Hotels & accommodation

Raffles Hotel Singapore

Accor / Raffles · Colonial landmark hotel on Beach Road, opened 1887 and restored 2017–2019

Raffles Hotel Singapore is the grande dame of Singapore hotels: a white colonial landmark on Beach Road in the Civic District, opened in 1887 by the Sarkies brothers and named after Sir Stamford Raffles. It is a gazetted national monument, and its main building — all verandas, louvred shutters and tropical gardens — is one of the most recognisable hotel facades in Asia.

The hotel is all-suite: 115 suites arranged around palm-filled courtyards and gardens, each attended by butler service. A careful restoration that ran from 2017 saw the hotel reopen in October 2019 with refreshed suites and public spaces, its colonial architecture and famous lobby — polished teak, marble and a grandfather clock — intact.

The Long Bar is where the Singapore Sling was created in 1915 by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, and the two-storey bar still serves it today, peanut shells on the floor and all. Dining is a draw in its own right: the Tiffin Room has served North Indian food since 1892, Butcher's Block cooks over wood fire, and La Dame de Pic, by chef Anne-Sophie Pic, flies the flag for French fine dining.

Writers are part of the furniture here — Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling both stayed and wrote about the hotel, and the Writers Bar in the lobby nods to that literary past. The Raffles Arcade wraps the block in boutiques, restaurants and the Raffles Spa, making the hotel as much a Civic District sight as a place to sleep.

• Opened 1887 — Sarkies brothers, 1 Beach Road
• 115 suites — all-suite hotel with butler service
• Singapore Sling — created at the Long Bar in 1915
• Tiffin Room — dining room dating to 1892
• Restored 2017–2019 — reopened October 2019

Visit the property — Raffles raffles.com

This featured showcase is an editorial selection by our editors. We have not stayed at this property and it is not a paid placement; no rating is implied. Paid placements never influence the Singapore liveability score, safety rating or warnings.