I’m sharing in real-time style about my SAS EuroBonus SkyTeam Million Mile challenge this week. Click here for background and route information.
We arrived in Jakarta at just after 5:00 pm and our connecting flight did not depart until 11:45 pm. Rather than stand around and wait for check-in to open three hours before our next flight, I secured an airport hotel room for our extended layover, an option that worked out brilliantly at the Ibis Styles Jakarta Airport.
We Spent Our CGK Layover At The Ibis Styles Jakarta Airport – A Hotel Review
This time, our transit through Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta International Airport was much smoother than last time. Lines were short and we were out in 15 minutes…which left us with some time on our hands.
Traffic in Jakarta is among the worst in the world and therefore it was way too risky to try to go into town…and for what? Jaarta’s draw is its cheap luxury hotels and we had a redeye to Shanghai. Rather than try to find a coffee shop or restaurant to sit in while we waited for the Chian Eastern check-in desk to open, I booked us a room at the Ibis Styles Jakarta Airport, a budget hotel that is five minutes away from the airport. Cost for a night? About 40 USD…a price I was happy to pay even for four hours. What a bargain!
We hopped in a Grab and were soon dropped off at the hotel. We checked in, were assigned room 520, and mentioned that we would be going swimming.
“Oh, the pool is closed.”
Ooh, you should have seen Augustine pout!
I was a bit sad too…he wanted to swim and it seemed so silly to close the pool at 6:00 pm (though I later found out why).
We went up to our room and found it was quite small, but clean and perfectly practical for our purposes.
There was even a room service menu and a massage parlor.
The bathroom was very small, but I took a shower before we returned to the airport and the water was warm and pressure good.
Augustine said he was hungry and wanted to eat dinner at the hotel. The hotel had a BBQ-style buffet downstairs with live music and fresh fish and poultry. It was actually quite nice…
And becuase all the seating was poolside, I suppose it made sense why the pool was closed so early…
The restaurant also had indoor seat and an adjacent bar.
By 9:30 pm we were on our way back to the airport…for our flight to Shanghai.
This worked perfectly..what a comfortable way to spend our layover. I highly recommend this anywhere, but especially in places like Indonesia where hotels are so reasonably priced. Augustine loved it too.
Wow . “Fresh fish” on ice . Grab one and gnaw , crunch , and chomp .
Did you finish the meal with a slice of Klepon cake?
Accor hotels are a very good value across Southeast Asia, particularly Ibis. I use Ibis as a de facto dayroom or to book two nights on the cheap when I really just want one night stay with a very late checkout the next evening. And the breakfasts and menus for pool-side ordering of decent food for lunch or dinner are reasonably priced compared to more expensive hotels where the pool-side food is often no better.
For a short break you could have used Anara hotel right in the airport, and a 2 minute walk to check-in.
You must be really tired seeing how you spelled Jakarta and China wrong, lol
Jaarta’s draw is its cheap luxury hotels and we had a redeye to Shanghai. Rather than try to find a coffee shop or restaurant to sit in while we waited for the Chian Eastern check-in desk to open, I booked us a room at the Ibis Styles Jakarta Airport, a budget hotel that is five minutes away from the airport.
CGK has more pax than KUL. The latter offers a fast train into the city centre every 15 minutes and it’s a great service! By contrast, CGK’s rail service – if you can find it – has gaps of 30 minutes, sometimes 60, for trains into the city. It’s pitiful, really.
How did Augustine do with the fish??
Million. Finally