Singapore

Cross onto Sentosa Island and Singapore switches modes entirely. It’s a private, resort-only stretch a short bridge from the main city — the closest thing the country has to a reset button. Capella sits there. Staying on the island changes the pace of a Singapore trip more than any single hotel would on its own.

Back on the main island, PARKROYAL on Pickering was built as what its architects at WOHA call a “hotel-in-a-garden”. Trees and shrubs climb all the way to the top floor. Hanging “birdcage” balconies look out over the surrounding skyline.

Gardens by the Bay is worth a full afternoon — 101 hectares split between several gardens, with the Supertree Grove lighting up at dusk. We did Cloud Forest first, then walked to the Grove to catch the sunset and the light show together. For dinner, Iggy’s is tucked inside the Hilton but run independently, and has held a spot on San Pellegrino’s World’s Best Restaurant list for years. Walk in and it barely feels like a hotel restaurant. And Wanderlust Hotel earns a mention for how hard it is to find: a boutique hotel at the end of an unassuming street our own cab driver assumed was the wrong address.