Raffles launches luxury Sentosa resort with private pools, 5 restaurants
The historical hotel has opened up a 62-villa property where each villa has a private pool, butler and a driver with a Rolls-Royce buggy. We stayed there first and it is a game-changer.
The morning starts gently and slowly. Frangipani leaves are drifting across the pool. A peacock, self-appointed as an avian alarm clock, lets out a bawdy screech from a sheltering tree. The muggy humidity is playing havoc with my curly hair. The six-year-old granddaughter, who’s been ready in her swimsuit for “hours and hours”, takes my hand as we jump into the pool and she squeals so loudly the peacock panics and shoots up from his branch like a just-launched rocket.
This is Singapore but not as we know it. To hop across to Sentosa Island, the city-state’s unofficial playground, and enjoy a resort-style break, is virtually mandatory for locals, and now more and more visitors. Leave behind the soaring skyscrapers and glossy malls, the battalions of housing estates, the bustling markets, and just breathe. Formerly a military base, Sentosa opened up to tourism in 1972. A cable car system was installed and later a causeway allowed for easy access. Accommodation soon followed and top brands such as Capella, Amara and Sofitel have led the market.
But now there’s a game-changer with an inventory of tropical holiday accommodation that just about puts Bali and southern Thailand in the shade. I give you Raffles Sentosa Singapore, a newly opened 62-villa hillside sanctuary of great charm and discretion. All accommodation features large private pools, sun terraces and canopied sunbeds, plus the expected contemporary falderals. It’s a brilliant companion to the original Raffles on Beach Road, a beacon for travellers since 1887, and the pair blend well for a combined stay. A mixed marriage of colonial and contemporary, if you like. If further validation is required, this newcomer has been named on the 2025 Prix Versailles World’s Most Beautiful Hotels List.
Created by international specialist hospitality design studio Yabu Pushelberg, the Sentosa look favours sleek lines, even a touch of Beverly Hills luxe in the villas, given the palm trees and high white walls. Colours are subdued, rather than screeching of the tropics. Coffered ceilings and oriental trimmings add texture and context, while potted orchids provide splashes of colour. Huge interior murals feature glimpses of resident monitor lizards amid tropical foliage and Asian koels. We hear the real birds whistling away as we swim, as chirpy and consistent as a recorded soundtrack.
We are in Villa 27, attended with care and charm by butler Rose, whose sunny smile and sense of humour is typical of all the staff we encounter. Communicating via WhatsApp, a driver and stylish buggy (an adapted Rolls-Royce model, no less) appear on call for hops from the gated guest villas around the 100,000sq m estate and its network of curved walkways and paths, stretches of lawns and glossy plantings that mimic the feel of a botanical garden.
Whenever we head back to our compound, it’s straight into the pool. If our return is after dinner, Rose will have drawn a bath for the granddaughter, positioned battery-operated candles, popped in some essential oils, and scattered orchids in all directions. The child is impressed, as is Mister Peacock, the soft toy she has been given by Rose after showing off her honking impression of the bird’s cry, which surely ricocheted clear across the Sentosa causeway. This may be a glossy, sophisticated estate, but children are not just welcome but clearly feted.
To find fault, however, our villa layout is awkward for more than two guests. There’s a king bed in the main pavilion and enormous ensuite and storage facilities. Bath gels and lotions by Sicilian brand Ortigia are in abundance and smell glorious. Cupboards reveal shady hats, umbrellas and towels galore. Blackout curtains shield the window walls from light and provide privacy. I am happy enough on a rollaway piled with a veritable snowdrift of soft pillows in the adjacent pavilion, which is essentially a living area with giant TV and lounge furniture. But its curtains are sheer and I wake way too early; it has no toilet so I tiptoe into the main pavilion at first light trying not to disturb the granddaughter and her Mummy. Larger accommodation styles address the layouts more effectively and the four-bedroom Royal Villa would be ideal for small groups or families.
And so to eat (and eat). There’s no denying Singapore is one of the world’s most brilliant food hubs, but the clever aspect of this new property is its abundance of dining outlets and styles of cuisine. Five restaurants are respectively helmed by executive chefs with Michelin credentials. Empire Grill, presided over by chef Bjoern Alexander, specialises in contemporary Italian flavours; garnishes are sourced from the estate’s gardens. Expect a mid-century aesthetic and onyx-inlaid floors, superb pasta and wood-fired grills, plus the prospect, come sunset, of a roving saxophonist by the adjoining pool. We hear him in the distance, soulfully competing with the peacocks. The breakfast here is a delight, too, complete with a tiered offering that looks more like a teatime spread. There’s a line-up of charcuterie, smoked salmon, pastries and fruit, plus the legendary local offering of kaya toast, all buttery and nursery-like with coconut jam and soft eggs.
At Royal China, replete with crystal chandeliers and botanical views, Cantonese cuisine from executive Chinese chef Ling Heng Yao zooms up many notches to fine dining status with the likes of Peking duck, rich soups and a lunch menu of dim sum (try the steamed shrimp or bean curd and mushroom dumplings). At Iyasaka by Hashida, an almost secretive 12-seater omakase venue associated with Japan’s celebrated Hashida family of restaurateurs, the parade of tiny dishes appears at discreet intervals as diners sit on stools at the counter and observe the chefs in action, each approaching their duties with near-surgical precision, including the handling of tweezers. An information card with QR codes is provided to reveal more about the origins of the kitchen’s salt and wasabi, Sudachi lime and botanicals.
The celebrated afternoon tea service associated with the colonial flagship hotel is served in the airy Raffles Room overlooking a spreading ficus tree. A Sentosa Sling, anyone? This hybrid version of the original Raffles cocktail is given a fresh interpretation with the addition of lemon leaves, calamansi and passionfruit from the Sentosa plantings, paired with watermelon rind and rose nectar.
All these dining options feel like stand-alone affairs, not typical hotel inventory. It’s a matter of summoning a buggy or walking to each, which gives a sense of arrival, and locals are already well in attendance, many patronising the private dining rooms or at chef’s tables in Empire Grill and Royal China. Think: designer labels, society gossip, and top-brand handbags. For something more casual, The Chairman’s Room is a speakeasy-style venue with cocktails and soft music. Or how about a picnic? The property is close to Tanjong Beach, so a swim and sustenance are not far away. Then there’s a two-hour tour of Sentosa aboard a chauffeured vintage Rolls-Royce Phantom, available to all guests, which stops at Fort Siloso, gazetted as a national monument, plus the Sensoryscape gardens and the recently upgraded Nature Discovery walkway. We are blessed to be accompanied by Raffles wellness and experiences manager Ali, who illuminates our excursion with snippets of local legends as we keep a lookout for butterflies and bright birds.
Meanwhile, Mister Peacock, overwhelmed by the prospect of consorting with owls at Sentosa’s new Harry Potter World at Universal Studios, stays “home” for a nap, and perhaps even a clandestine flight to the Raffles “adult cascade pool” with its rock formations just made for a showy promenade.
It’s tempting to stay put, too, at The Raffles Sentosa Spa, ask for therapist Sarah, housed in a former military barracks building . On our final night, the granddaughter creeps into bed with me, Mister Peacock dangling under her arm, and tells me in a tiny, dejected voice, that she never, ever wants to go home. She promptly falls asleep, but I lie awake, plotting our return.
In the know
Raffles Sentosa Singapore is about 25 minutes by road from Changi airport. There’s wheelchair access throughout the property’s public spaces, and an accessible villa close to the arrivals hall. The resort has a fleet of electric-powered buggies and solar-powered outdoor lamps throughout. One bedroom villas from $S1350 ($1611) a night (accommodation for four guests). Savings apply for ALL Accor members.
Raffles scope of properties, including branded residences, covers Istanbul, London, Boston, Jeddah, Jakarta, Warsaw, Paris, Shenzen, Hainan, Macau, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Manila, Jaipur, Bali, Doha, The Maldives, The Seychelles, UAE, and Bahrain.
Susan Kurosawa was a guest of Raffles Sentosa Singapore.
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