The best new tried-and-tested hotels in Malaysia and Singapore

These luxury properties offer the best of the coast and the city

The club lounge at Voco Orchard Singapore. Photo: Voco Orchard Singapore

Tourists returning to Malaysia and Singapore will find appealing new accommodation options awaiting them.

While the pandemic slowed these travel hubs, both are now experiencing a surge in visitors, who have their pick of beachside locations, stunning views and luxury spa facilities. Here are three of the best new, tried-and-tested properties in the two countries.

Anantara Desaru Coast Resort and Villas, Malaysia

Set on Malaysia’s quiet south-east coast, Desaru is the country’s hottest new beach destination, thanks to its azure seas, proximity to Singapore and enticing new properties, such as Anantara Desaru Coast Resort and Villas.

An easy 90-minute drive from city centre Singapore, Anantara Desaru perfectly complements a stay in the busy city, offering serenity for couples, and abundant options for families, including a neighbouring golf course and water park.

I didn’t leave Anantara during my stay, though, due to its array of facilities. These include an impressive gym, spacious kids club, teens club with a rock climbing wall, and two large swimming pools, one of which borders a flawless, 17-kilometre stretch of beach.

There’s also a watersports centre offering kayaking, wake boarding and stand-up paddle boarding. Or guests can borrow one of Anantara’s bicycles to cruise its manicured grounds. To understand its natural environment better, I joined Anantara’s resident botanist for a nature walk, during which she explained the resort’s lush flora and majestic birds.

My relaxation was enhanced by a one-hour massage at Anantara Spa, which offers Malay and Thai-style treatments. I followed that with a Malay cooking class led by the chefs who’d cooked the extraordinary buffets I’d enjoyed for breakfast and dinner, in Anantara’s stylish Turmeric restaurant. Equally memorable was my steak and seafood feast at luxurious oceanfront venue Sea.Fire.Salt.

Satisfied by meals or tired from fun experiences, I always cherished the chance to retire to my deluxe sea view corner room. Starting from Dh700 a night for two guests, including buffet breakfast, Anantara’s 90 premier and deluxe rooms are big, at 49 square metres and 50 square metres respectively, and feature floor-to-ceiling windows, plush furnishings and huge bathrooms. There’s also 13 pool villas, plus five giant three and four-bedroom beach residences.

Voco Orchard Singapore

Many of Singapore’s wealthier tourists barely leave Orchard Road. This ritzy district is so laden with upmarket shopping centres, luxury brand stores, Michelin-star restaurants and elegant bars that it can serve as a self-contained destination.

It is also home to many of the city’s best five-star hotels, like Voco Orchard Singapore. Launched this January at the northern end of Orchard Road, it offers both respite from the bustle of city centre Singapore, as well as generous dining and entertainment options.

Voco was also a great base from which to delve into Orchard Road’s backstory, by following a marked walking trail that passes 28 of the neighbourhood’s historic sites. The hotel pays tribute Orchard Road’s origins as a farming precinct with a fruity fragrance in the lobby and spiced cookies gifted to all guests.

I barely had room for that latter treat, though, after gorging on the breakfast buffet at Opus Bar & Grill, which includes addictive pastries baked at the hotel’s D9 Cakery, one of four on-site dining venues. To burn some of those calories, I lifted weights and hit the treadmill in Voco’s 24-hour gym, followed by a swim in its big rooftop pool.

I never made it to Voco’s renowned spa, but I felt sufficiently pampered in my large, 32-square-metre deluxe room, which offered access to the hotel’s club lounge, where free drinks and snacks were in constant supply. The ultra-comfortable king bed in my room had fine bedding made from recycled materials, while organic skincare products in the bathroom were from Apotheke.

Starting from Dh1,000 per night for two guests including buffet breakfast, Voco’s rooms range from deluxe to the similarly-sized premium, 69-square-metre king suite the colossal 164-square-metre presidential suite, which is prices at DH4,000 per night.

Capri by Fraser Bukit Bintang, Malaysia

In the 40th floor lobby of Capri by Fraser Bukit Bintang, double-height windows offer expansive views of the Kuala Lumpur skyline. The space is a grand entry statement for this new hotel in Bukit Bintang, the shopping, nightlife and dining hub of Malaysia’s capital.

Capri by Fraser opened the property last year, and prides itself on its modernity, lofty views and central location. The 43-storey high-rise has 319 studio and one-bedroom apartments, which are particularly appealing for longer stays.

I appreciated the kitchenette in my 30 square-metre studio room, which I stocked with drinks and snacks from the huge supermarket at the Pavilion shopping centre, just five minutes’ walk from the hotel. Lunch was barely needed, though, given the generous nature of the hotel’s buffet breakfast.

Hosted in its airy dining room on the 40th floor, with sprawling vistas of the city, the breakfast buffet featured freshly made omelettes, delicious pastries and a mix of Western and Asian hot dishes.

A unique feature of Capri by Fraser is The Den, which the hotel calls its “social hub”, a sprawling space spread across two floors with a pool table, board games, digital jukebox and seating areas with beguiling views. For those looking o keep to themselves, rooms offer high-speed Wi-Fi, large flat screen televisions and charging docks. I never did get around to using Lola, my room’s personal digital concierge technology.

Studio rooms at Capri by Fraser Bukit Bintang start from Dh270 a night for two people, including buffet breakfast. The 36 square-metre studio premier rooms and 50 square-metre one-bedroom premier apartments also provide free access to Pow Wow, a top floor lounge offering complementary snacks and drinks.