Raffles Hotel Singapore clinches a spot in World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026 list

Raffles Hotel Singapore has once again landed on The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026 list, and it remains the only Singapore property to enter its top 50. Though it’s fallen from the fifth spot in 2025 to 17th this year, we’d still call it a win.

And honestly, we’re not surprised. Founded all the way back in 1887, the hotel has never stopped reinventing itself. As part of  its major restoration and reopening in 2019, Raffles added new restaurants, bars, courtyards and social spaces while preserving the colonial-era architecture and old-school service that made it famous in the first place.

Its latest move is decidedly culinary. In March this year, celebrated chef André Chiang returned to Singapore with 1887 by André, taking over the hotel’s historic formal dining room. The restaurant draws from Raffles’ archives and Singapore’s culinary history, combining heritage flavours with French techniques.

Raffles Hotel itself has quite the CV. Opened by the Armenian Sarkies brothers as a humble 10-room property, Raffles grew into one of Singapore’s most recognisable landmarks and was gazetted as a National Monument in 1987. Its guestbook has included the likes of Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Elizabeth Taylor and Charlie Chaplin, while the iconic Singapore Sling was famously created at the hotel’s Long Bar in 1915.

Raffles Hotel Singapore faced strong competition from other Asian hotels. At the very top, Rosewood Hong Kong retained the No. 1 spot for a second consecutive year, followed by Capella Bangkok and Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River. Other top hotels in the region include Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Upper House Hong Kong, and Mandarin Oriental Bangkok. 

Here are the Top 20 on the World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026 list:

1. Rosewood Hong Kong – Hong Kong
2. Capella Bangkok – Bangkok
3. Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River – Bangkok
4. Atlantis The Royal – Dubai
5. Passalacqua – Lake Como
6. Rosewood São Paulo – São Paulo
7. Mandarin Oriental Qianmen – Beijing
8. Upper House Hong Kong – Hong Kong
9. Chablé Yucatán – Chocholá
10. Mandarin Oriental Bangkok – Bangkok
11. Aman Tokyo – Tokyo
12. Four Seasons Firenze – Florence
13. Claridge's – London
14. Hôtel de Crillon – Paris
15. Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab – Dubai
16. Capella Sydney – Sydney
17. Raffles Singapore – Singapore
18. Casa Maria Luigia – Modena
19. Le Bristol – Paris
20. Cheval Blanc Paris – Paris

Check out the full list here.

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