In my opinion, Singapore is an exciting stop over which whenever possible, I make. It allows the body to adjust from the rigor of long haul flights from Europe, it makes a handy escape route if doing business in Indonesia and things turn sour and it has some excellent shopping which keeps Mrs! happy, especially the purfume and the custom jewlery manufacturers (she needs a cheaper hobby)...
I have stayed at quite a number of hotels in Singapore, I will relate my fav 2, both centrally located.
Novotel - Clarke Quay
177A River Valley Road
179031 SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE
Tel (+65)63383333
Fax (+65)63392854
Clarkes Quay is IMHO one of the finer dining experiences available in Singapore. The restaurants (in the forefront of the picture) cater for most tastes and are not overly expensive. Singapore chili crab (you choose the crab) will set you back $40-$50 SIN at any of the seafood resturants, a steak and few beers will set you back the same at Hooters. Hooters alone is worth the visit, I had a young Hooters lass peeling crab and feeding me one night - Mrs! said, "make the most of it, you know I'll never do that!"
To top the night off at the Quay, Ministry of Sound have a night club there - a must do for all - like the music or not, its an experience I frequently partake in...
Across the river is Beerworkz, an on site brewery with reasonably priced beer and good food. (Riverside point)
The MRT is about a 5 minute walk and a taxi from the airport should cost about $20. ( Novotel is the large building in the background)
Robinson Quay Hotel
15 Merbau Road Singapore
This is a more budget minded hotel about 10 minutes walk along the river from Clarke Quay. The rooms (insist on a river view) are small but not too shabby. Mrs! and I stayed at this hotel (used it as a base for overnighters into Indonesia and Malaysia) for 10 nights and the only complaint was the Singapore Slings were so darn good!
There's a small bar on the rivers edge and honestly, they do make the best slings in Singapore there...
Just over the road is Robinson walk where you will find good bars and eateries at half the cost of Clarke Quay. A fav here is the buckets of beer - 4 or 5 beers in an ice bucket at a reasonable price. Just outside the walk is a Portguese resturant where the owner (Vin Diesel lookalike) has found some loophole and is able to serve bottled beer (heineken and tiger) at about $4 a bottle if you sit on the street side of the bar! The food here is also awesome, the skewered roasts, the food keeps coming till you say stop.
Novotel is good, expect a walk in rate of $200 or so, advise pre booking from Australia, you can get better rates, I think my last rate was about $180 through Qantas holidays (!) - Mr! scale - 8/10
Robinson Quay - you will need to prebook. You can negotiate a good rate here, our Xmas bookings were less than $125 per night including breakfast. Mr! scale 6/10
Hope this helps!!
I stand corrected.
