Martin Dunford stays at the The Shangri-La Singapore and enjoys a city sanctuary.
I read a piece in the newspaper recently wondering what the next number one city in the world will be.
The answer, according to this well-informed ‘citizen of nowhere’, was Singapore, and having recently returned from said city I found it hard to disagree. If New York is the number one city in the Americas, and London (or, at a pinch, Paris) is Europe’s number one, then surely Singapore is at the top of the tree in Asia.
It certainly ticks all the boxes: cosmopolitanism and diversity, a fabulous location, amazing sights, great restaurants serving myriad different cuisines, a superb transport system and international airport – and above all world-class hotels and places to stay.
One of these is the Shangri-La Hotel, just off the top end of Orchard Road, Singapore’s iconic shopping boulevard. We stayed at the Shangri-La for a week, and the location was perfect: convenient for everything from the city’s spectacular Botanic Gardens to the upscale shopping malls of Orchard Road; Chinatown, Little India and the colonial buildings of Downtown are just a short taxi ride away.
It’s a resort hotel, so perfect for slightly longer stays. The city is large and exhausting, particularly when the temperature regularly hits the mid-30s, with close to 100% humidity. We did our sightseeing in the morning, when it was ever-so-slightly cooler, and enjoyed the facilities of the hotel in the afternoon.
For anyone spending any time at all in Singapore, I’d recommend a hotel that has plenty of air-conditioned comfort to enjoy once the city becomes simply too hot to handle. Among other things, the hotel is described as a ‘sanctuary’, and that’s exactly what it was for us.
The hotel occupies a large site, with a giant, suitably bustling lobby and generous public areas, lush, tropical gardens, a large outdoor pool and a spa and gym.
The 800 or so guest rooms divide into three groups – those in the original Tower Wing, which are the smallest and most affordable; those in the later Garden Wing, which are bigger and come with seating areas and flower-festooned balconies that either overlook the pool or the hotel gardens; and the 130 very private extra-large guest rooms and suites of the exclusive Valley Wing, which have a separate check-in, butler service and all sorts of other frills and activities – for example complimentary afternoon tea and evening cocktails.
All the rooms naturally have good wifi, en-suite bathrooms with separate bath tubs and showers, toiletries, robes and slippers, fridges with as much complimentary water as you can drink, tea and coffee facilities, 24-hour room service, telephones and large flatscreen TVs with satellite channels. But again, this is a room you might be spending a decent amount of time – size really does matter!
The Shangri-La’s expansive lobby is a statement of luxury and helpfulness, with lots of staff on hand to accommodate even your most trivial request. The cool and elegant space flows effortlessly into the hotel’s other facilities, including a comfy lobby bar, where you can people-watch while enjoying a drink or their delicious pan-Asian menu, a small shop selling snacks and gifts and a workspace where busy dudes tap away on laptops.
An escalator whisks you down to The Line restaurant, where perhaps the largest buffet-based breakfast I have ever seen is served every morning: in true Singapore style, it offers Western, Chinese, Indian and Malay delights and just about everything you can think of in between. I’ll be honest, it was one of the highlights of our day. At lunchtime and in the evening, the restaurant stays in buffet-style mode, serving a revolving choice of specialities from around the world for a flat fee. It’s not cheap, so make sure you’re hungry and you won’t be disappointed.
The hotel has two other restaurants in addition to the Lobby Lounge and The Line – the Waterfall, which serves excellent Italian food by the pool, and the upmarket Cantonese cuisine Shang Palace. Just off the lobby, the Origin Bar feels like a special night-time haunt and is always busy – a proper, cosy hotel bar where you could easily while away a few hours sipping cocktails and nibbling bar snacks.
With all this eating and drinking, you might feel the need to get active, and once again the Shangri-La doesn’t let you down. Its pool is large enough to accommodate its wide array of guests, which ranges from well-heeled couples to families with small children. There’s a poolside bar, and if you want to just chill by the pool with a cocktail, there are plentiful staff on hand to bring you one.
More strenuously, the health club has a large and well-equipped gym, with personal trainers on hand to put you through your paces; there are also two floodlit tennis courts and the Chi spa offers multiple massages and treatments, including regular yoga sessions.
With so many options for eating, drinking and other activities, it would be very easy to visit Singapore and never leave the luxurious environs of the Shangri-La, and we met a few people who come here regularly to do just that. We wanted to see the city, and went out every day, but we were always delighted to return to our comfortable air-conditioned temporary home. It would, we concluded, be a shame to miss out on what Singapore has to offer, but if you were to do that anywhere, this would definitely be the place!
Images (C) Shangri-la
Tell me more about The Shangri-La Singapore
Shangri-La Singapore, 22 Orange Grove Road, Singapore 258350
T: +65 6737 3644. E:singapore@shangri-la.com
The hotel’s double rooms start at around £200 a night.
