Where to stay

Singapore is a melting pot of Asian, Middle Eastern and European cultures. To see these cultures come together, many first-time visitors book hotels in the former migrant hubs of Little India, Chinatown or the Arab Street District in Kampong Glam, which are all dotted with temples, churches, mosques and shrines. Each of these central Singapore neighborhoods has rows of brightly painted Chinese shophouses and alleys full of colorful street art, making them all the more attractive places to book a hotel. The area around the City Hall, including Downtown Singapore (Downtown Core), is the perfect place to stay for regular museum, theater and art gallery visits. Between the National Museum of Singapore, housed in a stately colonial building, and the modern, eye-catching ArtScience Museum, there is a lot more to get excited about.

In Singapore, retail is a lifestyle. This steaming city has a variety of elegant, air-conditioned malls along Orchard Road. Staying in the Marina Bay Sands hotel complex in Marina Bay South gives guests quick access to The Shoppes, the resort's modern mall full of high-end fashion boutiques. An impressive canal runs through the complex, which also has a casino and rooftop bar. Families who stay on Sentosa Island will love its pedestrian mall and shuttle train that goes to VivoCity, the nation's largest shopping complex. The more nostalgic types who favor browsing through little vintage boutique shops and markets may want to stay in Bugis or Tiong Bahru. Chinatown and Little India, with their weird and wonderful arts and crafts, may tempt keen collectors as well as budget travelers to their cheaper hotels and private rooms in the brightly painted shophouses.

Stay in Little India for easy access to curry houses, tandoori restaurants and street-side hawker stalls. Alternatively, for romantic restaurant terraces with views of the illuminated Sultan Mosque at night, book a hotel in the Kampong Glam neighborhood. While here, try some of Singapore's best Mediterranean and Middle Eastern delights in the small but exciting Arab Street District. A short walk from here is the Colonial District, home to Raffles Hotel, which still serves its iconic Singapore sling cocktail from the courtyard bar, along with delectable British-Indian buffets. Vacationers staying in the Marina South neighborhood, in or near the eye-catching Marina Bay Sands luxury hotel, will love the sizzling Satay by the Bay open-air food court, set among the magical landscape of the Gardens by the Bay.