I travel to Singapore quite often since I was young with my family and I love shopping and eating there! Singapore is a pretty small country but its an extremely developed cosmopolitan city that's filled with lots of great shopping, eateries and all sort of entertainment. It's pretty safe as well, so you don't really need to worry about being robbed, etc, but guess gotta be careful everywhere you go! In this post I'll write about all my experiences/reviews of places of interests in Singapore and combine them into an itinerary if you would like to travel to Singapore.
-Days: Approx 7 Days (If you would like to do most things and have never been-Adjust to suit your trip)
Many others..
-Transport:
MRT, Taxis, Bus (SMRT) (Comfort & City Cabs)
Transportation is very good and convenient in Singapore. Although, try to avoid peak periods where people go to work or get off work. There are also an increase of around 25% during peak hours for cabs. Peak Hour Surcharge is: Mon-Fri: 6.am-9.30 am and Mon-Sundays + public hols: 6.pm-12a.m.
-Hotels:
City:
I have stayed in quite a few hotels in Singapore, however, recently, we usually stay at Fairmont. Have a look at other hotels on sites like skyscanner, tripadvisor and wego to browse those which suit your taste, budget, etc. I usually end up booking from either Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia or hotels.com
Tip: I've just come to realize that when searching through such sites for cheap flights, hotels or to just estimate how much it is, it's really important to clear your browsing history or cache so the websites don't have your history of visiting the website, as if you keep going back to the same website, you might note that the 2nd visit the prices will be higher than before! So do clear your browser to get cheaper prices at times!
I usually travel with my family and we usually stay at Fairmont Hotel/Accorhotels-Fairmont. Its pretty convenient with just Raffles shopping center a step away. The MRT station is also right below which makes it even more convenient. The service in Fairmont Hotel is exceptional! Very relaxing holidays as we are able to eat, shop all around without having to step out much into the heat!;) There's also the Willow Stream Spa where guests are allowed to enjoy the cold and warm indoor pools as well as the steams and sauna rooms! How relaxing it is to stay here especially a tiring whole day out! In addition, Fairmont Singapore has a loyalty program- Fairmont president's club whereby you get benefits such as room/suite upgrades, free stays, etc if you have accumulated enough days of stay in the hotel. Also, there's no charge to join I think- do check it out!
Others around this area that you could try are Marina Bay Sands, Swisotel, Pan Pacific, Marina Mandarin. You could also try out hotels around Orchard road, if you would like to shop around that area, although it would probably be more crowded. I have friends who like to stay around Bugis area as well!
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| Our view from Fairmont's room |
For simpler rooms, I've stayed at Amara hotel for training for work and it was not bad. The rooms at Amara Singapore are not as big, but it was clean and had comfy beds. Grand Copthorne waterfront hotel is also not bad. The beds were pretty comfy and clean. Rooms are on the small side, but its perfectly adequate for 2! Grand Copthorne waterfront hotel in Singapore is good as its nearby Clarke Quay where there is quite a nice array of bars around that area. However, don't go if you don't like noise and rowdiness-especially at night!
-Places of Interest:
Day 1-2- Shopping by main area:
i. Orchard Road- Ion, Takashimaya, Paragon, Wisma Atria, etc
ii. Bugis Junction
iii. Raffles city, Marina Square, Suntech City, MBS
iv.Vivocity
Day 3:
i. GARDENS BY THE BAY (Link)
You could start the day by going to Gardens By the Bay in the morning. It might be hot, but there's air condition inside with the flowers!:D We took a cab there which was easier, but you could probably go by MRT and walk abit. Its around $28 for foreigners/ adult. However, we bought a package from groupon for less and it included a Duck & hippo boat tour around Singapore river. So, you could look out for specials but you probably have to go out of the way to pick up the tickets which could be inconvenient, or go to their original website for packages. The main attractions in Gardens by the Bay are the (i) Flower Dome, (ii) Cloud Forest (iii) Super Tree Grove, and etc.. however, as it was quite hot, we did not really walk around much outside.. There are few cafes/restaurants and a nice food court for dining options as well! Nice Day out indeed!
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| Entrance of Gardens by the Bay |
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| Supertree Grove |
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| Pollen restaurant in the flower dome |
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| Cloud Forest-Waterfall |
After all that walking, we boarded our Duck & Hippo tour to have a short tour around Singapore's river! Pretty relaxing!
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| Duck & Hippo boat tour |
ii. MARINA BAY SANDS- Shop, Eat, Casino (Link)
If time permits, go to the iconic Marina Bay Sands where you can shop for all your branded beautiful things:), eat a whole lots of delicious food and lastly, you can have a look or go in the casino-although you probably have to pay a fee if you're a Spore citizen/PR. Also, check out the musicals on their website if you're interested in watching plays/musicals.
iii. SINGAPORE FLYER (Night) (Link)
If there's still time, you could proceed to the Singapore Flyer. Traveller J had booked the Moet & Chandon Champagne Flight package as a surprise! On the website it stated $69 pp. It was an awesome experience, Just happened that nobody else booked the same package, thus we had the privilege of having the whole capsule to ourselves! We had our own express boarding with no queaue at all! The champagne was fantastic along with chocolate and strawberries to enjoy the wonderful 30 minutes ride of beautiful lights and views.
P/s- Sorry you guys will have to tilt your head for these pictures- not sure why it wont turn out right! haha
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| Champagne, Chocolates & Strawberries |
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| The capsule! |
Day 4:
i. Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Safari, Bird Park (Link)
It has been a loooong time ago when I visited the Singapore zoo and the Bird park, where I went with my cousin, so I don't have pictures of them, but you could look it up in the link above. You could buy their package which would be cheaper, however, if you have been to some of them before, just get the individual tickets.
The Singapore zoo probably has a whole lot of cool animals! I probably should go back to the Singapore zoo when I make my next trip back to Singapore! As for the Bird park, from my memory, they will stand birds on your arm- which is pretty interesting and cool in photos! Other than that, I can't really remember anything else about the Bird park!
NIGHT SAFARI
If you have limited time you probably could choose 2? The night safari is pretty cool and exciting- or maybe I just love the little thrill of seeing animals in the dark and thinking some might just jump out in front of me:O Remember to grab the schedules or maps of each place before entering, so you do not miss any shows or programmes organized if there were any.
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| Night Safari! |
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| Night safari show! |
RIVER SAFARI
The most recent addition to their Wildlife reserves is the River Safari! From the website, it looks really big, however when I got there it wasn't that big and I finished going around the whole place probably in 2 hours. The main attraction to me was definitely the pandas, manatees, huge crocodile and the boat ride. I did enjoy the short boat ride and definitely enjoyed the cute pandas!At the time that we went, the boat ride was free, but i think now they charge $5 (adult) and $3 (Child) for the boat ride. That would probably be the highlight of the River Safari. One did not want to come out when Traveller S and I were there, but there was a little monitor where you could see the cute panda in action-actually not really as it was sleeping! When in the venue with the pandas, all should keep your voices down, so as to not frighten or disturb the pandas-probably..
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| Cute Kind Looking Manatees |
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| The short boat ride |
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| Sleeping Panda! |
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| Massive crocodile with a huge blob on its nose! |
Day 5/6:
A. SENTOSA:
i. S.E.A AQUARIUM
ii. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Sentosa is a man made island in Singapore and is filled with loads of activities and resorts which you could spend a day or a weekend get away from the city! You can take a bus from Vivo city, a cable car, monorail or just a cab into the island! If you're on holiday, I would suggest going on a weekday, as during the weekends, the place can be superbly packed and you would have to line up for a long time to get into the attractions in Sentosa.
There are also a variety of hotels where you could choose from! I usually just go for a day trip but my only stayover I had was at Amara Sanctuary resort and it was pretty relaxing! The rooms were clean and comfortable and the surrounding park/greenery was nice to walk about in the morning! As for the pool, I was a little disappointed as it was quite small and looked less enticing as compared to the picture. As there were people there, I decided not to take a swim and took a walk around instead.
I've also heard about Capella Singapore, where the food is great and very relaxing and comfortable too! Do take a look of the list of Hotels there if you want to have a stay away from the city!
SENTOSA ISLAND
The beaches are probably man made, but its quite relaxing to just chill and look out into the waters! During the weekends, there are parties around as well, so if you fancy some drinks...
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| The Beach |
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| Luge& Skyride |
I once bought a package from groupon and it came with the Luge & SkyRide in Sentosa, it was quite fun, where you sit in this electric cart and go for a ride around the park. It was fun, but probably you could have a go only if you have spare time!
There's quite a few things to do in Sentosa, however, I'll write about the 2 attractions where I visited on my trip- S.E.A Aquarium and the Universal studios!
S.E.A AQUARIUM (Link)
Traveller J and I bought our tickets online -$38/pp which saved us some of time queuing up to buy tickets, as to our UTTER HORROR, the lines were SUPERBLY long on the weekend we were there! It was horrid! Even though we had bought our tickets already, we waited almost 2.5-3 Hours just to get into the S.E.A Aquarium! However, this was probably a year ago and I'm not sure if the queue will still be just as long, but if you are on holiday and would not want to waste time, do go on a weekday, or maybe go earlier in the morning, as I'm not a morning person, thus we came after lunching at Ramen Play in Sentosa (which was just alright) and thus flocks of people were in front of us! My friend told me there was no queue at all when she went on a weekday.
I did enjoy the S.E.A aquarium, especially the sharks and the cute sea horses etc! There was also a little enclosure where they let you touch the sea animals. It was nice, dark and cool inside! The areas were separated by the different oceans and seas.
You could even dine in there if you wanted to at the Ocean Restaurant!
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| Sharks! |
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE (Link)
I was very excited on the day to go to the Universal Studios!! It's probably not as big as the one in US, but I LOVE theme parks- SUCH fun! Tickets can be bought at the counter or online at $74 for an adult for a day pass, $54 for a child and $36 for senior citizens! I think a 1 day pass would be adequate if you go in the mornings. Unless, you want to go over all the rides again.
We took pictures outside the place where everyone took pictures, the Globe with the big Universal studios sign!
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| Universal Studios |
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| Hollywood! |
Once inside, there are 7 'worlds' you can choose to go too!-'Hollywood', 'New York', 'Sci-Fi City', 'Ancient Egypt', 'Far Far away', 'Lost World' and 'Madagascar'. I loved all of them! You are easily teleported into different worlds of happiness! There were also quite a few rides! My favorite was the Transformers Ride! I don't really like too terrifying rides-quite the chicken! but the transformers ride was just right! Also, I enjoyed the movie making show where they showed us how scenes in movies were made!
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| King Julien's Beach party Go Round |
In Madagascar's world, Everything was so lively and was blasting happy music! I forced Traveller J to go on the 'Merry go round'! I chose the lion and Traveller J sat on this superbly cute giraffe! Bet kids would love this- even over grown kids like us!
We did not sit on all the rides, thus, we manage to complete our day at Universal studios around 5pm ish when we started around 12pm ish!
There are more rides and attractions there, so if you come to Singapore do drop by Universal Studios if you like theme parks. But you probably could skip it if you don't like the heat, crowds, or the sun!
SINGAPORE BOTANIC GARDENS (Link)
If you're a nature and plant lover, you would love it here! But do note that its really hot and humid most days in Singapore, so if you come here come in your thinnest and most breezy clothes! The gardens is really big and prepare to put on your walking shoes if you want to walk the whole trail! I went there recently, and only went to some parts of it. I absolutely loved the Swan Lake! When i went there was a swan that was separated in a swampy area from the rest so we got a really close look at it. The poor swan! It was in a really swampy dirty area, and have no idea why nobody bothered to clean that area!
The orchid gardens require a small entrance fee to go in, so I decided not to go in, considering I'm not much of a plant enthusiast~ However, I'm sure it is filled with lovely orchids! I really enjoyed a stroll here if you have the time! Have a picnic, and admire the different plants and trees! There's really all sorts of plants and flowers here!
There were people walking their dogs, exercising, having picnics, on dates, etc! Relaxing place to be!
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| Swan Lake! |
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| Poor swan separated from the rest |
There are many other things to do in Singapore- especially the FOOD! But that calls for a separate post altogether! Hope this has given you more information and has helped in your own trip planning! I will be posting about my personal favorite restaurants/ eating places in Singapore in another post and will continue updating that post if I come across better ones!:) Stay tuned my lovely relaxed travelers! Enjoy your day and your holidays! :)
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