Singapore’s best rooftop bars

Space is the ultimate luxury in Singapore’s crowded metropolis – and its rooftop bars offer a rare chance to, quite literally, rise above it all with a perfectly chilled cocktail in hand. There are a myriad of options here to enjoy gorgeously blue (or starry) skies and some truly amazing views of the city and its surrounding seas, but these are some of the most interesting.

CÉ LA VI

It may be 14 this year, but CÉ LA VI is still the go-to rooftop in Singapore. Perched on the 57th floor of Marina Bay Sands, above the SkyPark observation deck, it features a restaurant, Club Lounge (where DJs spin everything from house beats to hip hop), and open-air SkyBar. Here, you can savour favourites like avocado sushi rolls and chicken karaage whilst sipping Asian-inspired cocktails such as A Trip to Japan (yuzu-spiked whisky) or Green Envy, which blends Johnnie Walker Gold with pandan, coconut cream, and palm sugar.

So popular is the venue with its distinctive red umbrellas that it recently launched Day Club, which invites visitors to linger from midday to sunset – perfect for contemplating the weather miles away or observing the Instagrammers below in the hotel’s famed infinity pool.

ALTRO Zafferano

Let’s face it: views and food quality are often inversely related. But Zafferano, located in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District, is the happy exception. Sitting on the 43rd floor of Ocean Financial Centre, it attracts a well-heeled business crowd who come for its excellent modern Italian dishes and stay for fantastic views of the Singapore skyline and harbour.

The terrace lounge is perfect for Italian aperitivos like the chilli-infused Sunset Martini, or you can ask the friendly sommelier for a recommendation from Zafferano’s formidable Italian-focused wine collection – it has over 400 labels. These include prestigious collections of Gaja and Avignonesi wines and some of the rarest vertical vintages of Biondi-Santi, starting from 1970.

Smoke & Mirrors

It’s just six storeys up, but this atmospheric wood and copper-clad bar atop the stately National Gallery serves views of all the key landmarks – like the Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands, Esplanade and the Padang. Plus, in addition to the classics, the bar offers a creative and ever-changing menu to cater to the city’s fickle drinkers.

Its latest iteration, The Real Art of Drinking – Volume III, is inspired by art forms such as painting, sculpture, architecture, and even tattoos. Sidle up to the sultrily lit bar and order our pick: the Yayoi Kusama-inspired Round & Round, which celebrates the eccentric artist’s heritage and polka-dot obsession with Suntory Kakubin whisky, Martell Noblige, kyoho grape, grapefruit, and five-spice powder.

HighHouse and NOVA

Located on the 61st and 62nd floors of One Raffles Place (where 1-Altitude used to be), HighHouse was created, in its own words, as a ‘transcendent day-to-night nightlife and culinary destination where music, art, flavours and conversations intersect.’ So, besides 360-degree skyline views, it also offers an expansive dining and lounge area serving sharing-friendly Mod-Pan-Asian fusion dishes like crab meat squid ink fried rice and sakura pork belly massaman curry. Accompanying this is a robust wine and spirit menu, alongside inventive cocktails by local bar veteran Jay Gray.

Later at night, it transforms into a club with a nightly music programme spanning house, techno, disco, and other electronic music genres, set against a massive digital screen featuring artworks from local and international transmedia artists. Keep an eye out for the soon-to-open bar NOVA upstairs, which will be topped by a glowing 10m-tall supernova-inspired art installation – and will become Singapore’s highest rooftop bar.

1-Arden

Situated on the 51st storey of the CapitaSpring building, 1-Arden offers panoramic vistas of Chinatown on one side and Marina Bay Sands and the sea on the other. However, what sets it apart is that it’s in Singapore’s highest food forest – a sky-high oasis of thriving edible herbs, vegetables, and fruits like lemon myrtle, bush tomatoes, and citrusy Geraldton wax.

It’s on the same floor as parent company 1-Group’s other F&B outlets, including modern Japanese kappo restaurant Oumi and Australian-Japanese grill and bar Kaarla. The latter supplies a bar menu filled with easy bites like oysters and wagyu sliders that make the most of the garden’s freshly plucked bounty – as do the signature farm-to-glass cocktails, such as Old Fashioned Kaarla (bourbon, orange, and bush tomatoes) and Garden Mojito (rum, mint, lemon balm, and lime).