Recently, a friend and I visited Singapore to go on Disney’s brand new Adventure cruise ship.  We arrived in Singapore earlier and got to spend a fun 4 nights in the city before the cruise.  Even though it was a quick trip, we still managed to do the main things in Singapore.  Here is a list of the top 8 things that we did in no particular order:

Merlion Park

Merlion Park is a famous Singapore landmark and a major tourist attraction located near the Central Business District.  The Merlion is a mythical creature with a lion’s head and a fish’s tail that is widely used as a mascot and national personification of Singapore.  There are 2 Merlion sculptures at the park, with the main original one measuring 8.6 meters tall and spouts water.  A small 2 meter tall Merlion cub is standing up behind the big one.

Every time we go past the park, it is always fully crowded with people trying to take pictures of it.  There is even a walkway out into Singapore river so that tourists can get a front and side picture of the Merlion.  The area is nicely lit at night and we definitely understand the hype about the Merlion.

Hawker Centres

A Hawker Centre is an open air or semi covered food court complex that has many independent stalls that sells a variety of affordable freshly prepared meals.  It was built by governments to move unhygienic street food carts into clean, regulated and purpose built spaces.  There are over 120 Hawker Centres in Singapore.  Some famous ones in the city includes Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Lau Pa Sat, Maxwell Food Centre, and Tiong Bahru Market.

Staying at Grand Park City Hall, we were only a 20 minute walk/stroll to Lau Pa Sat.  It is open 24 hour and is housed in a historic Victorian cast iron structure.  This hawker centre is more modern and more expensive than other traditional hawker centres but we found it to be quite affordable.  We enjoyed our visit here, we ate here at 2 separate times.

Our first visit was to stall #4 Chef Lup Roasted.  We had a 3 meats rice combo for $10.50 SGD each, added a braised egg for $1.80 SGD each.  The guy gave us each a bowl of soup free.  The char siew, roasted duck, and crispy roast pork was just too good.  Our second visit was to stall #6 Briyani Point.  We both got Butter Chicken Briyani for $10 SGD each plus we added naan bread for $2 SGD each.  

We unfortunately did not visit Lau Pa Sat in the evening where the outdoor section has many vendors selling satay sticks on the grill.  The whole street would smell of delicious food with crowds of hungry people.  I will have to come back for this.

Chinatown

Chinatown was also worth visiting.  It wasn’t too far from our hotel but we wanted to take the accessible transit bus anyways.  There were a lot of colorful small shops that were traditional looking with some tight sidewalks and steps.  My friend did buy some souvenirs at one of the clothing shops.

We had some delicious dim sum at Yum Cha and it was so amazing.  After lunch, we just walked/strolled around Chinatown to see what’s there.  We saw Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple, the Sri Mariamman Temple.  Shoes must be removed and proper attire must be worn before entering the temple.

Gardens by the Bay

Gardens by the Bay is an urban park that opened in 2012.  It consists of 3 waterfront gardens: Bay Central Garden, Bay East Garden, and Bay South Garden.  The Gardens were just a 30 minute walk/stroll from our hotel.  We arrived a bit later in the day, just after 6 PM.  We just checked out the free outside areas of the park like the Children’s Gardens and the Big Fish Aquarium.

There were paid attractions at the Gardens by the Bay: Cloud Forest, Flower Dome, Floral Fantasy, OCBC Skyway, and Supertree Observatory.  Since it was about 7 PM and with all the attractions closing by 9 PM, we did not pay to do any of these paid attractions.  There is a free Garden Rhapsody light and music show nightly at 7.45 PM and 8.45 PM.

The crowds for the early show was quite crazy so we had dinner at Jurassic Nest Food Hall before seeing the late show.  I got the Indomie Ayam Quarter Leg Goreng plate which costs $14.50 SGD.  After eating, we were right by the light and sound show and got a great view of the Supergrove trees.  There was catchy songs with really cool lights dancing around.  It was such an amazing free experience.

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands is an iconic luxury hotel with three 55 story towers connected by the Sands SkyPark rooftop.  It had its grand opening in February 2011 and has over 1850 rooms and suites with a 150 meter Sands SkyPark Infinity Pool and Observation deck on the 57th floor.  It is home to the lotus shaped ArtScience Museum, theaters, a casino, and a free outdoor Spectra Light and Water show.

Connected directly to The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, this luxury mall has a lot of expensive clothing stores, restaurants, theaters, coffee shops and even a boat ride on the canal.  We walked/pass through the mall a bit but didn’t really stop to any of the stores nor bought anything.

We did get tickets to the SkyPark Observation deck.  Tickets are divided into non-peak 9.30 AM to 4.30 PM ($35 SGD) and peak 5PM to 10 PM ($39 SGD).  If you join the free Sands Lifestyle Membership, there is a 30% off discount.  There was even a wheelchair discount of $4 SGD.  We quickly bought tickets online and missed all the discounts.  We bought the 3.45 PM ticket but arrived for 3.30.

My friend was a bit hesitant to do such a high tower but eventually enjoyed the observation deck.  We were 55 stories high but it never bothered.  It was a bit windy and hazy but we still got a great view of the city.  The deck does not wrap around the building and was a bit small.

It wasn’t crowded because it was about to close at 4.30 and re open at 5 for the peak guests.  We had a great 1 hour visit which was all that’s needed and even got the signature Singapore Sling drink for $16 SGD.

Sentosa Island

Sentosa Island is Singapore’s premier island resort spanning 500 hectares of beaches, theme parks, attractions and a mega mall entertainment complex.  Getting to the island is easy by car or transit as it is only 15 to 30 minutes from Singapore depending on mode of transit.  We took the bus easily to VivoCity mall and transit hub when we visited Universal Studios Singapore.  Our whole day was mainly for the theme park as we did not get to explore much elsewhere.

We got to eat at the Food Republic food court for lunch and checked out the Hello Kitty Moonlit Garden a bit but that was it.  There was so much to do at VivoCity including Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, Singapore Oceanarium, and lots more.  Just this mall we can spend the whole day but the island has beaches and so much to do.  I will return and dedicate a whole day to ride the cable car and do the other attractions that were missed.

Changi Airport

Who would have thought that an airport would be one of the highlights of visiting a city.  Singapore’s Changi Airport is like an attraction itself as there are so many free things to do.  There are flower walls, the world’s largest indoor waterfall: the Jewel’s rain vortex.  On our flight home, we had a few hours until our flight, so we spent some time at the Jewel.  We browsed through the park while gazing at the magnificent waterfall.

There were several gardens located throughout the airport: Butterfly, Cactus, and Sunflower Gardens.  Being in terminal 3, we did spent a little bit of time in the Butterfly Garden but my friend was finding it too hot in there.  We then looked at a few stores as there were so many like in a mega mall with fancy stores, restaurants and bars.

Other things that could be done at the airport but we didn’t do include: free city tours, rooftop pools, movie theaters, 24 hour gym, climbing wall, and even a 12 meter tall slide.  You could probably spend a whole day at this airport without being bored.

Cruise

There are a few cruise lines that sail from Singapore and we went on Disney’s brand new Adventure mega ship.  I will write a full review of my experience really soon so look out for it.

Final Thoughts

My friend and I absolutely loved Singapore as it was clean, green and modern with so many fun things to do.  I would definitely have to come back soon and even do another cruise from Singapore.