Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa review: Singapore's only beachfront resort
With kayaks bobbing on the teal waters of the South China Sea and peacocks strutting along shortbread-coloured sands; it's hard to believe you're 20 minutes from Singapore's futuristic skyscrapers. An oldie but a goodie, this seaside resort and its whitewashed block of 454 rooms — with balconies and forest-chic decor — has occupied a prime position at the western end of Siloso beach on Sentosa Island since the 1990s. The lively beach — and Shangri-La's private section of it — has undeniable draw, but this place also shines when it comes to keeping families happy, with direct-to-lounger beach bar bites, splash and slide zones, and a roving high-energy 'fun team' who cheer children through walk-on-water challenges, and deliver chilled watermelon slices to those who prefer to stay horizontal. Staff are full of energy and enthusiasm and have plenty of recommendations for what to see and do nearby to make the most of the seaside locale. At busy mealtimes, restaurant service is good, if a little more laid-back.
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Score 8/10Calming bedrooms are a pleasant retreat from the hubbub of the Noughties-soundtracked pool, bringing the resort's foliage-rich surrounds inside with vine-patterned carpets, lotus flower triptych artwork, blonde wood, fern-coloured cushions and cream-on-white pinstripe linens. On one side, hill-view rooms peek into tangles of verdant canopy; on the other, watery vistas vary. Lower levels look out to the freeform pool, surrounded by palms; floors six and up add an ocean glimpse; the 10th and 11th floors afford full-glitter seascapes.
All rooms have balconies, apart from the ground-floor rooms, which spill straight into the garden where orioles perch on birds of paradise stems. A design quirk means that the bathrooms of the smallest rooms (Superior Hill View and Deluxe Sea View) have a tub, while some larger rooms come with a shower. Higher category rooms have both.Score 8/10 Nasi goreng? Check. Three-egg omelette? Check. Chefs whipping up nest-shaped appam topped with coconut? Check. The sprawling third-floor restaurant Silver Shell Café serves a huge array of global cuisine from breakfast through to dinner. Most guests opt for the buffet, and given the satay station, noodle bar and patisserie lineup (mango cream puffs, pandan chiffon and red velvet cake) it's unlikely they feel hard done by. Just in case, an additional selection of dishes, which changes each evening, is put on at dinner; perhaps Singaporean hawker fare one night, a seafood focus the next.
Children have heaps of choice (tomato pasta, chicken fried rice, frog-shaped kaya buns) and will undoubtedly angle for a stop at the cotton candy stand. It's the only sit-in restaurant space and breakfasts get busy; to manage the masses at its busiest (queues to get in can reach half an hour), staff offer coffee, fruit juice and balloon sculpting while you wait. For straight-to-lounger dining, passionfruit mint sodas, gelato macarons and wagyu burgers can be ordered via QR code from Siloso Beach Bar, and there's also the Bubble Bar for the likes of raspberry cosmopolitans topped with dry ice.
• More great hotels in Singapore• Best serviced apartments in Singapore
Score 9/10The sizeable pool is pretty, surrounded by frangipani and flame trees and soundtracked by that Noughties playlist. It is divided into three sections: a shallow end for kids, a deeper family section, and an adults-only lap portion, bookended by bubbling whirlpools. The atmosphere is one of high-energy high jinks, thanks to free activities including bingo, face painting and water polo for little ones, and aqua aerobics for adults. Three separate splash zones with jets and waterslides, decorated with monkey sculptures, are perfect for children, all under a shaded canopy. Kayaks, pedalos and SUP boards are available from the beachside Sea Sports Centre and children (aged 5-12) can play all day at the Cool Zone, colouring, crafting and doing sports led by a watchful, charming team (under-fives have a play area, but must be accompanied). Parents can use the gym, or wander along a pillared path to Chi, the Spa for aloe wraps and stress-busting back massages. Days can be topped and tailed with sunrise yoga and — after apricot-hued sunsets — barefoot beach cinema.
Score 9/10Sentosa is a small island and it's only half an hour's drive from the resort to Singapore's city centre. On the doorstep, Siloso beach has a party-meets-adventure thrills feel, with zip lines flying above the water and buzzy beach bars. Bungee jumping, blend-your-own perfume at Scentopia, and Trapizza restaurant's burnt tomato and buffalo mozzarella pinsas are all a short stroll along the sands. Siloso Point cable car station is also close by for sky-high rides, as is the Imbiah Trail, where the local firm Untamed Paths runs night safaris to spot owls and glow-in-the-dark scorpions. An e-powered monorail and beach shuttles make reaching all the major attractions a breeze — try Beach Station's shops, the walkable light, sound and scent trail at Sensoryscape, and Resorts World's theme parks. Family-friendly Palawan beach is a ten-minute shuttle away; here you'll find HyperDrive — a 308m e-karting track which feels like playing real-life Mario Kart — and beach club +Twelve, which does mean mango margaritas at the swim-up pool.
Price room-only doubles from £227Restaurant mains from £11Family-friendly YAccessible Y
Ianthe Butt was a guest of Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa (shangri-la.com)
• Best affordable hotels in Singapore• Best things to do in Singapore
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Times
6 hours ago
- Times
Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa review: Singapore's only beachfront resort
With kayaks bobbing on the teal waters of the South China Sea and peacocks strutting along shortbread-coloured sands; it's hard to believe you're 20 minutes from Singapore's futuristic skyscrapers. An oldie but a goodie, this seaside resort and its whitewashed block of 454 rooms — with balconies and forest-chic decor — has occupied a prime position at the western end of Siloso beach on Sentosa Island since the 1990s. The lively beach — and Shangri-La's private section of it — has undeniable draw, but this place also shines when it comes to keeping families happy, with direct-to-lounger beach bar bites, splash and slide zones, and a roving high-energy 'fun team' who cheer children through walk-on-water challenges, and deliver chilled watermelon slices to those who prefer to stay horizontal. Staff are full of energy and enthusiasm and have plenty of recommendations for what to see and do nearby to make the most of the seaside locale. At busy mealtimes, restaurant service is good, if a little more laid-back. This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue Score 8/10Calming bedrooms are a pleasant retreat from the hubbub of the Noughties-soundtracked pool, bringing the resort's foliage-rich surrounds inside with vine-patterned carpets, lotus flower triptych artwork, blonde wood, fern-coloured cushions and cream-on-white pinstripe linens. On one side, hill-view rooms peek into tangles of verdant canopy; on the other, watery vistas vary. Lower levels look out to the freeform pool, surrounded by palms; floors six and up add an ocean glimpse; the 10th and 11th floors afford full-glitter seascapes. All rooms have balconies, apart from the ground-floor rooms, which spill straight into the garden where orioles perch on birds of paradise stems. A design quirk means that the bathrooms of the smallest rooms (Superior Hill View and Deluxe Sea View) have a tub, while some larger rooms come with a shower. Higher category rooms have 8/10 Nasi goreng? Check. Three-egg omelette? Check. Chefs whipping up nest-shaped appam topped with coconut? Check. The sprawling third-floor restaurant Silver Shell Café serves a huge array of global cuisine from breakfast through to dinner. Most guests opt for the buffet, and given the satay station, noodle bar and patisserie lineup (mango cream puffs, pandan chiffon and red velvet cake) it's unlikely they feel hard done by. Just in case, an additional selection of dishes, which changes each evening, is put on at dinner; perhaps Singaporean hawker fare one night, a seafood focus the next. Children have heaps of choice (tomato pasta, chicken fried rice, frog-shaped kaya buns) and will undoubtedly angle for a stop at the cotton candy stand. It's the only sit-in restaurant space and breakfasts get busy; to manage the masses at its busiest (queues to get in can reach half an hour), staff offer coffee, fruit juice and balloon sculpting while you wait. For straight-to-lounger dining, passionfruit mint sodas, gelato macarons and wagyu burgers can be ordered via QR code from Siloso Beach Bar, and there's also the Bubble Bar for the likes of raspberry cosmopolitans topped with dry ice. • More great hotels in Singapore• Best serviced apartments in Singapore Score 9/10The sizeable pool is pretty, surrounded by frangipani and flame trees and soundtracked by that Noughties playlist. It is divided into three sections: a shallow end for kids, a deeper family section, and an adults-only lap portion, bookended by bubbling whirlpools. The atmosphere is one of high-energy high jinks, thanks to free activities including bingo, face painting and water polo for little ones, and aqua aerobics for adults. Three separate splash zones with jets and waterslides, decorated with monkey sculptures, are perfect for children, all under a shaded canopy. Kayaks, pedalos and SUP boards are available from the beachside Sea Sports Centre and children (aged 5-12) can play all day at the Cool Zone, colouring, crafting and doing sports led by a watchful, charming team (under-fives have a play area, but must be accompanied). Parents can use the gym, or wander along a pillared path to Chi, the Spa for aloe wraps and stress-busting back massages. Days can be topped and tailed with sunrise yoga and — after apricot-hued sunsets — barefoot beach cinema. Score 9/10Sentosa is a small island and it's only half an hour's drive from the resort to Singapore's city centre. On the doorstep, Siloso beach has a party-meets-adventure thrills feel, with zip lines flying above the water and buzzy beach bars. Bungee jumping, blend-your-own perfume at Scentopia, and Trapizza restaurant's burnt tomato and buffalo mozzarella pinsas are all a short stroll along the sands. Siloso Point cable car station is also close by for sky-high rides, as is the Imbiah Trail, where the local firm Untamed Paths runs night safaris to spot owls and glow-in-the-dark scorpions. An e-powered monorail and beach shuttles make reaching all the major attractions a breeze — try Beach Station's shops, the walkable light, sound and scent trail at Sensoryscape, and Resorts World's theme parks. Family-friendly Palawan beach is a ten-minute shuttle away; here you'll find HyperDrive — a 308m e-karting track which feels like playing real-life Mario Kart — and beach club +Twelve, which does mean mango margaritas at the swim-up pool. Price room-only doubles from £227Restaurant mains from £11Family-friendly YAccessible Y Ianthe Butt was a guest of Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa ( • Best affordable hotels in Singapore• Best things to do in Singapore
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
How your health can define your chances of seeing the world
Cancer is brutal. It robs many victims of years of life. The disease tears families apart. Thankfully medical science has dramatically improved the odds on survival. Yet cancer can have a long-lasting effect on travel – even after it has been beaten. The problem is travel insurance. Some insurers simply turn down flat people who have had cancer, regardless of the prognosis from the patient's doctor. Fortunately there are some excellent specialist companies who make it their business to offer policies for cancer patients. They typically provide cover for anyone who is deemed to be more likely than others to make a claim – whether because of advanced age or pre-existing medical conditions. You can find an expert through the Travel Medical Directory of the British Insurance Brokers Association. But the policy might end up costing more than the trip. You may have read about Josh Cull, from Bournemouth – who, in 2021, received the devastating news that he had a brain tumour. He was just 25. Initially Josh was told he had only three months to live, but thankfully a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy meant he was, in his words, 'healthy and fully recovered'. A number of people who have recovered from cancer have told me that a literal new lease of life spurs then to want to discover the world. So it was with Josh: 30 months after his treatment ended, he planned a South East Asian adventure with his brother and his fiancé. 'The trip was supposed to be a reward for everything we'd been through,' he says. 'However, I couldn't get an insurance quote for less than £3,000.' Josh could have abandoned the trip. That is what the Foreign Office would advise. It says: 'If you're travelling abroad, you should take out appropriate travel insurance before you go.' He might have been tempted not to disclose the cancer and treatment and just pick up a cheap policy. That could have ended badly. Should you fall ill as a result of a pre-existing condition returning, an insurer will immediately investigate your medical history. If there is a related condition you have not disclosed, the policy may be annulled and you could end up with medical bills running to tens of thousands of pounds. Instead, Josh took a calculated risk to go anyway. Like many other young travellers who do not have insurance, he got away with it. But for people who have recovered from cancer to have to face such a choice – travel uninsured or stay at home – is far from ideal. Some say that premiums running into thousands of pounds show travel insurers are profiteering from people who have been through an extraordinarily difficult experience. Yet travel insurance is a competitive business. Regrettably, this is down to harsh arithmetic. Underwriters crunch the numbers on dealings with travellers who have been through cancer. Their conclusion: there is more chance of a claim than for most travellers, and the cost of a claim is likely to be higher. Sometimes travel insurers' concerns are unfounded – and there is welcome evidence that insurers are now looking more closely at an individual's circumstances rather than refusing to insure cancer patients at any price, or applying outlandishly high premiums. But any traveller who comes with enhanced medical issues can expect to pay more. For example, I have osteoporosis (brittle bones). I enjoy trekking in the Himalayas. But because I am more likely than most to break a bone at high altitude, I paid £228 extra to cover an expedition in Nepal last year. Fortunately, there is one more option for people facing astronomical premiums: stay in Europe. The UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) gives coverage for free or reduced-rate treatment in public hospitals in the EU and Switzerland. Some travellers with cancer or other conditions make a positive decision to rely on this asset rather than staying at home. Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue – and what it means for you
Times
8 hours ago
- Times
Rolls-Royce has wowed the City — can it charm airlines too?
With the temperature gauge nearing 40C, it was a typically stifling June day in downtown Delhi last Sunday. The temperature inside the air-conditioned Taj Mahal hotel was more amenable, but Sir Tim Clark was still getting hot under the collar. The British executive, who co-founded Emirates in 1985 and has led the airline since 2003, is known for lambasting aircraft engine manufacturers — and especially Rolls-Royce. Clark has refused to take delivery of multibillion-dollar order of Airbus aircraft until a fix can be found for what he has described as the 'defective' Rolls-Royce engines that power the specific type of planes. Is it frustrating, then, that Rolls's share price is at record highs? 'Just a bit,' he responded sardonically. • Rolls-Royce reinstates dividend and announces £1bn buyback To rub salt into the wound, Rolls's chief executive, Tufan Erginbilgic, cancelled a lunch date with him at the biennial Paris Air Show next week, the 75-year-old claimed during a fringe event as Delhi hosted the annual conference of airlines trade body IATA. This allegation was later hotly disputed by the Rolls camp. Clark is not alone among airline executives in directing his ire at the Derby-based engineering giant. Bosses at British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been left fuming at chronic problems with Rolls engines that have grounded planes, leading to swathes of cancellations. The situation is worse still on the other side of the Atlantic. Issues with engines built by the Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney led to a violent sell-off in Wizz Air shares last week. Bosses at the London-listed budget carrier were forced to issue a profit warning and remove forecasts amid concerns about contaminants in the powdered metal used to make its turbofan engines. Sentiment in the Square Mile towards Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, could hardly be more different. The company's shares have risen more than 800 per cent since Erginbilgic, a former BP executive, took office in January 2023. Five-year profit targets have been hit early, and investors have been showered with dividends and share buybacks. Rolls now boasts a stock market value of almost £75 billion, putting it among the five biggest companies in the FTSE 100 last week. The company's success has been built on the back of building and maintaining aircraft engines. Civil aerospace generates 51 per cent of Rolls's revenue and nearly two-thirds of its profits. So having won back the City, can it do the same with the airlines that ultimately keep it aloft? Rolls produces four main engine types: the clunkily named Trent XWB-84 and XWB-97, as well as the Trent 1000 and 7000. 'Yes, everybody who has Trent 1000s has the right to be very cross,' said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at the equity research firm Agency Partners. 'But the whole aero-engine industry is struggling with the latest generation of engines because they collectively ran up against the laws of physics — where the attempt to optimise fuel consumption, emissions and reliability ended up with them pushing the envelope too far.' The Trent 1000 is facing durability issues. 'The blades end up looking like someone with very bad teeth,' said Cunningham. 'We have been taking decisive action and moving quickly to prioritise the resources needed to reduce the impact created by the current industry wide supply chain constraints, it's the highest priority for our civil aerospace division,' Rolls said. The problem with the newer XWB — the -97 version of the engine that, so far, Emirates won't accept — is its propensity to be compromised in hot, sandy conditions such as those in the Middle East. The turbine blades are designed with tiny air-cooling holes. Inspections have found that these have become clogged up with glass, contained in sand blown into the engine, which melts and restricts airflow. A spokesman for Rolls said that Emirates had accepted the XWB-84 version of the engine on its A350-900 jets. The -97 will power A350-1000 aircraft. The interim response has been for Rolls to increase the number of engine inspections and replace parts more frequently. The company is working on a longer-term fix and could make an announcement as early as this month on progress. The increased number of inspections is one reason why BA and Virgin's jets are grounded more often. This has been compounded, across the aero-engine industry, by supply chain problems and labour issues. The roots of this can be traced back to the pandemic, which has led to planes being stuck in maintenance shops for longer. As a result, 15 per cent of the global fleet of aircraft is grounded, compared with the long-term average of 12 per cent, according to IATA. 'The single biggest challenge remains supply chain performance,' said Rob Watson, president of civil aerospace at Rolls. 'Things have improved, but there are still challenges. So that Covid impact is still washing through.' During the pandemic, engine manufacturers' complex network of suppliers had to stop production and furlough staff. Some of the suppliers failed. More recently, geopolitical events have affected access to raw materials. For example, titanium, a crucial metal in the production of engines, was almost exclusively sourced from Russia. 'We still see some fragility in our supply chain,' said Watson. 'So we've invested a lot in our forecasting capability, and we've now got an even better view of our supply chain's ability to order and deliver parts. 'We're doing a lot of work with our quality teams, making sure we've got the right quality in the supply chain and, in some cases, placing employees in supply chain organisations.' Cunningham at Agency Partners pointed out that labour shortages in maintenance workshops have put further strain on the ecosystem. 'All those old guys in the workshop that you used to see — the ones who, in the case of the American workshops, look like members of ZZ Top, and their equivalents in Europe — either got fired during Covid, or decided that it wasn't worth working the last few years of their career after being furloughed,' he said. This has left large parts of the sector with less experienced staff who are not as productive as their older predecessors. For BA, maintenance work on the Trent 1000 engines for its Boeing 787 Dreamliners means that the UK flag carrier has three to four planes grounded at any one time. Sources familiar with the situation said this will continue for the rest of 2025 at least. Such groundings put further pressure on other aircraft in BA's fleet — principally its older-generation Boeing 777 aircraft, which in turn require additional maintenance to compensate for extra flying hours. Sean Doyle, chief executive of British Airways, is thought to be waiting on Rolls to come up with a plan for 2026. BA this weekend declined to comment. • Everyone bashes it but BA is surging ahead … what's its secret? Virgin Atlantic said that aircraft availability continues to be 'slightly impacted' by the continued supply chain shortages related to Trent 1000 engines. 'We work very closely with Rolls-Royce to mitigate impact, and the reliability of our schedule is delivering strong results for our customers,' a spokeswoman said. British Airways recently gave the strongest sign yet that its patience with Rolls has run out in relation to the Trent 1000, however. BA's parent company, IAG, announced in May that an order of 32 Dreamliners would be powered by engines made by GE, Rolls's rival. Watson, Rolls-Royce's civil aerospace chief, said: 'Of course we were disappointed that IAG opted for GE on the recent Dreamliner order. But it's always our customers' choice. 'Let's not forget that at the same time the Dreamliner order didn't go our way, IAG placed a significant order of Rolls-Royce-powered Airbus aircraft [for BA's sister airlines Aer Lingus, Iberia and Level], which I think demonstrates the strong relationship we've built with IAG.' As for the Trent XWB-97 on which Clark at Emirates claims he is waiting, Erginbilgic has set aside £1 billion to find a long-term fix to legacy issues with it and other engines. 'Since he [Erginbilgic] took over from Warren East [as chief executive], he really has transformed that business,' said Clark. 'Maybe he's a little bit more confident about his engineering capabilities. But I haven't seen any 'we will give you the engine' or 'we will guarantee the engine'.' Maybe Clark will find out over their lunch later this month at the Paris Air Show. Assuming their date is still going ahead.
