Hotels in Jakarta

In Jakarta a hotel pool is less a holiday extra than an escape from heat and traffic, so where you sleep decides how often you will use it. Central Jakarta around Bundaran HI is my first choice: Hotel Indonesia Kempinski sits on the roundabout itself with a rooftop pool, a sauna and a cold plunge, and the Shangri-La, about eleven minutes away on foot, has an outdoor pool with a free water park and a children's pool, the obvious pick for families. Bundaran HI is also the northern end of the MRT North-South Line, which runs 13 stations down to Lebak Bulus, from 05:00 to midnight. In the Kuningan business district, the Westin occupies the top floors of Gama Tower, and its indoor pool is reported on the 50th floor, open only to hotel guests. For the old town, House of Tugu in Kota has an outdoor pool. The wet season runs from November to May, with January the wettest month and the one most prone to flooded streets; August and September are the driest. The trap: on weekdays, private cars with the wrong plate number cannot use Thamrin, Sudirman and Gatot Subroto at rush hour under the odd-even rule, while taxis are exempt.