It’s that time again. My wife and I have started to plan for our next adventure.
Last vacation destination was Hawaii. It was great. And being able to get by speaking English or Japanese was amazing. If we could move to Oahu we would, in a heartbeat.
We’ve done Japan a number of times, and are a little meh about it at this point. I mean how many shrines can one visit?
A few years ago it was London/Paris, but I’ve been to Paris more times than I care to remember, albeit usually for work, so the allure is simply no longer there for me.
We’re leaning strongly toward Singapore, but know really nothing about it. The only thing we’re somewhat committed to at this point is flying Singapore Air as we’ve heard the airline is amazing. For my wife and me, the flight is as important as the destination, so we always splurge there, probably more than we should.
Have any of you experienced Singapore? If so, how was it? What’s on your ‘must see’ list? What time of year is best to go?
We like to be pampered when on vacation, so great accommodations with fantastic amenities are important.
We are in no rush, but it usually takes us 4 to 6 months to plan our vacations, so now’s the time.
I’ve never been, but I’ve spent a lot of time in Asia and know people in Singapore.
To be honest, it’s not the first place that pops into mind for a vacation. My understanding is that it is clean, pleasant and efficient, but not exceptionally exciting. It’s the sort of place that is nice to go for a conference, but might be a bit dull for most tourists.
That said, if you are mostly looking for top notch hotels and restaurants, you’ll find all you need. It’s not like its a bad place. It’s just not usually top of the “must see” lists in the area.
Fantastic zoo and bird park, and also, um, shopping? Lots and lots of shopping. It’s like a giant mall with its own army. Sentosa Island is supposed to be nice, especially if you like golf and spas and … shopping, but I never went there myself. I found Singapore a strange place. It’s legal to sell sex there, but not chewing gum. That’s weird, right?
I spent just over 11 hours there on a lay-over, so I don’t have a whole lot to contribute. The airport is pretty amazing - huge, clean, nice.
Driving in to the city, you wonder where the “old” parts are. It seems everything is “new” (less than 10 years old). High rise apartment buildings everywhere. And even the freeway from the airport to the city is “nice”: healthy trees and flowers lining the lanes.
The city (part that I saw getting to my hotel) seemed very shopping oriented. Those blocks that were transformed into malls housed designer name stores: Gucci, etc… So shopping seems to be a big part of Singapore.
From the recommendations from some people I met, I visited the Marina Bay Sands mall/center to find dinner. Easily the nicest mall I’ve ever seen - even nicer than the really nice malls in Las Vegas. And along with a huge casino, the mall even had 4 theatres (live theatre). “Jersey Boys” was playing while I was there.
There are 5-star restaurants (with 5 star price tags), so I opted for this Brazillian steak house instead (awesome food). The seating was right in the “aisle” of the mall, and while I ate, this little jazz combo provided nice entertainment. As I ate, I thought “It doesn’t get much better than this.”
The mall, too, seemed to be mostly designer stores: huge stores with maybe 30 handbags on display and that is all.
The kicker was that, on the cab ride back to my hotel, I asked the driver if that was the nicest mall in town (thinking I’d just happened upon the “best” one), and his reply was “no.” And he indicated a mall that he thought was even nicer !
So I can’t give any advice on things to see/do. But if you’re going, I would prepare for shopping !
Palau Ubin is a nice place to walk or bike around. It’s an island off of the northeastern Singaporean mainland that has managed to avoid urban development. Also has views of Malaysia across the Johor Strait. Accessible by a pleasant ferry ride from Changi Village.
East Coast Park is also worth a visit for the great views of the hundreds of ships in line to come to port.
Chinatown, Little India, Botanic Gardens, and the National Museum are also must sees.
The zoo and the Botanic Gardens are very nice, but Singapore would be about the last place in Asia that I’d want to go as it’s not particularly interesting. The Raffles Hotel invented both the Yard and the Singapore Sling, but goddamn if the latter drink isn’t the worse thing on the planet.
I also recommend going to Malaysia after several days in Singapore. Malacca is not far away, and if you have time I highly recommend getting up to Penang.
The Fella lived in Singapore for several years and has revisited it several times and he loved/loves it. His recommendations:
Singapore street food and he recommends the Lau Pa Sat Festival Market
Gardens by the Bay
Singapore Zoo/night safari
Marina Bay Sands (he says they have an amazing light show)
Jurong Bird Park
For pampering places to say he said The Raffles and Marina Bay Sands. Of the two, he said if he had the money, he’d stay at The Raffles for the classic Singapore feel.
And that you should try to avoid the monsoon season, other than that the weather is pretty non changing.
Yeah, you may as well go to Malaysia and then drop into Singapore for a day or two. KL, Cameron Highlands, and Penang were all pretty cool, Malacca not so much.
Vietnam has a super great tourist infrastructure, and Thailand is awesome, especially for food and beaches. Cambodia and Laos are really interesting but a lot more primitive than Vietnam or Thailand. This may or may not be a positive thing for you.
Singapore is nice but really good for just a few days. Clean. Modern. As mentioned, the zoo is top notch, of Southern California standards. It has a good Night Safari too. Sentosa Island is worth a day, and now they even have a casino and a Universal Studios Park.
We’ve stayed at the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel and can recommend it. Great location and not too expensive, especially for what you get. (I believe the website is showing Singaporean dollars. S$1 is about 75 or 80 US cents.)
Go to Malaysia too if you can. Americans can get a visa on arrival. Melaka is worth a day or two. I like Kuala Lumpur myself. Penang ia a ways up the peninsula but worth it if you can make it; it’s what Hong Kong and Singapore must have looked like before turning into skyscraper cities
Singapore is very small, geographically, and it doesn’t take long to do all the possible excursions. But is just a half-hour local bus ride to Malaysia (where you can winder freely to some wonderful national parks or beaches), or a four hour boat trip to an Indonesian island, so if you get bored with Singapore, getting out of town means getting out of the country.
Okay, so it seems the consensus is that I should probably commit to no more than 2 days in Singapore, and spend the majority of my vacation elsewhere. fantastic! I knew asking here was the right thing to do. Thanks guys!
Now to decide where else to spend the other 10 or so days. Penang sounds interesting, but that seems to be a 1-day excursion, 2 at the most. I would probably be bored there longer than that.
Well, no, I think Singapore is worth more than two days. I’d say about four days is enough. Three minimum. The zoo and Night Safari is worth one whole day and evening alone. Sentosa Island is one full day, or at least it was before Universal Studios moved in – maybe it’s worth two days now! I’d schedule four or five nights.
And don’t believe anyone who says Singapore is the last place in Asia they’d consider. That’s nothing but gross exaggeration. The last place? Really? You’d go to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria right now ahead of Singapore? And even closer to the city-state, I’d choose Singapore over Brunei, no contest. I’d probably even choose it over Taiwan or South Korea.
As for Thailand, it’s worth a whole trip on its own. Depends on what you’re looking for. Beaches? Mountains? It’s easy to spend months here, let alone weeks. Exactly how much time do you have to play with?
Wife likes beaches. For me beaches are fine if they’re great. There’s a beach in Bermuda that I’m in love with; the water is so blue and the sand is so white.
Wife loves shopping, while I’m a more off the beaten path person. We both like good food, although my wife is not too adventurous in the food department.
To tell you the truth, I think the beaches in Hawaii beat anything I’ve seen in Thailand. Hawaii really spoils you. (I lived there for 2-1/2 years, a UH grad. The wife too.) But if you do make it up to Thailand, the South has a lot of nice beaches. The problem for you could be the southern insurgency, coming up on a decade old. That’s in the Far South, and there are good beach locations north of where the trouble is, but if you’re traveling overland, don’t be surprised if disruptions occur. I’d just fly into someplace like Phuket, which I think has flights from Malaysia and Singapore. (Although I think Phuket stinks myself; I’d head elsewhere pronto.)
I’m partial to Krabi province in Thailand, particularly Railey Beach (may be various spellings). Lots of good islands around there too. For Malaysia, we really enjoyed the Perhentian Islands off the east coast of the peninsula. About a two-hour slow-boat ride from the mainland. You have to take your own alcohol though, as it’s in a more conservative part of the country, but taking your own didn’t seem to be a problem from what we saw, although we just teetotaled it ourselves.
If shopping’s what you’re after, you’ll probably want to spend a day on Orchard Road in Singapore. Bangkok’s good for that too.
I used to have dealings with a Chinese-Thai businessman. Very wealthy, he would do an around-the-world trip about four times a year. He’s been everywhere, and I mean everywhere, done everything. Flew regularly on the Concorde. His favorite place in the whole wide world? Singapore. Because of the shopping. (I’m not sure you should take this as much of an endorsement though, as Chinese-Thai businessmen are bizarre creatures in general, this one in particular.)
I’ve been living in Singapore for the last 13 years, and still stay there.
As always, with holidays, it really depends on what you are looking for.
Singapore is a “shoppers paradise” - my personal opinion though is that most of the stores etc are international brands - meaning that the Gucci, Prada, Mango, Zara et al are the same the world over - but it must be said we do have huge malls, many of which are interlinked by underground walkways - so you can spend literal days in a single stretch
There’s quite a few attractions that are worth a visit -
2a) Jurong Bird Park - full day
2b) Zoo - full day
2c) Night Safari - as the name suggests this is an evening show at the Zoo, package prices are available for all three here (under the same management) - after multiple trips to the zoo and the night safari, I wouldn’t do them both on the same day (too tiring) - I’d do the zoo one day, then maybe bird park and night safari the next
Sentosa is great for lounging on the beach, some choice beach bars there (I’d recommend the one with the wave rider)
3a) There’s some other cool attractions there - which you can spend a day doing (like the Merlion, musical fountain etc)
Stay away from La Pau Sat - the quality there has dived, and is a tourist trap now (with the associated pricing)
Singapore flyer is good for about 2 hours or so
If you’re into museums, the ACM is good, Changi Chapel and memorial is a must see if you’re into war history and stories
China Town - good for an evening of wandering
Little India - don’t bother
Botanic Gardens - good for a few hours
One of the main reasons for visiting Singapore would have to be the FOOD!! But you MUST get off the beaten tourist track for this. I collaborated on a food magazine of some of the best “local” places to eat (meaning the places residents eat, not the tourists). Depends on how adventurous wifey is. To get the full experience you must be willing to try things that are different (like fish head curry, turtle soup, crocodile paw stew etc) If you wanna drop me a PM I will see if I can dig out an old copy of the magazine and send to you - but please do forgive the grammar inside, most of the articles were a single draft, and haven’t been properly edited.