Tourists always stay around the Bundaran HI area in Central Jakarta, as it covers all your needs. There are more fancy places just south by MRT, attractions up north by busway, and key transport like the airport rail link and the LRT that'll bring you to the high speed rail station that goes to Bandung. The SCBD area where this hotel is located is a high-end district with good nightlife easily accessible by foot, but it's not touristy. I don't recommend anywhere else to stay unless you're travelling for business or situational reasons such as moving to Jakarta, where you want to be near the areas you expect to frequent.
@@archingelusagree. Normally they put the apartments and the penthouse at the upper part and top of the building. But here the hotel is above the apartments.
I think the best hotel in Jakarta is the Dharmawangsa Hotel. It's unique in terms of vibe and design. Especially against all other 5 stars hotel in jakarta that are just westernised
Mind boggling to realise Jakarta is sinking and they have started building a new capital city called Nusantra on Kalimantan Island. Always have been fascinated by the Dutch heritage still visible in parts of Jakarta. Thank you for your Indonesia content, a country just like Japan, close to my ♥️🙏🏼
While I agree that the outdoor pool is underwhelming, and it doesn’t really have bar service at the outdoor pool, I must say that the property is stunning and I thought it brought out the branding of Langham really well. The toiletries are branded Langham, but supplied by local high end organic natural body care producer. The best thing about Langham is its location and its F&B concepts. It has great views and it’s very convenient place for meetings and is close to most of the business hubs/finance in Jakarta, while also offering in my opinion is the most comprehensive and thought out food offerings in Jakarta hotels. While Park Hyatt room and style is great, its location and food is meh. You got it spot on with FS and Raffles.
Interesting review. I’m currently at Raffles Jakarta and a few weeks ago I was at the Park Hyatt Jakarta - partly thanks to your previous reviews. Both are amazing hotels though I think I prefer the bar/dining options at the Park Hyatt. Anyway looks like I made the right choices even though I was considering the Langham. Next time maybe the Ritz Carlton though to be honest, though these hotels are amazing (and 3-5x cheaper than their London or NYC equivalents) I’m not too keen on spending much time in this chaotic rather unattractive city.
I will recommend either stay around Sudirman or Bundaran HI because only those 2 area have good public transportation to go to most places in jakarta. Do not stay at north Jakarta or even east jakarta because the public spaces is very bad and have very poor public transport compare to central jakarta and South Jakarta. Not to mention North and East Jakarta don't even have a simple save to use pavement (side walk) at most places, only certain area is pedestrian friendly and definitely avoid area near Toll road in Jakarta.
Ngl before these videos I thought Indonesia was just a cheap tourist destination, only “ok” 4 star hotels and nothing luxurious but these videos completely changed my mind
Actually, there a lot more lux (or even ultra) hotel & resort there. One of the examples is hotel from Aman group, such as Amanjiwo and Amankila with the price for basic room is over 1,500 dollar per night. Not to mention other lux hotel & resort in private/remote island.
Oooo bonus video this week! This looks to me like new money trying to emulate old money, and yowza that floor tile pattern at 18:28. That thing is definitely not pointing to the left. (This not me being a conspiracist but rather a "... could they just not?")
I spent 2 nights there a couple of months ago. Great hotel, but lousy for smokers though. Quite a hassle to have a smoke. Either you go all the way down, or go to the bar on the top floor, which you wont be able to resist yourself to order something😂 and spend some money. Greaat view btw.
I've stayed at the original 1865 Langham in London. It was OK, wouldn't rave about it. But in London, it's location. location, location baby. On the same holiday I stayed at The Vancouver in...Vancouver and I thought that was amazing.
judging from the design, I can tell the Langham Jakarta caters more to business traveller not the leisure traveller. Not a Bali-style resort indeed. I was quite surprised, you mentioned some Jakarta hotels have resort-like ambience. Because, I thought most of the luxury hotels in Jakarta looks something like this Langham… The difference is the time when they were get built, thus the newer ones always look better. To me, business travellers hotel just a race to build the newer and better ones, they are unlike leisure resort with lasting experience though.
Hi, Kevin. They just announced "the 50 Best Hotel in the world" list, will you review some of them in the future? Especially, lots of them are from Asia.
The best place to stay in jakarta as a tourist on holidays is anywhere but jakarta. Go to bali bandung jogja for a holiday. This is coming from an aussie whose wife is from jakarta who has done numerous visits to the city. If you want the busy city with a good dose of multi cultural flavour and less traffic and better accessibility and cheaper food go to KL. The only thing good and cheap about jkt is the people......
@tfft in all honesty though I would stay in PIK 2 or PIK area as a tourist simply because the roads are wider there with better road access to cafes and restaurants. More importantly the sidewalks arent jammed with vendors blocking the footpath and as such is a little more pedestrian friendly (jakarta standards) . Theres a bit of a nightlife and best of all less traffic than the jakarta central area
This hotel has taken sleek and chic beyond.I think it needs to bring itself down a tad and, considering the rich and diverse cultural heritage Indonesia has, it's a pity none of that is evident here. The interiors hv nothing on which to rest the eyes and all that shine needs to be toned down by incorporating examples of its cultural heritage. What does appeal to me is the indoor pool for its simplicity allowing the focus to be on the water. In contrast, Four Seasons got it right.
@@tfft My reason to be here is to get first class travel advice, with business class production value, to a economy class price (free). Thank you Kevin.
I guess we have a different standard for traffic and yes the public transport are lacking for the size of Jakarta. Tbf, this "disease" exist because they were neglected for decades and only recently getting fixed with new public transportation projects, but it may take forever for this problem to be eliminated because of the density of Jakarta.
The thing that kills me about traffic in Jakarta is that you might hit it at 22:00. Rush hour traffic I can understand and in that sense it’s not much different from other SE Asian cities. But the simple fact that you may ALWAYS find gridlock is what catches me off guard.
Raffles room is nice but is a bit dated. I would say Four Seasons and Park Hyatt is much better. Westin also has a nice suite room. In terms of service, Four Seasons is definitely the winner. Breakfast at Raffles and Langham has a lot of selections but the quality and service was average.
@@fromrighttoleft8328 OK, Mr. Odd 😃 Don't get me wrong, I love Indonesia. The people are friendly and outside Jakarta there is much to see and do - but don't expect all facilities to be up to Western standard. Jakarta is just a mess. My driver once missed a right-turn, and I was 90 minutes late for a meeting.
It depends, many tourists are looking for raw experiences, instead of the typical tropical landscapes. That's why, many tourists go to Mumbai and Dhaka, which are even more chaotic.
@@tfft Hahaha.. Nah lets go for 200 USD :) But you know what i mean i hope... And i get it that customers expect something in return for the price of the stay but i will not miss my sleep over a boring pool.
As a Jakarta resident currently, Jakarta obviously not made for tourism & such, but you can go to some of tourist spot like the GBK stadium, Seribu Islands, shopping malls, and such. My suggestion for tourist that want to go to Jakarta usually are make sure your hotel is relatively close by with the place where you want to go and also close by the public transport link like MRT & TransJakarta Bus (the bus can pratically brings you everywhere around the city)
It depends. Personally I love Jakarta as a tourist. Not all tourist looking for Bali or resort like experience. Some are urban dwellers and man Jakarta is perfect for that!
@@TheMap1997 I Agree. I'm also a fan of big city and whenever I go overseas I also try to go to the city center. But what I meant by not made for tourism are because of Jakarta intentionally made for businesses and the planning for tourist attraction also quite minimal, not like other city of tourism in Indonesia like Yogyakarta and of course Bali, imo.
Yeah, Jakarta doesn’t really make sense-that’s why the government is actively trying to escape it, LOL. It’s a massive city with subpar public transportation, overloaded by a population that could overwhelm anyone. I always remind my Malaysian friends that the greater Jakarta metro area has about the same population as their *entire* country. Imagine cramming an entire nation into one city-welcome to Jakarta, LOL. Even we Indonesians don’t have a clear answer on where to stay in Jakarta; it really depends on your needs. SCBD is a solid choice for business travelers. Unlike our neighbors Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta doesn’t see as many tourists, but whatever counts as a tourist attraction is scattered all over the place. My only real advice is to treat each part of Jakarta like a separate city. It’s made up of five cities and even a chain of islands (Thousand Islands) just offshore, so think of them as distinct destinations. Someone already mentioned Central Jakarta, so I’ll throw in East Jakarta as an example-it’s bigger than Washington DC. This is where locals go if we’re heading to spots like Taman Mini Indonesia Indah or the Cibubur Camping Ground.
i am jakartan.. few time work oversees (tokyo, singapore).. and jakarta still my lovely city to live (outside the traffic).. and if you know how to deal with the time and route, the traffic will not be that bad.. people complaining aboput bali traffic.. but all the worst bali traffict feel like a breeze for me.. jakarta is not good for tourist, but good for living..
