Singapore: Raffles Hotel Singapore

Raffles Hotel is an iconic century old hotel in the heart of Singapore’s old town center, it was established in 1887, and for a very long time was considered one of the most luxurious hotels in the SE Asia. Dozens and dozens of celebrities stayed here, including Ernst Hemmingway. The hotel occupies a whole block and has several colonial buildings, terraces, yards, bars and restaurants, shopping. But the most important (in my humble opinion) is the Long Bar, which is where the Singapore Sling cocktail was invented – gin, cherry liquor, grenadine, Cointreau, Benedictine, lime juice, pineapple juice, and angostura bitters. For nearly $30 you can try one of this cough syrup concoctions right at the place where it was made originally… Several historic churches are just outside the hotel.