Welcome to another post of helping a reader travel! As I’ve mentioned before, I have not been to every destination (unfortunately), but do get questions from friends and other blog readers on all sort of travel destination questions. Thus far, we’ve been able to help other readers travel to Maui, The Greek Islands, Pacific Coast Highway, Argentina /Buenos Aires, Costa Rica, Cape Cod & The Islands, Iceland, Geneva, Canadian Rockies, Rome, Israel, Peru, Stockholm, Chicago, Paris, Hanoi, Austin, Puerto Rico, Bruges, Salzburg, Istanbul, Las Vegas, India/Golden Triangle, and Auckland.
So this weeks travel destination includes Singapore. I received the following email from reader Cliff:
“I will be visiting Singapore for the first time in Jan. I’m doing a mileage run and will be spending 3 nights in Singapore. Since I have never been, I wanted know what are the some of the can’t miss things I should do during my short stay. Any insight would be great and thanks in advance to you and your fellow readers.”
If you’ve ever been to Singapore and have any recommendations, let’s help out reader Cliff by commenting below.
Also, if you have any upcoming travel where you need some help, feel free to email me at dealswelike@gmail.com to be a featured “Help a Reader Travel” Monday special. Thanks!
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3 days in Singapore is quite enough IMO. I enjoyed wandering around the Indian and Chinese areas of the city. But one highlight was hiking up the small mountain, well more of a hill really, Bukit Timah and afterwards going to the nearby outdoor food market. Great variety of foods cheap from outdoor kiosks, good hygiene, and the best peanut-satay tempeh I have ever tasted. I think it was the best meal I had in Singapore.
I’m going to Singapore for 4 nights in February and have been doing a lot of research. Some of the things that come to mind are the cooking lessons (cookery magic), Night Safari, Singapore Eye, Orchard Street shopping, Cloud Forest Dome, the zoo, Sentosa Island, Royal Orchid, National Orchid Garden, and visiting the different ethnic communities. I also signed up for GroupOn Singapore and have received some great deals, including Night Safari, through them.
Jurong Bird Park, Singapore Zoo, shopping on Orchard Road should definitely be on your list. As far as eating, skip the conventional hotel and western fast food fare and ask the locals where their favorite “Hawker center” is–kind of like a covered, open air food court. The food there is cheap and as authentic as you can get–this is where the native population eat! A general rule of thumb is to go to the food stall with the longest line (better food). There is an incredible array of dishes available–if you are not so adventurous, try ordering the chicken and rice.
I was there a year ago on the last leg of my honeymoon. 3 nights is more than enough, we spent 2 days and were satisfied.
We stayed at the st regis (cat 6) its a business hotel but we found it to be excellent and pretty centrally located. Keep in mind it is a small country so everything is close by.
Walk orchard street which has all the shops etc. make sure to take a subway its amazing how nice and clean it is! Visit clarke quay at night which has all the bars ans restaurants. We also took the tram to sentosa island which is a “great adventure” type area with a boardwalk etc. also make sure to visit the sands and head to the rooftop for dinner. Lastly i recommend the night safari it was a true experience.
Make sure to bring a jacket the wheather changes quite a bit throughout the day.
If you have any questions let me know.
Just got back…our 6th trip this time. The Gardens by the Bay were really worth it. Just pick a good day weather wise. There are cheap groupon like deals. I think it was QQQ or something that my SIL got for us. $35SGD for the Flyer and Gardens. The Cloud Dome better than the Flower Dome IMHO. Stay at MBS to enjoy the infinity pool if you have a chance. In terms of eating, you can’t go wrong with my favorite tourist trap – Newton Circus Food Center. Maxwell in Chinatown and Lau Pa Sat are pretty good too. Maxwell is really more for lunch and the other two is better in the evenings. Night Safari is cool too. You have to get tickets to the Pandas if that is your thing. My favorite food spot now is eating at the Malaysian Night market at Sentosa. It is a play on the 1960ish environment of bygone era recreating by bringing some of the “best/better” Malaysia food stalls from KL, Penang and all over under one roof. I also enjoyed roaming around the Istana (President’s house). That is near town (Orchard).
Just back from Singapore. Singapore is basically a shopping mall so I made it a point to get outdoors. The MacRitchie Reservoir hike is nice with the Tree Top walk as part of it. About 11 kilometers total. Also did the Botanical Gardens which were very nice.
Had dinner atop the Marina Bay Sands. Food was poor so I would only recommend going for a drink as the view is spectacular.
Stay only one night in SIN- that’s enough IMO. SIN lacks culture and anything significnatly interesting. Take the 30 minute flight to Kuala Lumpur and check it out. It’s significantly cheaper and has great food. I think a flight was 60 RT also on Air Asia.
I am dying to see the Super Tree Grove! Thought the entire garden looks awesome.
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/attractions/supertree-grove.html
Get to India town. An amazing centre. Awesome food.
I have an overnight (only) in Singapore … any suggestions for something to do after 8pm for a solo traveler?
Do the Night Safari. It should not be missed. Sit in the middle section for the show, about 1/3 of the way back from the stage.
I’ve read that there’s a flight simulator experience in Singapore that I’ve checked out online. Those with an interest in flying a commercial airliner (737) may find it to be a fun experience.
Hello-I have lived in SIN for the past 9 years and love it. The 737 simulator is truly an experience worth its cost. The owners are Jo and Michael (ex-BA FA/captain, respectively).
Others have covered the basic tourist attractions but I would like to call out two additional ideas. First is the brand new aquarium on Sentosa Island-now the world’s largest. Second is a treetop walk starting at VivoCity/Mount Faber. Watch for monkeys, monitor lizards, and mega yachts-all on the same 6KM roundtrip walk. There are also tremendous vistas, especially about 5:30-6:30 as the sun sets. Enjoy!
Thanks for everyone’s tips! Can’t wait for my visit next month.
Cliff
Was just there last week, here’s my write up http://boardingarea.com/verygoodpoints/2012/12/13/what-to-do-in-singapore/
i live in sing too, and i second the treetop walk, and though i like the zoo, i thought the night safari boring. if going to the gardens or flyer, groupon.sg always has deals.
for hawker food, i’m partial to old airport road, which has the best hokkien mee in the city (fighting words). other stuff is good there as well, and you can try pretty much any singaporean classic.
one off the beaten path activity (if you like this sort of thing) is to visit the old chinese cemetaries, like bukit brown http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a101b.htm
I spent a few hours at the orchard garden last year. It had an amazing variety of flowers and is a nice place to walk.
I visited Singapore Zoo, The Expo Sale, Orchard Garden, Jurong Bird Park, and Lucky Plaza last 2010 and for the food, my favorite restaurant is Astons. I will go back to Singapore this year to spent vacation with my relatives.
Thank you for information and sharing.