Capella Singapore

Capella Singapore occupies a hillside on the southern side of Sentosa island, a short drive across the causeway from the city, with its gardens running down towards the Singapore Strait. It opened in 2009 as the flagship of the Capella brand, a resort of rooms, villas and manors arranged around two colonial buildings of the 1880s and a new curved block by Foster + Partners. In June 2018 it became briefly the most watched hotel in the world, when the presidents of the United States and North Korea met there for the first time.

History

The two white buildings at the centre of the resort were built in the 1880s by the British Royal Artillery as barracks and officers' quarters for the garrison on what was then Pulau Blakang Mati. Named Tanah Merah, they survived the Japanese occupation and the island's conversion into the Sentosa leisure resort in the 1970s. In the 2000s the Kwee family's Pontiac Land took the site and commissioned Foster + Partners to build a hotel around the conserved buildings, with Capella Hotels and Resorts, founded by the former Ritz-Carlton president Horst Schulze, as operator. The resort opened in March 2009.

On 12 June 2018 the resort hosted the summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the first meeting between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader. The two men met and signed a joint statement in the resort's colonial buildings, and the handshake took place on the terrace outside. The hotel was closed to other guests for the occasion.

Architecture and design

Foster + Partners placed a new building behind the two conserved ones: a long, curving block that follows the contour of the hill, so that every room faces the gardens and the sea. The colonial buildings hold the lobby, the library and the function rooms, with their original verandas and shutters restored. Interiors throughout use dark timber, rattan and Asian art, and the gardens, laid out over thirty acres, descend in terraces to the pools, with peacocks that roam the lawns.

Rooms and suites

The resort has 112 rooms, suites, villas and manors. Rooms and suites in the curved building have balconies or terraces facing the gardens. The one-bedroom villas and the larger villas each have a private plunge pool and a garden. The Capella Manors are three-bedroom houses with their own pools, kitchens and staff, used by families and delegations. The resort's own guest relations staff, called Capella Culturists, attend to each stay.

Dining

Cassia serves Cantonese cuisine in a dining room with lacquered walls. The Knolls is the all-day restaurant with Mediterranean cooking and a terrace overlooking the pools. Fiamma, the Italian restaurant by the chef Mauro Colagreco, opened in 2022 in one of the colonial buildings. Bob's Bar, named after the resort's original Capella Hotel Group chairman, serves Cuban-inspired cocktails by the pool, and Chef's Table is a private dining room for small groups.

Wellness

Auriga, the resort's spa, takes its name from the constellation and schedules its treatments to the phases of the moon. It has treatment suites, steam rooms, ice fountains and a relaxation garden. Three cascading outdoor pools step down the hillside towards the sea, and a fitness centre is open around the clock.

Weddings and events

Capella Singapore is one of the preferred wedding resorts in Singapore, with ceremonies on the lawn in front of the colonial buildings, receptions on the terraces and banquets in the ballroom, which has a foyer and daylight. The function rooms in the historic buildings suit boardroom meetings and private dinners, and the manors are used for family gatherings. The 2018 summit demonstrated the resort's capacity for security and privacy.

Location

The resort is on the quieter southern side of Sentosa, with Palawan Beach below it and the Sentosa Golf Club nearby. The island is reached by road across the causeway, by the Sentosa Express monorail from HarbourFront station on the MRT, or by cable car from Mount Faber. A car reaches the city centre in about 15 minutes and Changi Airport in about 30. As a luxury hotel in Singapore with gardens, villas and a place in diplomatic history, it has no equivalent on the mainland.