Raffles Hotel

Singapore's foremost colonial icon
Tipple of choice: Ask the bartender to make you one of the venue's original, world-famous Singapore slings—not the pre-mixed version.

Even if you don't have deep enough pockets to stay at this grand old hotel, it's almost sacrilegious not to have a poke around. Following an enormous restoration project during the 80s, Singapore's first modern building equipped with electricity is still considered among the world's finest hotels, boasting tropical gardens, a Victorian-style theatre and a free museum showcasing memorabilia from the turn of the 20th century, now referred to as the Golden Age of Travel.
It's free to wander the immaculate grounds (where you'll also find boutiques including Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton) and patronise the famous Long Bar, but if you're keen to sample the national cocktail have your wallet ready. The ever-increasing cocktail price is a royal turn-off for many visitors—but we think it's still worth it for the free peanuts, the shells of which you are still allowed to toss on the floor, 1915-style.