Hilton Singapore Orchard Review: Best Place to Stay in Orchard

Previously known as Mandarin Orchard, the property reopened a couple of years ago under the Hilton brand after undergoing a full renovation. On past visits to Orchard, we usually stayed at the Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel, which has always been a reliable choice. However, this time we wanted to try a new place and chose Hilton’s flagship property in Orchard. We had a great stay and here’s a detailed review plus who we think this hotel is best suited for.

Overview

The hotel’s location in the heart of Orchard Road is perfect for those who love to shop. Ngee Ann City and Paragon are just across the street, while Tang Plaza and ION Orchard are only a short walk away. You’ll also find a variety of great restaurants within easy walking distance.

Its location is also convenient for those visiting Mount Elizabeth Hospital, one of Singapore’s most reputable medical facilities. In case you don’t know, Singapore is a well-known destination for medical tourism in Southeast Asia.

While the hotel isn’t within walking distance of major tourist attractions, they are easily accessible via the nearby MRT, taxi, or Grab. A number of sites are within a 15-minute car ride, such as the Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Museum of Singapore, and Fort Canning Park.

As for the Hilton Singapore Orchard itself, it’s a large property with over 1,000 rooms, which means the ground-floor lobby and the main lobby on the 5th floor are often quite busy. Because of this, we tended to head straight to our room and didn’t spend much time in the lower levels. This is one of the few drawbacks of the hotel, though I must say, the check-in and check-out processes on the 5th floor were swift and efficient.

The decor prominently features tones of grey, black, and dark wood, adding a modern, sleek and sophisticated feel throughout the public spaces. Lovely flower arrangements are scattered throughout the spaces, providing pops of color to brighten up the otherwise cool palette. Without these touches, I think the place would feel a bit too cold.

We booked a king deluxe room through Agoda and were assigned one in the Mandarin Wing. At 34 square meters (366 square feet), the room felt decently spacious, with a good layout and plenty of storage. This made it easy to organize our personal belongings, including the bags from our shopping trips.

The large windows let in plenty of natural light, though some street noise from vehicles still made its way up to our room which was on the 26th floor facing Orchard Street. At night, the occasional revving of vehicles could still be heard, but it wasn’t disruptive enough to affect sleep.

The soft bed and pillows were pretty comfortable. The bathroom, while not overly spacious, was well-designed and equipped with new, up to standard fixtures. It had both a bathtub and a separate walk-in shower — an essential feature for me.

One small downside was the limited number of international sockets in the room. We only found 1-2, which felt a bit inadequate for a newly renovated hotel. Despite that, the room overall was well-equipped, functional and met our needs.

We tried the breakfast buffet one morning. The breakfast restaurant is large and features multiple food stations and dining areas spread across different rooms. Although it was quite busy when we came down on Sunday morning, there were plenty of available seats.

The buffet had a wide variety of options, including local dishes like nasi lemak and fish ball noodle soup, as well as more traditional Western options such as eggs, bacon, sausages, and  pastries. So I think there’s something for everyone. The food quality was decent, but nothing particularly memorable to write about. We’ve yet to have a hotel breakfast in Singapore that left a strong impression, unlike some exceptional breakfasts we’ve had in Japan.

At 40 SGD per person, for us, it was more like paying for the convenience rather than the food. If you’re a big breakfast person and get a good room rate that includes it, you can go for it. However, if you’re open to exploring local breakfast spots nearby, where you can enjoy humble dishes like kaya toast, fried beehoon, or laksa, I think you can skip the breakfast buffet.

The hotel offers a small gym equipped with Technogym machines and a modest outdoor pool. Although the pool is outdoors, it’s surrounded by tall walls, so the only view you have is of the sky above. On the ground floor, you’ll find Mandarin Gallery, a retail space featuring designer boutiques.

In terms of service, it was what you would expect from a hotel of this caliber. The staff were professional and polite, although we didn’t require much interaction during our stay. Both the front desk team and the staff at the breakfast buffet were efficient and handled everything smoothly.

So I think the Hilton Orchard Singapore may be our new go-to hotel in Orchard instead of the Marriott Tang Plaza. I prefer the room interiors at the Hilton (although I do like Marriott’s lobby more), and more importantly, Hilton consistently offers more competitive room rates than Marriott.

Hilton Singapore Orchard
Booking.com Agoda.com

Comparing to the Pullman Singapore, a hotel in the same category and in the same location (right across the street), the Hilton Orchard has more spacious rooms and better reviews. That said, if shopping in Orchard isn’t the main focus of your trip, I would still recommend looking into other neighborhoods for comparison.