and a hard-boiled egg; go for breakfast.

Mutton grilled on iron bicycle spokes so the metal conducts heat into the meat - a Yogya-only technique. Twenty minutes south of the city, busy every night.

Theatrical Javanese restaurant with gamelan, jamu herbal drinks and a wildly eccentric interior. Open around the clock and popular with families.

Unfussy Javanese home cooking near Malioboro - ayam goreng, sayur lodeh, sambal. The kind of place locals actually eat at.

Ayam taliwang and plecing kangkung, Lombok's two signature dishes, done properly. The chilli level is not negotiable.

A Lombok institution on the road between the airport and Kuta - shredded spiced chicken, dried squid and a great deal of chilli, wrapped in banana leaf.

Padang food chain with halal-certified branches in Bali - the most dependable answer to the Bali food problem, and open late.

Muslim-owned, open 24 hours, a queue at all times, and famously hot. The default late-night meal in Kuta.

Several small Javanese Muslim-run warungs along the Kuta and Legian roads - ayam penyet, nasi campur, bakso. Look for the green 'Warung Muslim' sign.

Acehnese seafood and the local mie Aceh, a thick spiced noodle dish with crab or prawn. Aceh is alcohol-free province-wide.

Central, on the MRT, walkable to Istiqlal and the museums, and full of halal restaurants. Far better placed than the airport hotels.

The best-known Shariah-certified hotel chain in Indonesia - alcohol-free, prayer facilities, unmarried couples not accommodated. Modest but well located.

Guesthouse district south of the Kraton - quiet, leafy, cheap, and a short ride from Malioboro. Better than staying on the main tourist strip.

Right on the action and walkable to the Kraton and the royal mosque, at the cost of noise. Good for a short stay.

The south coast beach base, with a growing cluster of hotels around the Mandalika circuit and easy access to the best bays. Alcohol is available but low-key.

The older resort strip, convenient for Mataram and the Gili boats, with sunset views to Bali's Mount Agung.

The balance between the party of Gili Trawangan and the emptiness of Gili Meno - a local Sasak population, a mosque, no cars, and good snorkelling straight off the beach.