The Best Luxury Hotels in Singapore

Singapore's luxury hotels span two very different registers of the same city — a 19th-century colonial icon that invented a cocktail, a three-tower engineering feat with the world's most photographed infinity pool, and a jungle retreat on an island a short cable car ride from the skyline.

Raffles Hotel Singapore

Founded in September 1887 by the Sarkies Brothers, who also ran the Eastern & Oriental in Penang, Raffles took its current Neo-Renaissance form in 1899 under architect Regent Alfred John Bidwell. Its bar gave the world the Singapore Sling, invented in the early 1900s by Hainanese bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, who also created the hotel's Million Dollar Cocktail. Literary guests from Joseph Conrad to Kipling and Somerset Maugham stayed here, and during the Battle of Singapore in February 1942, staff reportedly buried the hotel silver in the gardens while patrons danced through the final nights before occupation. Post-war celebrity guests included Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, and Ava Gardner. Designated a National Monument in the 1980s, Raffles now operates under Accor as part of Historic Hotels Worldwide.

Marina Bay Sands

Designed by Safdie Architects and opened in 2010, Marina Bay Sands lifts its 340-metre SkyPark — a ship-shaped deck holding the world's longest occupiable cantilever — across the top of three 55-storey leaning towers. Its 150-metre infinity pool, suspended 200 metres above the city, has become one of the most photographed hotel features anywhere in the world, and remains open exclusively to hotel guests despite the crowds that gather to view it from below.

Capella Singapore

Set on 30 acres of Sentosa Island around two Tanah Merah military buildings dating from the 1880s, Capella Singapore paired Norman Foster's firm, Foster + Partners, working alongside DP Architects, with Indonesian designer Jaya Ibrahim for the interiors when it opened in March 2009. The result folds colonial-era heritage buildings into a contemporary resort of manors and suites, landscaped by Coopers Hill, that feels genuinely apart from the Marina Bay skyline despite being minutes away by cable car or causeway.

Mandarin Oriental, Singapore

Overlooking Marina Bay, Mandarin Oriental Singapore anchors the waterfront with sweeping views toward Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Flyer, and completed a significant design refresh in recent years that leaned further into Singapore heritage cues throughout its public spaces and club lounge.

The Fullerton Hotel Singapore

Built in 1928 as Singapore's General Post Office and later declared a National Monument, the Fullerton building's neoclassical facade and colonnades now house one of the city's most historically resonant hotels, its riverside position by the Singapore River placing it within walking distance of both the colonial district and Marina Bay.

Choosing Where to Stay

Raffles and the Fullerton suit travellers prioritising history and the colonial district; Marina Bay Sands and Mandarin Oriental put the skyline and waterfront on permanent display; and Capella offers the only genuine escape into greenery without leaving the city behind. For dining recommendations across all of these areas, see our Michelin-starred restaurants guide, and for the city's best nightlife, our nightlife guide.