As you know, staycations are the new alternative to travel. Most of us are definitely ready to say goodbye to our homes for a couple of nights! I’m lucky that I live out in the ‘country’ in Singapore and have a garden, but just seeing the same view the whole time was starting to irk. I wanted a new view – and we got a bit more than we expected!
My eldest daughter and I decided a night in town, with a bit of a walk down Orchard Road (and a shop, of course), would be very doable! We took up the staycation offer at the Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel; I love the Crossroads café there for people-watching, and I’d also never been to the hotel’s pool before. It’s walking distance to all the malls we wanted to cover, too.
Lunch, swimming, shopping and more
We had lunch at Crossroads, including the best mushroom soup! Being vegetarian does limit you sometimes, but all three of our dishes were excellent.
After a delicious risotto, we needed to lie by the pool for a bit. You do have to book a slot, but in the heat of the afternoon there was only one other man there anyway, so social distancing wasn’t an issue. There’s a great view of ION and it was great having all that open sky around us. The gym is also open and you need to register, but we didn’t make time for that… we needed to shop!
It was a bit of a pain having to check in to each shopping mall to shop, but we managed to do both sides up from Tangs to Robinsons and back down through Wisma and ION. We were disciplined and didn’t miss much, but we realised we were out of practice and pretty knackered afterwards.
It was so nice to just grab a Yolé and head up the lift to bed. As we needed two beds the view from our room was over the old part of town towards Mount Elizabeth. (I hadn’t realised how many little houses there were still there – imagine what they’re worth!) The rooms are fairly large with a desk area too, so we didn’t feel on top of each other and still managed to get some work done in the morning.
Breakfast at the Marriott Cafe was good, but Crossroads remains my favourite, probably because of the people-watching aspect I mentioned – the Welsh part of me likes seeing what’s going on! The staff are always good, have been there for years and are always ‘on it’ service-wise.
Final word … and a small surprise
The staycation was definitely worth it; it was a lovely short break – and with a funny end! My daughter was packing up our case when she jumped back with a strange look on her face. We had inadvertently bought a little friend with us for the night. The frog who likes to sleep in my trainers at home (I always forget to put them away) had been packed too!
He was very cold in the aircon and couldn’t move – maybe just stunned by the experience. I managed to scoop him into a shopping bag (thanks, Mango!) and we took him home with us. We didn’t try to kiss him but, thinking about it now, maybe we should have… our next staycation might be a bit more romantic!
Iconic City Staycation – The Details
From $258 per room, per night (valued at more than $570), the special includes:
- A one-night stay in a contemporary Deluxe Room
- Breakfast for two
- $25 F&B credit per night per person to use at one of four F&B outlets or in-room dining
- Late check out at 3pm
- Complementary parking
For bookings on marriotttangplaza.com, use the promo code “D60”.
Note: The hotel has been certified “SG Clean” by the local authorities.
Rebecca Bisset
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