๐ธ๐ฌ Singapore
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The Singapore Travel That Changed My Mind About City travel
When I think of Singapore travel, keywords that come to mind include modern city, high cost of living, finance, Marina Bay Sands(singapore sands hotel), Merlion, high GDP per capita, and strict laws.
I knew Singapore was a famous travel destination, but I had never visited because I thought all city trips were similar – why pay high prices for what seemed like just another urban experience? However, when someone recommended Singapore as an excellent destination for family travel with kids, I decided to give it a try for my first Singapore adventure.
Perhaps it was because my Bangkok trip with my son a year ago was so exhausting, but I went to Singapore with low expectations, thinking only that it would be easier to navigate than Bangkok due to its smaller size. By the end of the trip, I found myself thinking “I wish I had stayed longer” and “I want to come back again” – even fantasizing about living there for a year. Singapore truly proved to be a country with incredible charm.
๐ Location: Singapore, Southeast Asia
๐ค๏ธ Climate: No distinct seasons; tropical rainforest climate with high humidity and abundant rainfall year-round. ๐ง๏ธ Wettest months: NovemberโJanuary
๐ก๏ธ Temperature: Average daily temperature 25โ33ยฐC year-round
๐ต Currency: SGD (Singapore Dollar)
๐ Religion: Buddhism ~31%, Christianity ~19%, Islam ~16%, Taoism ~8%, Hinduism ~5%, Others/None ~21%
The Most Modern City in the World
Singapore is a small city-state, and most tourist attractions are concentrated in the Central Region, making it a destination that requires less long-distance travel compared to other countries. This naturally makes Singapore a low-difficulty tourist destination.
The Merlion statue – with its lion head and mermaid tail – is probably what most people think of first when they hear “Singapore.” On my second day, when I visited Merlion Park to see this iconic statue, I encountered the largest crowds of tourists, all taking playful photos with their mouths open or striking various poses.
Across from Merlion Park, you can see Singapore’s representative landmarks: Marina Bay Sands(singapore sands hotel), the ArtScience Museum, and the Singapore Flyer. Turn your head in another direction, and you’ll witness an incredible forest of skyscrapers housing numerous corporations.
Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre: A Unique Dining Experience
Located in the Central Business District (CBD) at Raffles Quay, Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre is probably a must-visit spot for every Singapore tourist. What makes Lau Pa Sat special is that at 7 PM every evening, the road in front transforms into Satay Street – vehicles are blocked, and tables and satay stalls appear right on the road.
Eating satay in the middle of a concrete jungle, literally on the street, creates quite a unique atmosphere. However, it gets extremely crowded due to high demand and limited satay vendors. On weekends, it opens from 3 PM, but I went around 4 PM on Sunday with my child to avoid crowds and had an early dinner. On that Sunday afternoon, Lau Pa Sat wasn’t too busy, so we received our satay quickly, along with other dishes like laksa.
Marina Bay Sands(Singapore sands hotel): Where Modern Architecture Meets Waterfront Views
Walking northeast from Lau Pa Sat for about 10 minutes brings you to the waterfront, where you can see Marina Bay Sands(singapore sands hotel) and the ArtScience Museum across the water. Going from the heart of the city center to suddenly seeing the open sea with landmark buildings was when I thought, “Ah, this is Singapore’s unique charm that sets it apart from other cities!”
While advanced architectural technology and unique buildings are common today, when Marina Bay Sands(singapore sands hotel) was first built, its three curved towers topped with the ship-shaped SkyPark was considered a groundbreaking attempt worldwide. Even though I’d seen this building countless times on YouTube and the internet, seeing it in person felt completely different – similar to how seeing the Eiffel Tower in person feels vastly different from seeing it in photos.
Sitting on a bench near the Immersion of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes memorial, I found myself wondering: how did they even conceive of building something like this?
Singapore developed rapidly, initially growing as a trading port during British colonial times due to its geographical advantages. After independence, with no natural resources on its small land, Singapore grew through trade and finance, eventually becoming Southeast Asia’s financial hub. But then to intentionally spend astronomical amounts building distinctive modern architecture to attract tourists? This didn’t seem like an ordinary decision.
Most famous tourist destinations are based on history, heritage, art, or incredible natural environments. The few famous urban tourist destinations like American cities have vast content, while Tokyo has abundant food and traditional cultural content. In contrast, Singapore has a short history with few traditional cultural elements and limited entertainment content. Choosing architecture as the content to attract tourists seemed quite remarkable to me.
Building architectural landmarks requires enormous investment, and once built, you can’t tear them down if you don’t like them – it’s not an easy choice to make (excluding oil-rich countries like Dubai).
Honestly, I expected to just think “Oh, the Merlion!” and “Oh, Marina Bay Sands looks unique!” and be done with it. But Singapore’s representative landmarks sparked much more curiosity than I anticipated.
The Fullerton Hotel: Where Colonial Heritage Meets Modern Singapore
Walking toward Boat Quay (about 10 minutes on foot), you’ll pass The Fullerton Hotel, which provides a refreshing contrast to Singapore’s modern cityscape. This Neo-classical granite structure was built during British colonial times and served as a post office, then as a hospital and military headquarters during WWII, before being renovated into today’s hotel. Whether it’s the building’s massive scale or the contrast of this classical-style building next to the forest of skyscrapers, The Fullerton Hotel looked incredibly impressive to me.
After passing The Fullerton Hotel and briefly checking out the Helix Bridge, I walked along Boat Quay, where numerous restaurants line the wharf. Since all restaurants operate terraces facing the wharf, I recommend choosing one to enjoy a beer while feeling the sea breeze. The buildings across the water are mostly classical-style architecture like The Fullerton Hotel, creating a completely different atmosphere from the Lau Pa Sat experience.
A Country Where Diverse Cultures Harmoniously Coexist
Singapore is a multicultural nation with citizens/permanent residents comprising approximately 74% Chinese, 13% Malay, 9% Indian, and other ethnicities. Religious distribution is also diverse: Buddhism 31%, Christianity 19%, Islam 15%, Taoism 8%, Hinduism 5%, and others.
Before visiting Singapore, I assumed Chinese people would dominate since they comprise three-quarters of the population. However, around tourist areas, perhaps due to many people working on employment visas, I didn’t feel Chinese people were the majority – instead, I saw incredible diversity with various ethnicities coexisting.
Singapore’s multicultural nature is best experienced in representative tourist areas like Arab Street, Little India, and Chinatown – each preserving the culture, food, and religion of their respective ethnic communities.
๐ Arab Street: Middle Eastern and Malay Cultural Hub
Arab Street is the center of Middle Eastern and Malay culture, with colorful and exotic atmospheres throughout its alleys. The Sultan Mosque inside is the most symbolic landmark, surrounded by alleys filled with diverse food and shopping options including hijabs, batik fabrics, perfumes, and carpet shops reflecting Islamic culture. Haji Lane features graffiti murals, vintage shops, and unique cafes, making it quite an Instagram hotspot.
While some restaurants serve completely unrelated cuisine like Japanese food, you’ll find plenty of Middle Eastern kebabs, Turkish desserts, and nasi padang – perfect for Middle Eastern food lovers!
I visited during Ramadan, and they were setting up large-scale tables for evening communal dining. Among the various shops selling diverse products along both sides of the street, the carpet and lighting shops left the strongest impression. While these items were too difficult to bring home, their exotic patterns and designs remain vivid in my memory.
The Sultan Mosque sits at Arab Street’s center, and despite being a hotspot, it was absolutely packed with people. Still, with plenty to see and eat, it’s an essential stop for tourists.
I wanted to dine at one of the Turkish restaurants in the alley for my husband who loves Iskender kebab, but the prices were higher than expected for a tourist area, so we decided to try Turkish food elsewhere and just bought drinks. However, the set menus looked well-composed, so I’d recommend trying a meal if you’re interested.
๐ Little India: Authentic Indian Community Experience
About a 15-minute walk from Arab Street brings you to Little India, the center of Singapore’s Indian community, naturally formed when Indians settled during Singapore’s founding. Perhaps because Arab Street was more colorful, Little India felt slightly less impressive upon arrival. You’ll see traditional Indian colors, many Tamil signs, and Hindu temples throughout – essentially India in miniature.
Maybe that’s why, while I rarely felt inconvenience pushing a stroller anywhere else in Singapore, Little India felt different. Narrow roads often lack clear separation between sidewalks and streets, with cars parked on roads creating complexity, plus constant car horn sounds made me want to leave quickly. While Arab Street has clear points designed to attract tourists, Little India feels more like a commercial area genuinely created by Indians for their daily lives.
Still, having come this far, I walked to see Little India’s famous temple, passing through a jewelry district. Since Indians tend to wear elaborate gold jewelry, shops lined up with enormous gold necklaces, bracelets, and accessories. Most shops had people shopping for jewelry – quite fascinating to observe. Fun fact: Singapore has relatively cheap gold, making it good for gold investment (learned this on the Big Bus tour).
Passing the jewelry district, I reached my destination: Sri Veeramakaliamman Hindu Temple. The colorful and intricate sculptures on the temple roof were so fascinating I stared for a long time. This temple worships Kali, the goddess of destruction and protection, where devotees pray for protection from evil. The South Indian (Dravidian) style with bright colors and detailed deity sculptures was eye-catching. Strong incense aromas wafted from the entrance, and seeing Indians going to pray made me want to explore inside, though I felt I shouldn’t enter and only observed from afar. The interior houses various Hindu deities including Shiva and Ganesha alongside Kali – I should have been brave enough to look inside.
Despite an underwhelming first impression, Little India revealed unique charm as I explored. It pairs well with Arab Street for combined sightseeing.
๐ฎ Chinatown: Chinese Heritage and Cuisine
Singapore’s Chinatown is a bit far for walking from Little India or Arab Street – better reached by bus or MRT. As the center for Chinese immigrants, Chinatown features historic temples, restaurants, traditional medicine shops, tea houses, and traditional craft stores.
While most major cities worldwide have Chinatowns, Singapore’s feels much larger and more active, probably due to the large Chinese population. I wanted to explore Chinatown thoroughly but was short on time, so I took a Big Bus city tour for a quick look. Notable Chinatown attractions include the Heritage Centre, Sri Mariamman Temple, Maxwell Food Centre, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, and Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, which houses Buddha’s tooth relic and features traditional Tang Dynasty Buddhist architecture.
Singapore’s Chinatown offers everything from Michelin restaurants to regional Chinese cuisine specialists, making it excellent for culinary tourism. I visited Dongbeijia (ไธๅไบบๅฎถ), specializing in Dongbei (Northeast Chinese) cuisine.
Dongbei cuisine from the three northeastern provinces (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang) features meat-heavy dishes (lots of pork and beef), strong flavors using soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and chili, plus warm, oily foods suited to cold climates. This cuisine is most familiar to Koreans, so many Korean tourists frequent these restaurants. Besides Dongbeijia, Dongfang and Dongbei Shaokao are also popular.
The kitchen pre-prepares ingredients and stir-fries them according to orders, resulting in an enormous menu. Everything’s written in Chinese, making ordering challenging, but fortunately, the menu includes photos for visual reference. We ordered sweet and sour pork, beef noodles, intestine dishes, and fried rice – all delicious.
With Chinese immigrants comprising the majority in Singapore, Chinatown offers the most direct way to experience this culture!
Katong: Peranakan Culture and Heritage
Wanting to experience Malay culture (since Singapore was originally part of Malaysia), I discovered Katong, located in eastern Singapore. This area showcases Peranakan culture and historic architecture. Once a wealthy beachfront residential area, it now blends traditional atmosphere with modern sensibilities.
This was one of my most anticipated destinations in Singpore, but time constraints prevented the visit – definitely on my list for the next Singapore travel!
Peranakan represents the mixed culture of Chinese immigrants and local Malays. The Katong area, especially Joo Chiat Road, features many traditional Peranakan-style shophouse buildings with incredibly colorful designs that made me determined to visit after seeing photos. Rather than large shopping malls, you’ll find charming boutiques, cafes, bars, and shops selling traditional cakes, batik fabrics, and handicrafts.
Geylang Serai Market and Food Centre and Joo Chiat Complex offer traditional Malay & Peranakan products, plus traditional Malay foods like nasi lemak, rendang, and coconut cake. I found a laksa specialist at Geylang Serai Market Food Centre, reminiscent of the bakso noodles I enjoyed in Bali.
Katong provides a local experience away from touristy crowds, offering different charm from Singapore’s bustling downtown – highly recommended for those seeking more authentic local experiences.
I could meet people of various cultures and ethnicities in each neighborhood, and remarkably, despite being close to each other, they seemed to coexist peacefully. During my Singapore travel, I dined at several hawker centers and noticed they separate halal and non-halal areas at tray return stations, showing respect for different religions.
While many countries today are multicultural, most face issues with racial discrimination, religious discrimination, or crime. Singapore appears to coexist quite peacefully, which I found fascinating. Singapore mandates multicultural education in schools and military service and strictly prohibits hate speech to prevent religious conflicts. Perhaps this peace is maintained because Singapore is a strong rule-of-law country with certain punishment. Regardless, in today’s world of increasing polarization, rising crime rates, and extreme sensitivity to discrimination, Singapore appears to be quite a livable place.
Perfect Family Travel Destination with Modern Green Spaces
As mentioned above, I was traveling with my 2-year-old son. While many worldwide destinations and resorts cater well to family travel, surprisingly few urban destinations are truly suitable for traveling with children. Singapore, despite being a complete urban destination, offers many child-friendly attractions.
Singapore Zoo and Bird Paradise: World-Class Animal Care
First, we visited Singapore Zoo and Bird Paradise, where the animals’ living conditions were impressively well-managed. While not having the most extensive variety of animals, you could feel the effort to create good living environments for them. Bird Paradise particularly impressed me – instead of viewing animals from outside cages, humans enter enormous aviaries, creating a rarely available experience. Large birds up close actually scared my son, who cried asking not to go near them.
The most impressive area at Bird Paradise was Penguin Cove, featuring penguins in aquarium-like enclosures 2-3 stories deep. The spacious, deep environment allowed penguins to swim freely, showing me how penguins actually swim in nature. Both my son and I watched mesmerized for quite a while. The cooler temperature was a bonus! Highly recommended for families with children.
Singapore Flyer: Sky-High City Views
The Singapore Flyer is Singapore’s iconic observation wheel. Honestly, I’d never ridden such an observation wheel outside of amusement parks. I decided to try it to give my son a new experience. The wheel was quite large, and with few visitors, they seated 2-3 families per cabin. I rode with another family of five, where the father gave detailed explanations to his children about how the wheel operates – I thought he was an amazing dad and aspired to be such a parent.
Originally, I wanted to ride before sunset to see both the sunset and night views, but we arrived later than planned and only saw the night scenery. Due to its size, one rotation takes considerable time, but the night view from Singapore Flyer was absolutely spectacular. My son, seeing aerial night views for the first time, excitedly joined me in sightseeing while I took photos. While big city night views are somewhat similar everywhere, being able to see Singapore’s landmark Science Museum and Marina Bay Sands(singapore sands hotel) together makes it worth recommending.
Gardens by the Bay: Innovative Vertical Gardens
Gardens by the Bay is Singapore’s botanical garden with truly enormous scale. Too vast to explore entirely, I visited only the most famous Cloud Forest and the Disney-themed Floral Fantasy. Floral Fantasy wasn’t particularly special but featured Disney characters made from plants that children would enjoy.
Cloud Forest attracted enormous crowds, and I completely understood why. In Singapore, where architectural permits supposedly require unique designs, this is what happens when they build a botanical garden. Cloud Forest is essentially a vertical botanical garden where visitors walk spirally up and down six stories of plant displays. Taking an elevator to the top and walking down, while slightly limiting stroller navigation, the wall-mounted plant arrangements were fascinating.
The idea that botanical gardens could be built vertically was absolutely amazing. Most importantly, I was impressed by the Singapore government for enabling such creation. You could see how seriously this modern city-state takes harmony with nature. Unlike typical hot greenhouses, Cloud Forest was kept cool, making it perfect for families with children. Don’t miss the Supertree Show at 7 PM and 8 PM!
East Coast Park: Family Paradise
East Coast Park is Singapore’s largest and most popular beachfront park. Pre-trip research showed many positive reviews, and discovering a massive slide on Google Maps convinced me to visit – the park exceeded expectations. It’s spacious with excellent children’s facilities, including sandboxes and water play areas that my son absolutely loved. I carelessly didn’t bring spare clothes or swim diapers, warning my son not to sit in water, but he ended up soaked from head to toe, forcing us to buy clothes at a nearby mall. Seeing his happiness made this one of my most satisfying Singapore locations.
While East Coast Park doesn’t offer crystal-clear beach waters suitable for swimming, the active park atmosphere includes restaurants around the playground and several restaurants serving Singapore’s famous chili crab near East Coast Lagoon Food Village hawker center. Perfect for avoiding hot afternoon hours while letting children play, enjoying park walks, seaside strolls, and peaceful dinners at hawker centers or restaurants.
Conclusion
I had 5 nights and 6 days in Singapore, but with late arrival and early departure flights, I actually had 4 days of sightseeing. Even though Singapore is small, 4 days wasn’t enough, especially with a child making night activities impossible – time felt even more limited.
Singapore proved to be an exceptional travel destination, particularly suitable for Westerners planning their first Asian trip who worry about cultural adaptation – it’s an incredibly low-barrier destination.
The small national scale and excellent public transportation make travel easy and lower the difficulty level. While Singlish has unique pronunciation, English as the primary language removes language barriers. For a city destination, the emphasis on harmony with nature prevents bleakness. Diverse architecture provides artistic fulfillment, while the multicultural nature offers varied food, religions, and cultural experiences as bonuses.
Being one of the world’s safest countries is a clear advantage, and for those concerned about Southeast Asian hygiene, Singapore maintains good sanitary conditions. The biggest drawback would be cost – “with enough money, it would be such a great place to live” became clearly apparent. Singaporeans’ favorite phrase “Clean & Safe” truly captures it. What started as an unexpected trip became a destination I absolutely want to revisit.
Money-Saving Tips for Singapore Travel
Everyone knows Singapore’s high cost of living. While perceived expense levels vary by your home location, I believe in saving where possible, and beyond cost-saving, Singapore attractions benefit from advance booking, leading me to discover Klook’s Singapore Travel Pass.
Klook’s Singapore Travel Pass lets you choose how many attraction tickets to purchase from Singapore’s many destinations at discounted rates. Since it includes virtually every tourist destination, managing reservations through one platform proved more convenient.
I purchased access to Gardens by the Bay, Big Bus City Tour, Singapore Zoo, Bird Paradise, Singapore Flyer, and Raffles Hotel Long Bar Singapore Sling cocktail voucher. Calculations showed I essentially got 1-2 attractions free compared to individual pricing. While I skipped Universal Studios since my son isn’t old enough to be interested, the Singapore travel pass includes Sentosa and Universal Studios options for those planning to visit.
Highly recommend using the Singapore Travel Pass if you’re planning a Singapore travel!
Klook.com
1 comment
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