Originally Posted by
scholity
I used the same. It opened 7/15/14. Has well-deserved 8.1 excellent reviews also on Booking.com or book on their website. Excellent service, middle-of-the-night pickup and dropoff for JAL flights available, and FREE. Only 5-10 minutes to airport terminal, which is incredible for CGK. Excellent breakfast buffet. Cost for room can be Rph 550,000 or about $55 when including breakfast and tax. They may also ask to "authorize" (not "charge") about $100 more for an extended stay for your convenience in charging other meals to the rooms, but are quite honest about not charging it when you don't use that.
Typical for ALL Jakarta, there are a few mosquitoes in the lobby late at night (due to sliding glass doors folks pass through to enter), but they have the BlackOut mosquito zappers going. You will not find mosquitoes in the well-appointed rooms, and not in the lobby during the daytime. You are near the countryside, but also quite near the "jalan tol" toll roads to downtown. Believe me, with Jakarta traffic (macet = traffic jams), you will appreciate that. It is a local neighborhood, but the restaurant is excellent, and clean water is used. There are also 2-3 Indomaret convenience stores / gas stations within a block or so.
Best directions when returning from downtown JKT or the malls is to tell a BlueBird or Express taxi to take "Jalan tol Airport" (Rph 8000 + 5500 = 13,500 in tolls or about $1.35, which you pay) toll road to Hotel Amaris exit before the airport, then make an IMMEDIATE left at the front of the hotel followed by an immediate right. The road then bends in an S-curve (to go left again). About 100 yards/meters down the road, make a right turn on the first street, Jalan Husein Sastranegara. You will see an A-mart gas station, followed by an IndoMaret convenience store and gas station on the right, and if you look upwards 15 degrees, you will see the purple "Hotel Swiss Bel-linn Airport" neon sign on the top of the hotel straight ahead of you. Turn left into the parking lot (Booking.com map has it on the wrong side of the street). Remember folks drive on the LEFT side of the road in Indonesia. (There are 4 other Swiss Bel-Inn in Jakarta, so don't rely on drivers to know where it is.) Taxi meter from Capital Park Mall or Pluit Mall is about 80-90,000 RPH + 13,500 tolls. Remember 10,700 Rph = $1.00 USD.
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There is also an Ibis Styles opening this month (Sept. 2014) that is just outside the airport entrance, and should also be good quality. Next to Pop! Hotel Airport Jakarta.
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I recommend a private guide (e.g. off Tourguides.viator.com, or rent-a-guide.com or tours-by-locals for a day or two. You do not need a full group to make a tour, so mention that and you will get an individual price. The person I used off tourguides.viator.com was excellent. and we did two days quite inexpensively, even with taxis and bajaj rides (gotta do it), and a couple of snacks/iced teas -- about $75-100/day. I do recommend touring on the weekend, NOT the weekdays, due to traffic. You may want to day-trip out to Bandung or Bogor.
- Read "Jakarta: 25 Excursions..." book with map, from Amazon.com before you go for sights to see. CultureShock! Jakarta is also good, but is written from a tourist perspective, and a bit frank. Go, with a guide, and you will be fine, but JKT is difficult to negotiate alone for the first time.
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You will need $35 USD for an entry visa at CGK, and there is an ATM next to the booth, and more by baggage claim, as well as money-changers after customs.
-- You will ALSO need Rph 150,000 in RPH when you check in to go home again. It is NOT included in your ticket.
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You can sleep on the empty JAL flights NRT-CGK-NRT in the middle seats, so take advantage of that if flying coach. Do visit the NRT Admirals Club for excellent service, showers, and management of your flight seating. NRT won't get you the HKG or PVG miles promo, but the 5-7 hours sleep and excellent JAL meals / service / elbow room may be worth it. I netted 23,316 miles over MIA/ORD + DFW from/to from my final city.