Raffles Hotel Singapore

Character and identity

Raffles is Singapore's grande dame, a white colonial-era landmark declared a national monument and brought back into proper form by Alexandra Champalimaud's 2019 restoration. All 103 accommodations are suites, arranged in tropical tripartite fashion (veranda, parlour, bedroom), with original brass bell-buttons, ceiling fans and wicker softened by contemporary-classic layers. Every guest gets a butler, a tradition Raffles invented. Nine restaurants and bars include Jereme Leung's contemporary Chinese at Yi, Jordan Keao's wood-fire cooking at Butcher's Block, the much-improved Writers Bar, and the Long Bar, birthplace of the Singapore Sling in 1915. The seven-room Raffles Spa adds hydrothermal facilities, and a third-floor pool sits in tropical greenery.

Who's it for

Bottom line

The defining fact is that the renovation worked: the bones, rituals and stories are intact, and the food, bars and suites are genuinely better than they were. Book if you want heritage delivered at full voice rather than as pastiche. A standard Courtyard Suite is enough to get the tripartite layout and butler service; come midweek or in shoulder season for softer rates.