Lit Supertrees against the night sky at Gardens by the Bay

Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 4.0

Where to stay in Marina Bay

The bay itself: the hotel on stilts with the ship across its towers, Gardens by the Bay behind it, the ArtScience museum on the water and the financial district's skyline across the basin. It is the newest ground in a city that rebuilds constantly, entirely planned, and the version of Singapore that appears on every cover. What it is not is a street — the distances run over bridges, podiums and underpasses, they walk longer than they look, and the eating is indoors and priced for the address.

Price level · Luxury

Singapore

Area scorecard

Scored 0–10 by Where Stay Guide. No overall total: every traveller weights these differently.

Sightseeing: 9.4
Walkability: 7.5
Transport: 8.5
Food: 7.0
Nightlife: 7.5
Quietness: 6.5
Families: 8.5
Value: 3.5
Airport / station: 8.0
First trip: 8.5

Best for

A first trip built around the set pieces
Families, for the gardens and the museums
Travellers who want the view they came for from the room

Choose elsewhere if

You came to eat
You are watching what you spend
You want a street rather than a podium

Our picks in Marina Bay

Best for the bay itself

Pan Pacific Singapore

Our pick for Marina Bay because it is in Marina Centre rather than on the far shore, with covered access to Suntec City, Marina Square, Millenia Walk and the convention centre — which one degree north of the equator is the difference between walking and not.