Raffles Jakarta

Colour is the first clue. Bold palettes and curved, painterly forms run through the lobby and corridors of Raffles Jakarta, a tribute to Hendra Gunawan, the West Java painter whose work the hotel's founder collected for decades. The building itself is hard to miss. It climbs 52 storeys and 253 metres above Jakarta's Kuningan district, part of the Ciputra World 1 development that also holds a theatre and gallery devoted to Gunawan's paintings. Inside, 173 rooms and suites run floor to ceiling in glass, with far-reaching views over the skyline and, on clear days, the sprawl beyond it. Bathrobes carry batik patterns drawn from local textile design, a small but deliberate nod to place. Suites are quieter and more private, tucked away from the lobby's traffic, while the Raffles Club occupies the 12th floor with its own outlook over the city. Downstairs, Arts Cafe runs an open kitchen through Indonesian and Japanese dishes, and the Writers Bar keeps its lights low for cocktails. The spa spans more than 2,000 square metres, with an outdoor pool set among planting that mutes the traffic noise below. You can trace Gunawan's brushwork in the tiling near the Hendra Gunawan Garden, one of the hotel's quieter corners. Jakarta Convention Centre sits 3 km away; the airport is roughly 28 km further out.