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Raffles Singapore review: the 1887 colonial icon on Beach Road, all-suite living, Long Bar heritage, and VIAIVE's honest take on who should book a stay.
Raffles Singapore review: the 1887 colonial icon on Beach Road, all-suite living, Long Bar heritage, and VIAIVE's honest take on who should book a stay.
In short
Raffles Singapore is an all-suite, 115-suite colonial-era hotel on Beach Road that opened in 1887, holds National Monument status, and is built around 14-foot ceilings, in-suite butler service, and heritage dining and bar venues including the Long Bar, birthplace of the Singapore Sling.
The verdict
Raffles Singapore Review: The Colonial-Era Icon on Beach Road
Raffles Singapore sells history and an all-suite format better than almost anywhere in the city — but that comes with colonial-era room geometry and a public-facing Long Bar/Arcade that trades quiet exclusivity for tourist footfall.
Who should book
In favour
- Travelers who specifically want the experience of staying inside a National Monument rather than a modern build with heritage decor
- Guests who want suite-level space and butler service as the included standard, not a paid upgrade
- Cocktail and dining travelers who want direct access to the Long Bar and Tiffin Room as part of the stay itself
Worth knowing
- A quiet, low-traffic property — Raffles' ground floor, Arcade, and bars draw significant non-hotel-guest foot traffic
- A large-scale resort with extensive room-type variety — this is a smaller, all-suite property, not a big-box luxury hotel
- Confirmed suite dimensions or per-category suite counts before booking — these are not published on the official site
The property
Raffles Singapore opened its doors on December 1, 1887, as a 10-room hotel established by the Armenian Sarkies brothers on Beach Road. The Main Building, completed in 1899, is built in neo-Renaissance style around a grand lobby, with a cast-iron verandah added in 1913 later replaced by a front ballroom in 1921. The Singapore government declared the property a National Monument in 1987, on its 100th anniversary.
The hotel has gone through two documented modern restorations. It closed in March 1989 for a multi-million-dollar project to return it to its 1910s–1920s appearance, reopening in September 1991 looking, per the hotel's own account, much as it did in 1915. A second, more recent restoration began in 2017 under Katara Hospitality's stewardship to adapt the property to present-day needs, with the hotel reopening in August 2019 with newly opened bars, restaurants, and social spaces.
What distinguishes Raffles Singapore from other heritage-branded hotels in the region is that it is not a hotel with a historic wing bolted onto a modern tower — the entire 115-suite property operates within the restored colonial building and grounds, with colonial-style architecture, original 14-foot ceilings, teak flooring, and antique furnishings carried through the accommodation rather than confined to public spaces.
Suites overview
Raffles Singapore is an all-suite hotel — there are no standard guest rooms, only suites, a structural fact that shapes the whole stay rather than being a premium tier within it. The property lists eight suite categories on its official site: Presidential Suites, Grand Hotel Suites, Promenade Suites, Residence Suites, Personality Suites, Palm Court Suites, Courtyard Suites, and State Room Suites, ranging from smaller studios to palatial Presidential Suites. Individual suite sizes and per-category counts are not published on the official site. A dedicated VIAIVE room-type page covers suite-by-suite detail.
Dining overview
The hotel's dining program spans fine dining, heritage bars, and casual venues: 1887 by André (French cuisine through a heritage lens), 藝 yì by Jereme Leung (Cantonese and Chinese regional cuisine), Butcher's Block (wood-fire cooking), Tiffin Room (North Indian cuisine, operating in the same setting since 1892), The Grand Lobby (afternoon tea), Writers Bar, Raffles Courtyard, and the Long Bar — the hallowed birthplace of the Singapore Sling, created in 1915 by Hainanese bartender Ngiam Tong Boon and still operating as a working bar rather than a museum piece. A dedicated VIAIVE dining page covers each venue, including the full Long Bar and Singapore Sling heritage story.