I pass through Singapore at least once a year as it is such a convenient travel hub. Over the last couple of years I have been wondering, “what is that thing being built at Marina Bay?”. The answer is the Marina Bay Sands.

[Marina Bay Sands view from Merlion Park]

This was my first trip to Singapore since its completion, and I was invited to stay for the night to have a look around for myself. I accepted the invitation.

The hotel is one part of an integrated resort, which includes a casino, shopping mall, theatre and convention centre.

[At Marina Bay Sands]

The hotel looks across Marina Bay and has an unobstructed view of Singapore’s financial district skyline. The hotel accommodation is five star luxury at its best, with 40 inch TV’s, automatic curtains and luxurious beds that make you to never want to get out of bed again.

While I appreciated having a luxury king size bed, I was equally impressed with the reading couch. Getting horizontal on a couch and reading a book is a wonderful way to relax, and if I had time I would have lay down on this all day. As it was I was Singapore for just over 24 hours, and I had much work to do. Plus there was another couch I need to look at, on the roof.

[King size bed and reading couch -both very hard to get out of]

Amidst all the trimmings of 5 star luxury, the stand out highlight of this hotel is the pool. This is not some puddle of water tucked away in a sweaty little room on the second foor. The pool is on the roof. All three roofs. And then some.

This is the most ridiculous swiming pool I have ever seen.

[Marina Bay Sands pool lounge chairs]

That spaceship parked on the roof of the hotel is the SkyPark, which is 340m-long. 67 of those metres overhangs the north tower, making it the world’s largest public cantilevered platform. The showpeice of the SkyPark is the 150m infinity swimming pool.

There is a night club and bar at the SkyPark, which is open to the public, but only hotel guests can swim in the pool.

I thought that I might get some vertigo in the pool, but I didn’t feel that at all, even swimming up next to the edge.

The SkyPark is 191 metres above the ground and it felt a few degrees cooler up there, though that might have been the wind blowing off all that water.

[Marina Bay Sands swimming pool]

I love this pool. I had every intention of having a morning swim and then heading over to Little India for a lunch time curry. I ended up lingering for longer than I planned, so I missed my curry. I figured that I’m not going to be staying in such luxury on my next trip to Singapore, so the curry will have to wait until next time. I think I made the right choice.

From a design point of view I find this hotel fascinating. The cantilevered deck is an engineering marvel. I like looking up at it from the ground as it looks like a zeppelin is parked on the roof. Related trivia: did you know that the tower on the Empire State Building was built to dock airships? In the end they scrapped the idea of making it a port for dirigibles (love that word) as it was too windy that high up.

[A zeppelin lands on the roof of the Marina Bay Sands]

Marina Bay is reclaimed land and there is more construction going on in the area. There is a metro line being built nearby, and behind the hotel the Gardens by the Bay is nearing completion. It will be interesting to see how the area looks once everything is completed.

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Note: James stayed as a guest of Marina Bay Sands.