Singapore: A city in constant redefinition

Turning a challenge into a success. Singapore, a small piece of peninsula with no resources or hinterland, populated by a majority of Buddhist Chinese in a corner of Asia that tends to be Muslim, has succeeded. Taking advantage of its differences, Singapore has established itself over the past 50 years as the hub of South-East Asia. After trade and finance in the 70s and 80s, transport and telecoms in the 90s, the metropolis has perfectly negotiated the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. And today, it is well on the way to achieving the ideal model of the Asian city of the future: environmentally friendly, a leader in cutting-edge industries such as biotechnology, all with a certain art of living.

Futuristic districts are springing up around Marina Bay, designed by the best architects, and an ambitious urban public transport plan is in the process of covering every corner of the metropolis and, in time, the neighbouring municipalities in Malaysia. Cultural events and generous grants to artists have helped - more through opportunism than real conviction - to elevate Singapore to the status of a crossroads for the arts and media. The region's creative minds flock there in search of fame and fortune. By focusing on its quality of life, Singapore has embarked on a demographic growth race. With some 4.5 million residents, Singapore hopes one day to reach 6 million. This will make the city even more attractive to investors and provide economic opportunities for its services sector...

Tourism is part of this strategy. The opening this year of two resorts with casinos, the first on Sentosa Island and the second on Marina Bay, should enable Singapore to double the number of visitors, currently 11 million a year. The new casinos should attract the emerging Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Thai middle classes. Singapore is a multi-faceted destination, with a new Universal Studios theme park, a Formula 1 night race circuit, numerous festivals and clinics devoted to medical tourism. If there's something for everyone, it's another winning bet.

How to get there

Singapore Airlines offers a daily flight from Paris-CDG with the exclusivity of an Airbus A380 equipped with first class suites. Very comfortable lounges in terminals 2 and 3, offering gourmet dining.

Air France also operates a daily flight. Finnair is opening a daily service via Helsinki in 2011.

Internet: www.singaporeair.com / www.airfrance.com / www.finnair.com

Information

Singapore National Tourist Board: a number of offices are open in the city and in the 4 terminals at Changi airport.

Internet : www.yoursingapore.com

Hotels

The Fullerton Hotel: Luxury and voluptuousness

This imposing Palladian-style building, with its colonnades dating from 1928, stands on the banks of the Singapore River. Until fifteen years ago, it housed the Central Post Office. Opened in 2001, the Fullerton Hotel has since become one of the city's most elegant hotels, perfectly combining contemporary comfort with an Art Deco or classical touch.

The hotel has 400 rooms, most with panoramic views over the buildings of the business district or Marina Bay. The rooms are all extremely comfortable and refined, but travellers will find it hard to resist the Loft Suites, two-storey rooms with balconies or mini-terraces overlooking the bay and the swimming pool, or the Fullerton Suites, all with open terraces and views over the city. All suite guests have access to the Straits Club Lounge and a butler is on hand 24 hours a day. And don't miss the Courtyard restaurant's Afternoon Tea, the ultimate in British tradition!

1, Fullerton Square 

Tel: +65 67 33 83 88 / Fax: +65 67 35 83 88 / Internet: www.fullertonhotel.com

Ritz-Carlton Millenia : Grand Luxury

The main attraction is the gigantic atrium, with its impressive light and glass sculptures. And also for its impeccable service and gourmet buffets. But people also come here because the hotel is ideally located just a few metres from the Suntec City congress and conference centre, to which it is linked by a footbridge. Others will particularly appreciate the gigantic bathrooms overlooking the futuristic skyline of the city centre.

7 Raffles Avenue 

Tel: +65 6 337 88 88 / Fax: +65 6 338 00 01 / Internet : www.ritzcarlton.com

Bayview Hotel : Advantageous

 It is located in the heart of Bencoolen Street, a street with one of the largest offers of mid-range hotels - two to three-four stars - close to the business district. The Bayview Hotel is a three-four star hotel, recently refurbished, with bright rooms and internet access. Bar and restaurant integrated into the hotel. Excellent value for money in the city centre.

30 Bencoolen Street

Tel: +65 6 337 28 82 / Fax: +65 6 338 28 80 : Internet : www.bayviewhotels.com/singapore

Traders Hotel : Solid

It is the four-star product of the Shangri-La group, one of the big names in Asian hotels. Situated at the top of Orchard Road, the hotel has a contemporary feel, with 546 rooms, and is ideal for business travellers looking for high quality accommodation at very reasonable prices.

1A Cuscaden Road

Tel: +65 6 738 22 22 / Fax: +65 6 831 43 14 / Internet : www.shangri-la.com/en/property/singapore/traders

Wangz Hotel : Design

The barrel-shaped exterior may be disconcerting. But inside, the new Wangz Hotel is a natural haven in the heart of the city. A relaxing atmosphere in this 41-room establishment in the Tiong Bahru district near Chinatown. Free internet and minibar.

231 Outram Road

Tel: +65 6 595 13 88 / Internet: www.wangzhotel.com

Hotel 1929: Local atmosphere

This beautiful house, built in 1929, skilfully blends traditional Peranakan (Chinese-Malay) culture with very contemporary design. The rooms are not always very large, but every space has been cleverly used. The terrace suite and deluxe rooms offer a very 70s-inspired touch...

50 Keong Saik Road 

Tel: +65 6 347 19 29 / Internet: www.hotel1929.com

Ibis On Bencoolen  Chic and... cheap

Opened at the end of 2008, this is the fun, trendy version of our Parisian Ibis. Accor wanted to make this hotel the model for its new-generation Ibis in Asia. The 538 rooms are spacious and colourful, with generously proportioned bathrooms, flat-screen TVs and free Internet access. What more could you ask for? Well, that's the pleasant surprise of this establishment, whose breakfast buffet offers a choice of which some Parisian four-star hotels could be ashamed!

170 Bencoolen Street

Tel: +65 6 593 28 88 / Internet: www.accorhotels.com or www.ibishotel.com

Bars

Bars come and go with disarming ease in Singapore. There are, however, a few safe havens: the bar at Swissôtel The Stamford on the 70th floor - for those who can't afford the restaurant prices Jaan par André.

A great classic, the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel. A delightfully old-fashioned place, but above all a historic one, where the Singapore Sling cocktail is said to have been invented.

Le Fullerton Post Bar is the only place to have preserved elements of the old post office in a very jazzy atmosphere.

For club fans, Chijmes in the heart of the city is home to bars, clubs and restaurants, sheltered behind the walls of a former convent.

Near the port, St James Power Station is a former Art Deco power station home to a dozen clubs and bars.

Shopping

Wandering around Singapore, you might think that the city is just a vast shopping area. The line-up of shopping centres on Orchard Road embodies this very Asian passion for consumerism.

Among the latest malls to open in the metropolis are the impressive ION Orchard and 313@Somerset on Orchard Road. A reputation that may soon be eclipsed by the forthcoming opening of The Shoppes At Marina Bay Sandsa hyper-luxury shopping centre and Festive-Walk at Resort Worlds Sentosa.

Among the shops offering Singapore products or a Singapore spirit, see the one atAsian Civilisations Museum, NewUrbanMale and its funky Singaporean T-shirts or Pink Lemon (Keong Saik Road), a boutique run by a French designer inspired by the traditional jacquard patterns and Peranakan crafts of Chinese immigrants.

Express lunch, the food court trend

What if cafeterias were the latest fashionable place to have lunch? They're called Food Courts in Singapore, and for the past few years designers and chefs have been taking them over. For a maximum of ten euros, you can enjoy freshly prepared local and international specialities in sometimes crazy settings. For example Food Republicon the top floor of the mall Orchard Central on Orchard Road, where the waitresses ride electric unicycles around a white and grey room lit up here and there by coloured neon lights. ION on Orchard, the latest shopping centre to open, has gone for the baroque style, with statues and chandeliers creating an almost surreal setting.

Restaurants

Singapore's reputation as a culinary paradise is well-founded, with the city happily blending Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, Indian and Western influences.

Blue Ginger

Typically Singaporean flavours from the famous Peranakan cuisine, a blend of Chinese, Indonesian and Malay specialities. An elegant little restaurant housed in a traditional old house and served by attentive staff, usually from Indonesia.

97 Tanjong Pagar Road 

Tel: +65 6 222 39 28 / Internet: www.theblueginger.com

Indochina/Siem Reap II

Two restaurants under the same ownership, the first offering Indochinese specialities, the second Asian fusion cuisine. Both restaurants offer one of the most pleasant settings in Singapore. Integrated into the Asian Civilisations Museum, their shaded terraces overlook the Singapore River and its tiny houses.

IndoChina Empress Place, ACM /

Tel: +65 6 339 17 20 / Internet: www.indochine-group.com

Jaan By André

He's the talk of the town. At the age of 39, chef André Chang is one of the city-state's new talents, and in the space of two years he has won a series of awards for his restaurant "Jaan par André". The restaurant serves contemporary French cuisine in one of the most impressive locations in Singapore: on the 70th floor of Swissôtel the Stamford, with a breathtaking view of the city...

70/F Swissotel the Stamford, 2 Stamford Road 

Tel: +65 6 837 33 22 / Internet: www.swissotel.com

Jade

 Contemporary Chinese cuisine renowned as one of the best in Singapore, located in the Fullerton Hotel. Its chef, Leong Chee Yeng, is one of the most renowned Chinese chefs of his generation. He is said to specialise in light Cantonese cuisine, with Beijing, Shanghai and Szechuan influences.

1, Fullerton Square

Tel: +65 6 733 83 88 / Internet: www.fullertonhotel.com

Chef Chan

Almost hidden away at the back of the National Museum of Singapore. Crossing the threshold is like stepping back a century into a world of old paintings and antiques. Chinese cuisine recommended by the locals. Reservations recommended.

01-06, 93 Stamford Road

Tel: +65 6 333 00 73 / Internet: www.chefchanrestaurant.com.sg

One On The Bund

Located on the Clifford Pier, which was completely renovated for the occasion, it is a long restaurant with an incredible décor that mixes nostalgic Chinese kitsch with a very contemporary feel. The cuisine is just as eclectic, from Peking duck to Western desserts with an Asian twist.

Collyer Quay, Clifford Pier

Tel.: +65 6 221 00 04

Kha

It's serene, chic and minimalist all at the same time. One of Singapore's most fashionable restaurants, awarded the title of 'Best New Table in Singapore' in 2008. Thai cuisine is served in a contemporary setting. Bonus: a splendid tree-lined terrace.

02-02 Hort Park, 33 Hyderabad Road

Tel: +65 6 476 90 00 / Internet: www.kha.sg

Services

Taxis

Every taxi company offers a chauffeur-driven limousine service, as do the major hotels.

• City Cabs > Tel.: +65 6 552 22 22 Comfort > Tel.: +65 6 552 11 11
• Premier Cabs > Tel: +65 6 552 28 28 Smrt Taxis > Tel: +65 65 55 88 88

French network

• French Embassy in Singapore > 101-103 Cluny Park Road Tel: +65 68 80 78 00 - Fax: +65 68 80 78 01 - Internet: www.ambafrance-sg.org
• French Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (FCCS) > 541 Orchard Road, 09-01 Liat Towers Tel: +65 6 735 25 74 - Fax: +65 6 735 53 94 - Internet : www.fccsingapore.com/
• Singapore Economic Mission > see embassy address: www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/se/singapour/

Fitness/Care

All the major luxury hotels have a spa centre, usually offering traditional Balinese, Javanese or Thai massages.

Senze Salus SK-II Boutique Spa Scotts An independent spa and treatment centre set in an exquisite 'black and white' villa, an architectural style very much in vogue between 1900 and 1930 in the British period.

31 Scotts Road - Tel: +65 68 36 91 68 - Internet : www.senzesalus.com