As I walked into our room at The Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore, I feel like I’ve stepped into the future, reminiscent of Marty McFly’s 2015 in the dystopic Back to the Future 2. Ok, there’s no hover boards and flying cars but futuristic architecture shapes the skyline and everything feels disturbingly…well, clean…
Our Premier Bay View Room had a perfect view of the now iconic triple towers of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, where we’d be staying for our last couple of days in Singapore.
Our current accommodation, The Fullerton Bay Hotel, is one of the top hotels in Singapore, still fairly new to the scene. The beautifully luxurious bayside resort is rated a Five-Star hotel by Forbes Travel Guide and it was recently named one of the 100 World’s Best Hotels by Travel + Leisure, two sources that I always consult when booking a hotel. Also good to know is that The Fullerton Bay Hotel is a member of Preferred Hotel and Resorts Legend Collection which is compromised of some fantastic award-winning hotels including two of my absolute faves, Post Ranch Inn and Il Salviatino.
Part of the Fullerton Heritage, a historic precinct located on the Marina Bay waterfront which was originally the point where immigrants and visitors landed in Singapore and the location of several government buildings. Now the complex encompasses The Fullerton Bay Hotel and it’s sister property, The Fullerton, as well a mix of revamped heritage icons such as Clifford Pier and The Customs House along side newer build shops and restaurants.
I was of course awestruck by the epic view from the balcony but the room itself was gorgeous too.
The bedroom was super spacious and our huge bed had a little friend nestled in those fine Egyptian cotton sheets, that was ours to keep.
Isn’t he a cutie?
There was a separate desk and a plush seating area and I loved the floor to ceiling windows that allowed you to take in the entire view; though taking photos for the balcony was challenging as the humidity meant that my camera lens steamed up as soon as I stepped outside.
There was a thoughtful welcome amenity of fresh fruit and sweet treats; they’d clearly heard all about my macaron fetish.
It can always be a challenge getting decent pictures of a bathroom but the Fullerton Bay is blogger’s dream, as there is a glass wall to the bathroom, clearly designed to take photos through 😉
But fortunately there is a privacy screen to preserve your modesty.
See what I mean? I haven’t stayed in many hotel rooms where you can see the bed from the bath!
Though as there’s a TV for the bath, you may be looking at that instead!
And TV aside I loved the tablet shaped sink and the Bvlgari amenities.
There was even a pillow menu so that you could select your favourite feathers…I strongly believe every luxury hotel should have a pillow menu ;). As we only stayed one night we didn’t get a chance to sample all the different pillows but as I’d had a bad back before we’d left I would have found a few of the selections so comfortable.
Arriving we were already struck by the levels of service, check-in was swift and easy and the concierge called us around 10 minutes after we entered the room to make sure everything was ok. With only 100 rooms, the Fullerton Bay is small compared to the other sky-scraping hotels in Singapore so service is personal and attentive.
With the sleep of a 13 hour flight showered off and our smart attire donned we headed out to explore the hotel, and I always like to explore the bar first!
The Fullerton Bay Hotel has two bars and first we went to check out The Landing Point, adjacent to the lobby. The bar was glamorous and gold with plush sofas and stools and a fabulous panoramic view of the Waterfront, there’s a list of classic cocktails and you can also order from an à la carte menu featuring European as well as local dishes. I really loved the bar and it reminded me of The Intercontinental in Hong Kong which is another of my favourite hotels. But there was an even more exciting location for cocktails at the hotel.
The super-stylish bar located by the pool on the roof top; named The Lantern in homage to the Red Lantern pier, a landing point for Singapore’s first immigrants and the red lanterns that acted as a guide to sailers.
I absolutely loved the glamorous pool side location which boasted a wraparound view of the dramatic Singapore skyline…
Including THAT view of the Marina Bay Sands. Not only was the bar totally stunning but the atmosphere was brilliantly buzzy and alive.
Photo taken before my hair was totally destroyed – humidity and Jew-Fros just don’t mix…
The Lantern bar has a huge selection of cocktails, including varying takes on Singapore’s iconic drink, and there are several different types on ‘Slings’ to try as well as a Margherita and Mojito menu, plus other classics.
We were kindly given a few of their signature bar nibbles to try, which was just the right amount of food for two people fresh off the plane.
We soon tucked into our delicious tasters of soft shell crab, duck quesadillas and lobster sliders – nibbles that combined some of our favourite foods – and settled back to to watch the light show.
At around 9.30pm colourful laser lights beam from the Marina Bay Sands hotel opposite, dancing around the sky and lighting up the surrounding roof tops and glimmering off the water. I’ve seen disappointing city light shows before, but this was definitely worth watching.
The next morning it was time to explore properly in the daylight…
The entrance to the Fullerton Bay is beautiful and glittering with high ceilings and shimmering chandeliers; the foyer leads on to the Clifford Pier which in 1933 was a landing point for arrivals into Singapore but has now been restored into one of the hotel’s restaurants. It was important to hotel designer, Andre Fu, to create this stunningly elegant and modern interior whilst remembering the history of the location and honouring the colonial heritage of Singapore.
He achieves this with the beautifully detailed artwork in the hotel such as mosaic tiles, traditional rose wood and latticed screens.
Breakfast at the hotel’s La Brasserie restaurant was fantastic, with a huge buffet featuring Asian dishes and European options as well as an egg station and a few à la carte choices.
Mr Silver excitedly piled his plate with dim sum, teriyaki salmon and fried rice, where I gingerly took some toast and fruit…I’d had one too many cocktails to quite feel like eating Asian food first thing in the morning.
After breakfast we headed out to explore the local area, the hotel really has a great location being built entirely on the water within very easy reach of lots of other shops and restaurants along the Fullerton precinct. For example The Customs House, which was previously the location for the Singapore Customs Police in 1969 has been restored and transformed to assemble five top restaurants with a great location right at the sea front.
In my usual nosy way I insisted that Mr S and explore the sister hotel, The Fullerton which could be accessed via a subway. Originally called The Fullerton building, it was finished in 1928 and housed the General Post Office, the Exchange and the office for the Governor of Singapore. In 2001 it was transformed into it’s current guise, a 400-room luxury hotel. After we had a quick poke around, I was satisfied that I preferred my choice of hotel which was more sparkly and modern than the it’s sister.
With a plane to catch we hurried back to the hotel for a dim sum lunch at neighbouring restaurant, Jing, where the food was pretty mixed in terms of taste but I just loved their presentation of salmon sashimi roses – excellent Instagram fodder.
Before we headed off there was just time for one last look at the stunning roof top pool and Singapore’s incredible skyline…
Mr Silver and I absolutely loved the Fullerton Bay Hotel, from its stylish public areas, to the beautifully appointed accommodation, top notch service and excellent food, I was just sad to only stay for one night.
The Fullerton Bay Hotel
80 Collyer Quay
Singapore
049326
Tel: +65 633 8388
I paid the full rate for my room but by booking through Chinmoy Lad at Virtuoso I received exclusive benefits and an upgrade on arrival. Email clad@zebranotravel.com for similar benefits worldwide. PS I’m not receiving commission on this just wanted you to know as Chin gave me a really excellent service.
Preferred Hotels kindly arranged for our complimentary food and cocktails. Check out all the hotels in the Preferred collection on their website: www.preferredhotels.com
