Wanderlust Hotel in Singapore: A Boutique Hotel Review

Wanderlust Hotel – Singapore – photo care of Wanderlust

Wanderlust Hotel in Singapore:

A Boutique Hotel Review

I recently had the pleasure of staying in an exceptionally unique boutique hotel in Singapore. Wanderlust Hotel in Little India, is part of a collection of artistic boutique hotels. The theme for Wanderlust reads:

“a left-field and totally experimental boutique hotel set to draw madcap voyagers and curious travellers to its doorstep.”

Now how’s that for a motto?!

Sign me up please! And that’s exactly what they did.

To create Wanderlust, the company employed several award-winning Singaporean design teams, giving them full creative freedom and encouraging them to push their limits, to come up with something new and exciting. The final themes employed were Industrial Glam, Eccentricity, Is It Just Black and White? and Creature Comforts.

The result is a cool industrial lobby and three floors full of exceptionally creative, fun, wacky, way-out-there rooms. It’s a fun, fantastic place for anyone who loves color, design, high-tech, low-tech, futuristic design or just unique living spaces.

It would also make a wonderful play space for city clubbers. I can just imagine returning from an exciting, high-energy night of dancing to these club-like minimalistic rooms to continue the party in private.

pantone red room – Wanderlust Hotel

The entire first floor of rooms, Eccentricity, is dedicated to vibrant colors, entitled Pantone. Each room is completely and entirely monochrome. There’s a entirely green room, a completely red room, fully pink, utterly blue. I’m talking floors, wall, ceiling, fixtures, towels.

The next floor up, Is It Just Black and White?, is devoted to the concepts of origami and pop art. The walls are enhanced by cool pop out designs with back lighting. Charming!

pop art room at Wanderlust Hotel

The top floor, Creature Comforts, features high-tech and futuristic designs with themes like ‘space’ and ‘bling’. Perhaps their most famous room has a giant red metal spaceship sculpture. The room is entirely black, accented with a red spaceship, a red spacey chair, and red metal stairs. The room is slightly illuminated by a single dim bulb and delicate twinkly star lights.

sundeck & jacuzzi – Wanderlust Hotel

An outdoor patio on the second floor offers a wonderfully vibrant rainbow tiled jacuzzi pool edged with wood decking, modern lounge chairs and shrubbery. The patio/pool provides a great space to relax during early mornings or evenings. Midday, on the other hand, is perfect for sun-worshipers. The deck is completely exposed to Singapore’s bright blue tropical skies.

my high-tech room at Wanderlust Hotel

On my visit, I was escorted to a spacious, minimalist low-tech / high-tech room in a black, brown and stainless steel color-scheme. A huge industrial-type monster adorned one wall. My bed was located in a loft enclosed in metal fencing and overlooking the room below. Sitting in that loft was reminiscent of being inside a roomy cage! A very unique hotel experience indeed! The loft was accessed by an industrial-style metal staircase.

Downstairs, right smack in the center of the room, sat a sturdy old-fashioned oval bathtub. Perfect for a bubble bath and long soak for sore muscles and travel-weary mind and body. As soon as I got settled in, I began filling the tub with steamy hot water. I added some of my own fragrant bath gel for foam.

bathtub in my room – Wanderlust Hotel

Then I set about exploring the room’s facilities and gadgets to the soothing sound of gushing bath water. Most of the appliances and electronics were so state-of-the-art that I couldn’t even figure out how to use them. Lol. I had to call for assistance with the super cool espresso machine, the radio, and even the gorgeous HD TV suspended on the wall.

By then my bath was ready. I slipped in for a relaxing soak and watched a fun movie on my big-screen TV. Soaking finished, I got online for a while (free wifi in the rooms, naturally) then headed up to sleep in ‘my cage’.

part of Wanderlust ‘s fabulous vintage chair collection

I had arrived in Singapore in the late evening, so by the time I reached Wanderlust I didn’t have time to explore the rest of the hotel until morning. But I was so excited to look at all the interesting rooms and spaces, that I popped out of bed early and headed down to the lobby.

Wanderlust has one more famous quirk to its name: a collection of famous vintage chairs situated throughout the lobby. There’s a bright blue dental chair, a vibrant purple salon chair and several other collectibles. I’m told people stop by Wanderlust just to visit their chairs!

Most boutique hotels proudly present gourmet food of one sort or other in their restaurants. Wanderlust is no exception. Cocotte focuses on French country cooking. A display case full of rather unusual imported cheeses greets guests at the entrance. Most of those cheeses I’d never even heard of before, let alone sample! Cocotte also serves up homemade gourmet ice cream, espresso coffees and exquisite French desserts.

Cocotte – French country cuisine – Wanderlust Hotel

The buffet breakfast spread, included in the room charge, was one of the best I’ve come across in my many years of travel. The self-service buffet includes freshly squeezed o.j, an amazing selection of gourmet breads and condiments, and a staggering variety of ingredients for guests to create their own custom cereal/muesli concoctions.

But the buffet was just there to provide appetizers for the main breakfast course!

hearty breakfast at Wanderlust Hotel – Cocotte Restaurant

As soon as I sat down with a full plate of toast, yogurt, fruit and juice, the waitress arrived and handed me a menu. Say what? On offer were all sorts of hearty and healthy western breakfast options. I ordered a classic omelette, sausage, sauteed tomatoes and  mushrooms then sat down to stuff myself silly. Best of all, espresso coffees were also included. :) I finished my meal off with a generous double espresso macchiato, expertly prepared and presented.

Soon I had to dash off for a meeting with the Marketing Communications Manager, who was taking me on a hotel tour. Mae turned out to be a young, bubbly energetic Singaporean woman with obvious excitement and enthusiasm about Wanderlust and their collection of boutique hotels.

‘red rocket room’ at Wanderlust Hotel

After a quick chat, we headed up the glass elevator surrounded by plants in a clear, open-to-the-sky shaft. Mae showed me around each floor- the bright monochrome rooms, the whimsical rooms and the high-tech/low-tech rooms.

I noticed that Wanderlust is already well-patronized by European travelers. The majority looked like artists or designers of some sort. Clearly the hotel is making a name for itself among the trendy European crowd. I can certainly see why! A film crew, perhaps Japanese, also trouped through while I was there.

The restaurant has a great lunch trade already in full swing too. After all, there probably aren’t too many places in Singapore to dine on authentic French country cuisine. In the afternoon, several tables filled up with Japanese guests. Perhaps expats living in Singapore?

Wanderlust Hotel is located in Little India, a fantastic base from which to explore the city. I highly recommend a visit for anyone who likes art, design, hip places and delicious French cuisine.

For more information, address, directions and reservations, check out their very quirky website: Wanderlust Hotel

*note: A big thanks to Wanderlust Hotel, who sponsored my stay. Although my visit was sponsored, the views and opinions expressed here are my own candid perspectives. *

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If you’re heading to Singapore, check out my numerous travel tips and suggestions on things to do in my Singapore Posts Category as well as why I think Singapore is the Best City in the World

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