Best food & drink

1. Lavo Italian Restaurant and Rooftop Bar

Situated right by the hotel’s pools, Lavo serves excellent coffee (and Espresso martinis) and delicious American-Italian food, with stunning views of the marina below. It’s the place to head for a lunchtime feast or to take in the glow of the city just before sunset.

Lavo is buzzing with families and friends when we arrive, sipping beautifully crafted coffees and tucking into truffle pasta and burrata salads. Next time, we’ll pop back for the decadent Champagne Sunday brunch.

2. Origin + Bloom

For breakfast, you could try Rise Restaurant – down in the vast hotel lobby. It’s all about casual dining and there’s a jaw-dropping breakfast buffet with dishes from around the globe. However, if you have a day of sightseeing ahead, I’d recommend heading to Origin + Bloom – a well-designed café in the lobby of Tower 3.

You can choose between drip coffees and Singapore favourites like Pandan green tea, and there are fresh fruit parfaits and incredible pastries to take away. We order salmon and cream cheese croissants and buttery pain au chocolat mini loaves to go.

3. Dumplings Darling

Not that you’d ever tire of MBS’s long roster of restaurants, but it’s worth venturing to nearby Chinatown to sample the restaurants and traditional hawkers. Dumplings Darling is a simple concept, offering hand-crafted dumplings and noodle dishes.

We opt for a dumpling feast with flavours like Spicy Sichuan Pork and Smoked Duck and Shitake and pair it with their delicious grapefruit, thyme and strawberry green iced tea.

Stay

Marina Bay Sands has a wide selection of rooms as you can imagine. We stay in a Deluxe Gardens View Suite with floor-to-ceiling windows, a generous balcony and easy access to the pool. The rooms are decorated in soft, luxurious golds and the bathrooms are vast, kitted out with Roberto Cavalli products.

For an ultra-decadent stay, book one of their newly renovated rooms from their Paiza Collection. The hotel will organise a limousine transfer and you’ll be transported to your suite via a private lift. There’s also a 24-hour personalised butler service included with your room, and some include marble-clad bars, hammam spas and grand pianos.

Explore

A trip to neighbouring Gardens By The Bay is a must. It’s one of the world’s most beautiful nature parks with plants and flowers spanning five continents – from thousand-year-old olive trees to colourful magnolias and orchids. Make sure your ticket includes a trip to the Cloud Forest – the space replicates the ecosystem of a mountain rainforest and has a huge rushing waterfall at its entrance.

If shopping is your thing, you’re spoilt for choice with The Shoppes next door to the hotel. Every designer is represented here and there are spaces dedicated to luxury watches, sunglasses and bags. To see it in all its glory, why not take a traditional Sampan Ride down the mall’s central river? These boats used to transport locals all across Singapore.

But it’s worth venturing further from the hotel to experience some of Singapore’s incredible hawker food markets. Our favourite is Lau Pa Sat, with its own street dedicated to open-air satay carts and you can try authentic dishes like Hainanese chicken rice and Hokkien Mee – fried prawn noodles.

Finish it all with the incredible fountain shown right outside Marina Bay Sands – this is usually on every night at 8pm and 9pm. And if you have energy spare, head up to CÉ LA VI SkyBar & Club for after-hours revelry.