The Raffles Hotel could be the best known building in Singapore. It is also a historic structure and national landmark that is well a worth a visit by tourists.
The hotel itself was first opened in 1887 by four Armenian brothers who built a ten room bungalow hotel on the site of an old girls school. The hotel is named for Sir Stamford Raffles – the English colonialist who founded Singapore in 1819.
The present hotel was built in 1899 and heavily renovated in the 1990s. It tries to preserve the luxury and style of British Singapore in the 1930s.
Long Bar and Singapore Sling
The best known feature of the current Raffles Hotel is the Long Bar which is considered one of the great bars of the world. The Long Bar is where bartender Ngiam Tong Boon invented the famous cocktail called the Singapore Sling around 1915.
The Singapore Sling is a mixture of pineapple juice, gin, Cherry Heering and Benedictine. Slings are still served at the long bar but most of them are mixed and dispensed using a machine. What is believed to be an early Singapore Sling recipe is still on display at the Raffles Hotel Museum.
A Historic Location
The Raffles Hotel is very much a part of Singapore’s history, so history buffs will enjoy a visit. Guests at the hotel and the Long Bar over the years have included Queen Elizabeth, Charley Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, Ernest Hemingway, Robert A. Heinlein, Michael Jackson, Somerset Maugham and many other celebrities.
A colorful story claims that the last wild tiger in Singapore was supposedly shot under the hotel’s bar & billiard room in 1902. Another version of the tale claims the tiger had escaped from a zoo.
Some very unwelcome guests were Japanese soldiers who occupied the hotel in 1942. Legend has it that the invaders found British colonialists dancing one last waltz as they marched in.
During World War II the Japanese renamed the Raffles the Syonan Ryokan and used it as a hotel. After the British recaptured Singapore the Raffles was used to house survivors from Japanese prison camps.
All of this history is recounted in the Raffles Hotel Museum which is well worth a visit as is the Long Bar. The hotel itself is probably too prices for most guest but if you can afford it a stay could be fun.
The Raffles can be found at 1 Beach Road in Singapore.