12 of the best places to stay in Singapore

There’s no hotel in Singapore more iconic than the Marina Bay Sands. Not content with having the world’s largest rooftop infinity pool – with panoramic views of Singapore’s skyline from 57 storeys up – it’s also had a recent redesign. New elements in the well-appointed rooms draw inspiration from Singapore’s multiculturalism: bedroom headboards now mimic the Chinese screens found in Peranakan shophouses, while the floors are covered in thick Axminster wool carpets featuring motifs similar to the textiles found along Arab Street. What hasn’t changed is its superb location. A flurry of nearby designer stores and iconic attractions, such as the ArtScience Museum and Gardens by the Bay, mean you’ll never get bored.

More information: Rooms from around £375 per night, excluding breakfast; marinabaysands.com

You tend to notice this eye-catching stay long before you pull up. Located between the city’s Chinatown and Central Business District, the hotel’s strikingly lush terraces evoke Singapore’s trademark mix of urban metropolis spliced with pure wilderness. Despite being sandwiched between high-rises, every one of its 367 guest rooms and suites is privy to a tropical garden view. Also, as part of its efforts to inspire guests to live well without compromising the environment, the hotel practises what it calls ‘conscious dining’, sourcing many of the ingredients for its meals and cocktails (and even its spa treatments) from the local community and its own urban farm.

More information: Rooms from around £265 per night, excluding breakfast; panpacific.com

This elegant urban getaway on Sentosa Island was formed by merging a pair of colonial bungalows that date back to the 1880s. These lie nestled within 12 hectares of tropical greenery, and the result is a snaking and serene complex that curves around 112 rooms, suites and villas as well as a celebrated spa. After a full refurbishment, the property now has a colour palette of earthy sand, sage and mineral grey, while rooms include a whole host of tactile furnishings that bring nature indoors. One of the more appealing aspects of a stay here is the Capella Curates service, a selection of unique, hand-picked experiences that plunge visitors deep into local life. Guests can head out on a sensory experience at a local wet market or explore the intertidal zones of Sentosa; you can even take a side-car ride through Singapore’s alleyways while your guide explains the role that feng shui has played in the design of the city’s buildings and structures.

More information: Rooms from around £765 per night, excluding breakfast; capellahotels.com

A world away from the adrenaline-fuelled pursuits found elsewhere on Sentosa, this resort provides a wellness retreat far from the crowds. Here you’ll spend your nights in either the Wellness Sanctuary – a three-storey building that had a former life as a barracks for the British army in the 1940s – or the newly built, six-storey Palawan Wing. Sunrise qigong sets the tone for the day ahead, with visits to the award-winning spa interspersed with meditation or wellness workshops, before winding down with an hour of sunset yoga and dinner at the popular Bedrock Origin restaurant. While the rest of busy Sentosa hits the beaches and theme parks, it’s easy to spend a day refuelling and recharging here without ever leaving the grounds.

More information: Rooms from around £208 per night, excluding breakfast; oasiahotels.com

For those craving an escape from the kids (your own or otherwise), this adults-only property offers a blissful retreat. Located on the island of Sentosa, guests receive more than their share of bespoke pampering. Stays begin with specially made mocktails concocted by a master brewer from Pryce Tea, while rooms include a customised and complimentary minibar. As well as a spa, gym and the island’s only rooftop pool, a stream of in-house activities range from crafting your own soy-based cocktail to working up a sweat at a street-dancing class, offering plenty to do around the property. Best of all are the curated adventures, which range from dining in a cable car to a ride on a high-performance speedboat.

More information: Rooms from around £176 per night, excluding breakfast; theoutposthotel.com.sg

Nestled within the grounds of the Laguna National Golf Resort Club, this property lies just a ten-minute drive from the airport and 15 minutes by car from downtown, making it a convenient bolthole. As you might expect from a Thai-based hospitality group, wellness experiences are the focus here. The usual spa and massage treatments are available, but what’s interesting is that the hotel takes a more holistic approach. Alongside workshops and classes, offerings are designed to encourage guests to cultivate new habits to improve their emotional, physical and mental wellbeing, ranging from yoga and meditation to fitness.

More information: Rooms from around £170 per night, excluding breakfast; dusitthanilagunasingapore.com

First-timers in Singapore will find The Clan to be a particularly amenable base. This 30-storey hotel lies nestled between Telok Ayer and Chinatown, meaning guests can explore the likes of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim Heritage Centre nearby. Those staying in the hotel’s Master Series rooms can also join a complimentary Local Precinct Tour, diving into Singapore’s past, but there are plenty of cultural encounters that any guest can book, including calligraphy classes, a brewery tour and a fascinating look at the lives of female Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s.

More information: Rooms from around £235 per night, excluding breakfast; theclanhotel.com.sg

In its Neoclassical design alone, the Fullerton Hotel Singapore perfectly encapsulates the old-world colonial charm of many of the country’s more upmarket stays, set within what was for a long time the General Post Office building. Yet it also offers a glimpse at a cultural side of the city that few visitors take the time to explore. The Peranakans (or Straits-born Chinese) arrived in Singapore as soon as the British established a port here in 1819, and they thrived in this new world. Guests who want to learn more about their culture and explore Peranakan history and design can opt for the hotel’s ‘Peranakan Heritage Stay’ package, which comes complete with cultural furnishings, hand-made in-room treats and a delicious Peranakan afternoon tea at The Courtyard. Most exciting of all is the inclusion of a pair of passes to the newly reopened Peranakan Museum, which is home to one of the world’s finest collections of artefacts from this culture.

More information: Rooms from around £236 per night, excluding breakfast; fullertonhotels.com

Sustainability is at the centre of this rather futuristic-looking stay. Renewable solar energy helps power the building, water dispensers eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles and a bio-digester system even transforms the hotel’s food waste into cleaning water. The greenery extends to the decor as well, with some 14,000 sqm of foliage (all sustained by a rainwater collection system) scattered throughout the building. Step onto the Forest Terrace to glimpse a cascading waterfall backed by trees, or head up to the fifth-floor Beach Terrace where you’ll find a palm grove and emerald lagoon in the sky. There really is nothing quite like it. And when you need a break, head to destination bar Florette for a sip of the hotel’s own Pan Pacific Orchard Gin or a modern take on the classic afternoon tea, which is served on Wedgwood crockery on the garden terrace.

More information: Rooms from around £270 per night, excluding breakfast; panpacific.com

This relatively new stay on Sentosa Island sits nestled within a pair of buildings built in 1904 that once served as a British artillery outpost. That history oozes into practically every corner of this 40-room stay, though it has had its share of modern updates too. Those in rooms and suites on the ground floor can enjoy direct access to the 30m pool and semi-private jacuzzi before heading directly to The Living Room, which hosts breakfast, all-day refreshments and evening cocktails and canapés. Of course, no heritage stay is complete without finding out more about its past. The hotel provides a complimentary sit-down history lesson by army veterans who used to both serve at and stay in the former military barracks. There is also a self-guided audio tour available for those who prefer to go through the experience in their own time.

More information: Rooms from around £351 per night, excluding breakfast; thebarrackshotel.com.sg

Those wanting a gastronomic adventure will find plenty that appeals at the Conrad Singapore Orchard, which makes hay with the country’s reputation as a destination for the world’s cuisines. There are ten unique dining and bar options here; plus, the fact that Orchard Road, the city’s main shopping hub, lies just minutes away means you’ll find plenty of sore-footed shoppers turning up famished. A good starting point is always Dolcetto and its artisanal pasticceria, a prime spot for all things Italian on lazy mornings, whereas one of Singapore’s most revered Michelin-starred restaurants, Summer Palace (which reopens in the first quarter of 2024), makes for a tempting lunch spot. Round off the day with dinner at Tenshin, the city state’s first tempura-specialist restaurant, and drinks in Manhattan, a cocktail joint that is consistently ranked in the World’s 50 Best Bars.

More information: Rooms from around £246 per night, excluding breakfast; conradsingaporeorchard.com

First opened in 1887, Raffles Hotel Singapore remains one of the great 19th-century hotels still in operation; it was even declared a National Monument in 1987. Most visitors head straight for the Long Bar, best known as the birthplace of the Singapore Sling cocktail, or take afternoon tea in the Grand Lobby. Both conjure images of long, hazy afternoons beneath the frangipani, back when this was a haunt for the likes of writers W Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling. Indeed, such is the hotel’s rich literary heritage, it even has its own Writer’s Residency Programme. On similar cultural lines, it has also recently announced a partnership with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra to host free quarterly performances on the lawn. What better appetiser for dinner at the hotel’s Michelin-starred La Dame de Pic restaurant?

More information: Rooms from around £695 per night, excluding breakfast; raffles.com/singapore

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