The Westin Plaza/Stamford and the Raffles are only about 2-3 blocks west of the IC, and that triumvarite of the Ritz-Carlton, Pan-Pacific and Oriental is also just a few blocks further west/south and not a bad walk to the Arab Street areas and really not a bad walk to Little India (you will sweat a little but you can stop for drinks and air con breaks at various places). The Pan-Pacific and the Oriental have been redone and are supposed to be nice now, esp the Oriental, I have not seen them, the Meritus Mandarin was supposedly redone but I don’t know how that turned out (it’s not part of the Mandarin Oriental group so I am a little wary.) There is a Conrad on Temasak Blvd which is basically part of the same group of inter-connected malls with the Ritz and Pan-Pacific that would be OK for distance, I have not seen the rooms but the lobby, etc are nice. It’s going to be about as expensive as the Ritz though.
Also, I think the location of the Swisshotel Merchant Court is very good too. You can walk to Chinatown, you can walk to the Singapore River area of the Asian Civilizations Museum and the Padang and you could walk to Arab Street, etc. (I will admit a longish walk, but done slowly would be interesting and not bad at all, at least Singapore is flat…). The Fort Canning Park is almost behind you. It also is at an MTR stop. I don’t know it at all, have not even been inside, but Swisshotels are generally OK, like a good 3 star.
To charly1, the Swisshotel Merchant Court and also the Swisshotel Stamford may be worth trying. Go to
http://www.swissotel.com/index.htm
In a completely different area, I was just on the phone with a friend of mine in Singapore getting her ideas, and she mentioned the Gallery Hotel in the River Valley Road area which she thinks is really nice. This location would not really be great for first timers, but if you know Singapore and how to get around I think it would be a nice alternative for a different area. It seems to be kind of fashion-forward, I have not seen it myself, although I have to say the pool looks VERY cool. They seem to be offering internet special rates at like US$150. Take a look at
http://www.galleryhotel.com.sg/html/index.html. It’s location is south of Orchard Road and on the north side of the river, so you may end up taking more taxis than you want (but hey, they are cheap); or would have to walk out to River Valley Road to get a bus or walk to the Orchard Road area for the Somerset MRT stop (not a far walk actually just a few blocks and Killeny Road has some little restaurants and Devonshire Road has a little temple on it), so if you don’t know Singapore or are only there for a day or two it’s probably not worth it. The plus sides are that it’s near to the very interesting Hindu temple on Tank Road, (esp good if you go to Singapore for the Thiapusam festival). It is also just a short block or two to the pub, restaurant and nightclub district of Mohamed Sultan Road; there are also art galleries in this area. (I can’t imagine any noise issues, it’s Singapore, and of course it’s Singapore so perfectly safe even at 3 am in the morning…)
