Raffles Hotel Singapore 
From Singapore Hotels & Singapore Lifestyle
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Raffles Hotel Singapore, located at the corner of Bras Basah Road, facing Raffles City Shopping Centre and Beach Road is one of Singapore's most famous landmarks. The Hotel is Singapore's most famous and most expensive Hotel, beautifully restored to its former grandeur with upmarket Shopping annex, hotel museum and Victorian-style theatre. Nearly everyone who comes to Singapore ends up at Raffles Hotel at one point or another. Though it may be a cliche, no trip to Singapore is complete without a look inside to soak up the genteel, historical atmosphere of this magnificent Singaporean institution and walk through the lush gardens of its premises. Perhaps, you may also wish to relax in one of the famous Bars at Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling cocktail (invented here in 1915) at the Long Bar. Be forewarned that some think that it tastes a bit like cough medicine, although most others find it fruity and invigorating.
Enter through the cast-iron portico of Raffles Hotel, which leads into the lobby, its marbled floors adorned with plush Persian carpets. Have a drink and a game in the Bar & Billiard Room, and perhaps a curry lunch at the Tiffin Room. Or wait until evening for a sundowner at the Long Bar, before dinner at the elegant Raffles Grill.
With its wooden floors, high ceilings, unshakeable colonial elegance and even its famous Sikh doorman, Raffles Hotel stands alongside the Peninsular Hong Kong and Oriental Bangkok as one of Asia's truly special Hotels. Pull out your best togs (yes, some guests do turn up in tennis shoes), lay down your S$650 and enjoy!
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Hotel Reservations
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History
Viewing the regal edifice that stands today, it's hard to believe that Raffles Hotel started life as a 10-room bungalow. The Hotel was opened in December 1887 by the Sarkies Brothers, immigrants from Armenia and proprietors of two other grand colonial hotels, the Strand in Yangon (Rangoon) and the Eastern & Oriental in Penang. Since then, the "Grand Old Lady of the East" has seen its fair share of kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, movie actors and lions of literature, as well as ordinary people attracted to this paragon of tropical elegance and style.
Raffles Hotel's heyday began with the opening of the main building in 1899, the same one that guests stay in today. It soon became a byword for oriental luxury ("A legendary symbol for all the fables of the Exotic East", went the publicity blurb) and the Hotel was featured in novels by Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham. The famous Singapore Sling was first concocted in the Hotel's Long Bar in 1915.
By the 1970s, however, Raffles Hotel had become a shabby relic and seemed destined to go the way of the old Raffles Institution, the elite school that stood on Bras Basah Road until it was demolished to make way for Raffles City Shopping Centre. Fortunately, the Government designated the building a national monument in 1987. The Hotel underwent a major facelift in the early 1990s to restore Raffles Hotel to its colonial splendour. It involved years of work, tracking down original plans and finding skilled craftsmen to repair and recreate the original fittings, and in 1991 it was reopened after an expensive restoration project that has seen the Hotel all but swallowed up by a fancy Shopping and Dining arcade. For most people, the result is a resounding success and Raffles Hotel can take her place among the great Hotels of the world once again.
If you can't afford to stay, the Raffles Hotel lobby is open to the public. (Dress standards apply; so no shorts or sandals. Tennis shoes are allowed, but please don't!) High Tea is served in the Tiffin Room.
Hotel Museum
Hidden away on the 3rd floor, the Raffles Hotel Museum (admission free; Opening Hours: 10am-7pm) is worth hunting out. Here at Raffles Hotel, you'll find a fascinating collection of memorabilia - some of which were found during the renovation work - including photographs and posters from bygone eras and a fine city map showing how Noel Coward could once sip his gin sling and stare out at the muddy sea from the Hotel veranda.
Shopping
Attached to Raffles Hotel is the stylish Raffles Shopping Arcade which, as you would expect, is firmly upmarket, with designer clothes, galleries (including one selling ancient fossils) plus the excellent Raffles Hotel gift shop and the Thossb SB Raffles food shop, which is a great place for gourmet gifts, including handmade chocolates and nicely packaged teas, coffees and biscuits. There is also a good range of wine.
Shop Outlets
Beauty @ Genesis, Thossb SB Raffles
Drinking
We know it's a cliche, but a visit to Singapore is practically incomplete without having a drink at Raffles Hotel. Drinks can be taken at any of its bars. Of the several options, the Long Bar is the most famous, but far better is the Bar & Billiard Room. The Gazebo Bar, in the courtyard of the attached Raffles Hotel Arcade, is also a top spot for a tipple and has live Music in the evening.
Eating
Raffles Hotel boasts a total of 13 Restaurants and Bars offering Continental Cuisine and American Cuisine-style deli foods, innovative Asian Cuisine and Singapore Cusine and lots of old-world atmosphere.
Restaurants
Doc Cheng's, Long Bar Steakhouse, Raffles Courtyard, Raffles Grill, Seah Street Deli, Tiffin Room
Cafes
Hotel Information
- Classification: Five (5)-Star hotel
- Location: Marina Bay
- Address: 1 Beach Road, Singapore 189673
- Rooms: 103 rooms
- Nearest MRT: City Hall MRT Station
See also
