“These smaller hotels put you closer to the city’s history and people.”

Singapore shed its buttoned-up reputation years ago, and its hotels have been having fun ever since. While the city has landed headlines for mega-properties with sky-high infinity pools, it’s the boutique scene that’s trending right now. From old godowns turned design hideouts to converted remittance houses operating buzzy bistros, these smaller hotels put you closer to the city’s history, character, and people.

For the best places to eat, shop, and experience in Lion City, visit our Sustainable Singapore City Guide.

21 Carpenter

Best for: Heritage hotel with a buzzy bar

Between Chinatown and Clarke Quay, 21 Carpenter occupies a 1936 remittance house, a building in which Singapore’s early immigrants sent money and correspondence home. Some of those messages have survived, featured in the property’s laser-cut aluminum facade as homage to its history. Local architecture firm WOHA oversaw its restoration, following strict preservation rules to maintain the original Shanghai plaster exterior. Half of the 48 rooms occupy the original four-story shophouse, while the remaining rooms fill a five-floor extension with floor-to-ceiling glass. The hotel runs a zero-plastic policy and offers complimentary bicycles. It works with Singapore businesses like Soap Cycling, which recovers used amenities for redistribution, and Soda Lemon, which turns discarded glassware into in-room toothbrush holders. Kee’s, a 71-seat neo-bistro, lures both locals and guests for European-meets-Pan-Asian cooking.

The Warehouse Hotel

Best for: A design-led stay on the river

The Warehouse Hotel turns three 1890s godowns, the old riverside warehouses where traders once stored their goods, into a 37-room boutique hotel on Robertson Quay. The historic facade opens onto a vast, contemporary lobby and bar, where the original steel trusses and pulley lights hang over the room. The restaurant, Po, serves modern takes on Singaporean staples, and the robes, ceramics, and teas come from Singapore artisans. Rooms are small and moody, with high-design touches, ikat textiles, river or rooftop views, and a cheeky Minibar of Vices stocked with local snacks. The pool is small but does the job of refreshing travelers after a hot day walking or cycling around town. Make friends with the bartender and you might land one of the clever off-menu cocktails, including this one made with pandan.

The Vagabond Club, Singapore

Best for: Maximalist design and a serious whiskey bar

Set in an Art Deco building on Syed Alwi Road, The Vagabond Club brings a theatrical edge to Singapore’s boutique hotel scene. The 41-room property sits near Kampong Glam and Little India, which suits its mix of Parisian salon mood and Southeast Asian flourish. French architect and designer Jacques Garcia, known for his dramatic interiors, shaped the hotel with red velvet banquettes, dark walls, gilded details, surrealist art, and larger-than-life animal sculptures. The lobby alone makes an impression, with a golden tree rising above the bar and a cast of sculptural elephants, rhinos, and baboons giving the space more character than the usual city hotel lounge. Upstairs, the rooms are calmer but still richly layered, with dark wood, colorful rugs, woven blankets, and hand-painted furnishings. The social center is The Whiskey Library & Jazz Club, stocked with more than 1,000 whiskies and designed as a gathering place, not a token hotel bar.

Lloyd’s Inn

Best for: Minimalists who want green space and a pool

On a quiet residential street off Killiney Road, Lloyd’s Inn sits a five-minute walk from Orchard Road and Somerset MRT but feels removed from all of it. The design, by Singapore studio FARM, is minimalist and material-driven, built around raw concrete, white walls, and pale wood, with floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights throughout. Several of the 34 rooms open onto outdoor showers, tubs, or small decks facing the greenery. Open-air corridors, hidden courtyards, and a dipping pool ringed by trees keep the shared spaces cool. Breakfast is complimentary but offered at neighborhood spots like Killiney Kopitiam and Bread, Beer & Brez’n, which sends guests out into the local economy, on purpose.

Labrador Villa

Best for: Couples who want a heritage retreat in the trees

Inside a 1920s black-and-white former garrison in Labrador Nature Reserve, Labrador Villa hides just 20 rooms behind shuttered windows, deep verandas, and high ceilings that look straight into the trees. Rooms mix dark floorboards, four-poster beds, and reclaimed wood details, with some suites adding private plunge pools or deep soaking tubs. Overall, the stay feels closer to a private house than a city hotel. Breakfast is served at Tamarind Hill in a separate bungalow reached by a short path through the greenery. The property incorporates salvaged wood, bamboo, and rattan pieces made by regional artisans into its design, all within an existing low-rise shell beside the park’s boardwalks and coastal trails.

KēSa House

Best for: Prime location near culinary hotspots

On Keong Saik Road near the edge of Chinatown, KēSa House occupies ten former shophouses, their facades refreshed in vivid aquamarine. The 60 rooms come in several categories, from the smallest standard rooms, best for solo travelers or couples who pack light, up to premier and studio premier rooms, which add patios, balconies, living rooms, and kitchenettes, depending on the configuration. Common spaces include a guest kitchen, lounge, and outdoor terrace, evoking a co-living space more than a standard hotel. The street outside hosts some of the city’s best bars and restaurants, with two MRT stations a few minutes’ walk away.