For charm and location—it’s just around the corner from Chinatown’s Club Street, and across the road from the brand-new Telok Ayer MRT stop—the mid-priced, boutique-size Amoy (76 Telok Ayer St.; 65/ 6580-2888; doubles from US$175) punches above its weight. Converted from a series of historic shophouses in the middle of Far East Square, the hotel takes its cues from the area’s rich heritage. The glass-roofed lobby is accessed via one of Singapore’s oldest temples, the Fuk Tak Chi (now a museum celebrating the island’s 19th-century Hakka and Cantonese immigrants), while the 37 rooms are kitted out with gray-brick feature walls, wooden latticework, old rotary phones, and ceramic Chinese garden stools. Rooms in the Cozy Singles category are cozy indeed, and often windowless; the larger Deluxe Doubles are well worth the extra cost. –Christopher P. Hill

This article originally appeared in the December 2013/January 2014 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Small Wonder”)