Luxury Hotels

Singapore • Raffles

Legendary and arguably at one time the most famous hotel in Asia, the one hundred luxury suite colonial and Asian-style hotel is an architectural landmark. Situated upon lush, landscaped gardens in the heart of the business and shopping district. Suites feature high ceilings, overhead fans, wood floors, Oriental carpets and period furnishings, along with modern comforts. A grand vaulted lobby is complemented by more than a dozen fine restaurants, bars and informal cafés. Amenities include a spa and health club with an outdoor pool. The Raffles hotel museum and 65 fashionable specialty shops line a courtyard arcade.

The outdoor lap pool and two spa tubs are surrounded by palm trees on the hotel's rooftop. The Raffles Culinary Academy offers cooking classes (surcharge) on such topics as classic brasserie desserts, the secrets of spiced cooking, Asian fusion food, and modern French cuisine. From the hotel, the Singapore Art Museum and Asian Civilizations Museum are located only two blocks away. Raffles City, a major shopping arcade, is locate three blocks from the hotel. The main corridor of the city, Orchard Road, is one mile (two kilometers away).

Notes: The Raffles has a reputation for being touristy, and although the guidebook-featured Long Bar and Billiard Room may be, the hotel itself is off-limits to non-guests and feels like an oasis. Although without views, the well-appointed and spacious suites featuring soaring colonial architecture, furnishings, Persian carpeting, swirling ceiling fans, wicker chairs, antiques, and memorabilia that create a striking old-world feel. The rooftop pool is a tranquil place to relax and catch up on reading for a couple hours in the afternoon. The location is somewhat central, a few blocks from the central shopping area. Service, from concierge to private butler rate top marks. The dining in the Tiffin Room (North Indian with excellent curries) and The Grill (classical and contemporary French), are both consistently ranked among the leading restaurants in the city. The Raffles restaurant Royal China is also outstanding for dim sum, a top three in the city. Rooms located on either end of the veranda are preferred as foot traffic on the wooden floors can be noisy.

Singapore • Ritz Carlton Millenia

A lavish and ultra-modern six hundred room hotel set amid seven landscaped acres in heart of Marina Center, overlooking Marina Bay. Spacious, recently renovated guest rooms are airy, spacious and sleek with blond woods and modern art throughout. Rooms provide comfortable, contemporary furnishings and unobstructed views of the bay or the Singapore skyline; marble baths contain tubs and separate rainfall showers. Striking sculptures adorn a vast lobby that is flanked by an elegant contemporary bar-lounge and the superior Greenhouse restaurant.

The Ritz features standout dining with terrific Japanese food at Shiraishi. Other dining venues include a seafood café and signature Cantonese dining room. The hotel offers a state-of-the-art health and fitness club, spa and 80-foot outdoor garden pool. The Premier Suite is the most fabulous room here and the club floor lounge provides dedicated martini bar.

Singapore • Capella

Surrounded by lush grounds, this 112-room resort comprises a pair of renovated British colonial-era mansions. Located on a thirty acre site on on Sentosa Island, Capella has embraced the greener attitude of Singapor and out of 30 acres only 40% are built out with structures and roads and the other remaining is greenery. Beautifully furnished rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows with distant views of Singapore’s busy harbor; French doors lead to granite terraces and outdoor Jacuzzis. Limestone-faced baths provide soaking tubs and separate showers. Two large outdoor swimming pools offer views over the South China Sea.

Spa with nine treatment rooms and fitness center. Charming library, fine-dining Chinese restaurant, second restaurant for Mediterranean fare and breakfast, and cozy bar and adjacent terrace furnished with sofas and daybeds for lounging.