This story is part of the August 18 edition of Sunday Life. See all 15 stories . If you haven’t been to Singapore lately, get set for a surprise.
With a lively bar scene and some of Asia’s most acclaimed restaurants, Singapore has gone from safe-but-boring to buzzy city stay. And now a clutch of hot new hotel openings has dialled the heat up even further. Here are our favourites.
The stylish stay: The Singapore Edition Where are all the selfie snappers? The Singapore Edition’s Lobby Bar has an ultra-Instagrammable bar backlit in pink as well as a white marble pool table topped with fuchsia felt, but I wander in, not a single person is striking a pose. Perhaps it’s all happening at one of the hotel’s many other eye-catching backdrops, or perhaps it is just that this sophisticated hotel attracts a more discreet style of traveller. Certainly design fans will love this brand-new hotel where the stylish spaces run the gamut from the minimalist lobby – all white walls and domed ceiling – to the lush, fern-filled conservatory and the sumptuous blue Punch Room.
Lap up the city skyline views from Mondrian Singapore Duxton’s rooftop pool. Other signature features include a cantilevered high-rise pool – an oculus set in the floor lets you look down onto the garden below – and the superb Fysh restaurant, the first overseas outpost from Aussie chef Josh Niland, known for his zero-waste approach to cooking fish. (Even the glaze on the crockery is derived from fish bones.