Hi there and thanks for stopping by! If this is your first time on our blog, you should know that we’ve been living in Singapore for a few years now and it’s based on this insider experience that we’re sharing this short and summarised version of the Singapore travel guide with you.
In this post, we’ve shared about the Changi airport, how you can get to the city from there, which area is best to stay in, transport options, dining out, the things to do here and more:
When to Visit
Singapore weather doesn’t vary much so you can visit anytime throughout the year. The average temperatures range between 25 – 32 degrees Centigrade, it’s usually humid and it can rain anytime over here. So, when you visit carry comfortable summer wear. Light cotton shirts/dresses, shorts and sunglasses will be your best friends especially in daytime.
Changi Airport
Let’s move to Singapore Changi airport, which is a destination on its own. If you have a couple of hours to spare either after arrival or before departure, you may want to spend some time at – Jewel. Here you can admire the highest indoor waterfall in the world, of course there’s food and shopping – and several activities like the bouncing nets, mirror maze, experience studio etc. Here’s our vlog on the activities at Jewel to give you a detailed overview.
Next if you want to purchase a sim card or exchange currency, then you can do so at the airport or in the city. We suggest going with either Singtel or StarHub for the sim but we also suggest that you do a bit of research and comparisons beforehand so you can buy the card that suits your requirements and budget best.
At the airport, exchange only a small amount if you need to as exchange rate will be slightly pricier than what you’ll get in the city. Besides your international credit/debit cards will work in most places except at hawker centers so only a small cash amount (say $100 – 200) should suffice for 1-2 people.
Transport options to get around in the city / Changi Airport to the city
To get to the city from Changi airport and to get around in the city there are several options, but the most common ones are – MRT (Metro Train / Subway), Bus or Taxi.
The MRT or the Bus network in Singapore is safe, clean and very affordable. In order to find out which train line / bus number you need to take to get from point A to B, just enter the locations on Google Maps and it’ll suggest the recommended routes along with an estimate of how much time it’ll take for you get to your destination (see example below).
Changi airport to the city center by MRT/Bus, takes about an hour, should cost around S$ 3.00 – 4.00 and runs between 6:00 am – 11:00pm only.
There are two private taxi services here – Grab and Go-Jek and we suggest installing these two taxi apps beforehand, for sure. However, if you’re with kids below 1.3 mts height (usually 1-5 years) then you need a car seat if you want to take a Grab / Go-Jek ride. In this case, your alternative is to take the public city taxi such as Comfort Taxi, CityCab, SMRT Taxis, TransCab or Premier Taxis (which do not mandate a car seat for young children) and for this we suggest installing the CDG Zig taxi app.
Public taxi from the airport taxi stand or private taxi hire are faster (about 35 mins to city center), but are more expensive in comparison (should cost around S$ 30.00 – S$ 35.00).
Note: that if you’re taking a taxi from the airport taxi stand then these will be public city taxi by default, so you don’t need to worry if you are with kids.
For payment on any of the transport options, your VISA/Mastercard cards will work, you can use a mobile wallet e.g. Apple pay or you can buy something called as a EZ Link card at the airport, which you can top up with cash. More details, here.
Where to stay
We suggest that you stay close to the city center as most of the things to do will be within 5 km radius. This means, look for accommodation in or around areas such as Orchard Road, Little India, Chinatown, Tanjong Pagar or Marina Bay. In these areas you’ll usually find public transport options within walking distance making it easy to get around. And even if you want to take taxis, it’ll be more affordable due to shorter distances to several places of interest. Which hotel or type of accommodation you want to stay at is a matter of preference and budget. Singapore has stay options in all budget ranges which you may look-up on websites like Agoda or Booking.com.
Dining options
When it comes to dining, you’ll be spoilt for choice. Singapore has everything you can imagine – from fine dining, casual restaurants, cafes to food courts, serving cuisines from around the world.
A quick note if you’re Vegetarian / Vegan: Veg / vegan options are limited, and you’ll need to do your research to know where to find good veg food.
If you’re looking for Food recommendations in Singapore, download our FREE Vegetarian Food in Singapore Guide here.
But one experience we really recommend is to eat at a local hawker centre here, which is Singapore’s version of street food dining. There are many such centres and here’s a list of the more popular ones. Our goto is usually Maxwell Hawker Center or Lau Pa Sat which has decent vegetarian options too.
Things to do in Singapore
The kind of things you would want to do will depend on your likes and preferences. That’s where this blog post can come in handy – it’ll give you a summarised overview of the things to do in Singapore. Consider this as a starting point and from here on you may shortlist based on what you fancy.
You may also want to checkout our vlog on the Free things to do in Singapore.
Regardless, see below a list of what can be considered as the Top 10 things to do in Singapore:
- Marina Bay – Merlion Park (the half lion, half fish statue with water gushing out from its mouth)
- Marina Bay – Spectra (free sound and light show)
- Marina Bay Sands – SkyPark Observation deck, Marina Bay shoppe, rooftop dining
- Gardens by the Bay – Garden Rhapsody (free sound and light show)
- ArtScience Museum
- National Museum
- Orchard Road (for fashion / luxury brands shopping)
- Kampong Glam – Arab Street, Little India, Chinatown (culture, temples, food)
- Botanic Gardens (a UNESCO World Heritage site)
- Sentosa – Universal Studios (amusement park)
- Sentosa – SEA Aquarium, Other adventure activities (Ziplining, Bungy jumping, Luge ride)
We hope this post was useful and will help you plan your Singapore visit. If you have more questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments and we’ll try our best to answer them.
More vlogs from Singapore on our YouTube channel, here.
