– Introduction to Singapore | Our guide to Singapore sightseeing
Singapore is mostly seen as a country where you will spend a few days on a stop over to another country. While it is small and compact, it is worth doing a little planning of what to do and see while you are there. Read on for our guide to Singapore sightseeing.
With a mix of mainly Indian, Chinese, and Malay influences, Singapore has an interesting and unique taste in food and culture.
The country is remarkably clean and you will do well to find anything out of place here. Be aware that smoking in public and chewing gum is prohibited. It is also illegal to import gum into the country.
Singapore is seen as an expensive country but you can still find good cheap places to eat such as the hawker area in East Coast Lagoon Food Village. This is well worth a visit to experience the many different foods Singapore has to offer.
Singapore is also surprisingly green. With a lot of parks and gardens it has been the focus of the country to make itself a “city within a garden” and this appears to be paying off positively.
Singapore is definitely a country worth visiting. To get the most out of the country make sure and plan your activities and your trip to Singapore will be an extremely enjoyable one.
– What can you expect from Singapore?
A large urban space with surprisingly large amounts of greenery. An extremely clean country and a mix of cultures from China, India, and Malaysia.
– How we got to Singapore
Our flight took us to Singapore via Dubai with Emirates. We had two delays and our luggage didn’t make it, but to be fair to Emirates they dropped it off at our accommodation before we were awake the next morning.
Taxis are available at a rank just outside the arrivals hall.
The visa for European passports is on arrival. But for Misha she had to apply through the embassy. The visa process is not complicated, but strangely the visa is only valid for a period of five weeks after approval.
As we always like to get our visas early, the one we got expired before we arrived in Singapore! Even though we had put the traveling dates on the application, and we had been told to apply a minimum of two weeks before traveling by the embassy staff, it caused a bit of an upset. Nobody had mentioned anything about the five week rule to us!
We were told we needed to let it expire before applying again which would not have given enough time. It eventually got resolved but it caused a deal of stress!
Going through the immigration was straight forward though and the queue was short so we were through quickly.
For visa information about other countries please click here;
https://www.ica.gov.sg/visitor/visitor_entryvisa
– Map of Singapore & places we were
Places we visited;
- Marina Bay
- East Coast Park – East Coast Lagoon Food Village
– Where to stay
Singapore has an abundance of hotels available to stay in. You won’t have any problem finding them on sites like www.booking.com or www.hotels.com.
You may also find some AirB’nBs that can work out cheaper than the hotels especially if in a group.
– Getting Around Singapore
The best way we found to get around Singapore was by downloading an app called ‘Grab’ which is identical to Uber and using this. It made everything much easier for us and all the drivers were extremely reliable.
Singapore also has a rail system called the MRT, (Mass Rapid Transit) which is a good way to get around. You can buy a single pass or an ezlink card the stations or from the airport.
– Activities and sights
The following items are some of the things that are recommended to see and do in Singapore;
- See Singapore’s nationals symbol the Merlion in Merlion Park
- Be surrounded by our winged friends in Jurong Bird Park
- Visit Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple Sri Mariamman Temple
- Dine with a vast choice of hawker foods at East Coast Lagoon Food Village
- Take a nature walk in Singapore Botanic Gardens
- Observe the plant and marine life from the boardwalk on Pulau Ubin
- Immerse yourself in Indian culture in Little India
- Learn about Peranakan history in Baba House
- Visit one of the last remaining Singaporean rainforests in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
- Relax on the resort island of Sentosa
- Be in awe at the greenery and plants in the glass bio-spheres in the Gardens by the Bay
– Food and drink
With a mix of Chinese and Indian culture the food is quite good in Singapore. It can be very spicy as Singaporeans love their spices! One of the best places to try the foods is in the East Coast Lagoon Food Village.
Foods to try
– Hainanese chicken rice is plain, simple, and also the national dish of Singapore.
– Chili crab can be found in a lot of the hawker centers and they may try to convince you to try it.
– Fish head curry, yes, that’s right, fish head curry is a curry….with a fish’s head in it.
– Laksa is a noodle soup made with a mix of spices and coconut milk.
– Char kway teow is a flat rice noodle dish with bean sprouts, cockles, prawns, and Chinese sausage in dark soy and chili sauce.
– Murtabak is a pancake stuffed with spiced mince meat, garlic, egg and onion.
– Nasi padang is steamed white rice served with different vegetables, meats, and curries.
– Roti prata is a flatbread served with curry.
Drinks to try
– For the beer drinkers, the local beer is Tiger beer. Exported to a lot of countries in the world it is now a recognizable brand.
– Additional information
Plugs and electricity: The common plug used is the Type G plug used in the UK and Ireland.
Vaccines: It is recommended to have your Hep A, Hep B, Typhoid, and Rabies vaccines still in date before traveling. If traveling from a yellow fever risk area you will need to show proof of your Yellow Fever vaccine.
COVID: Currently only citizens and permanent residents can enter without prior permission unless you are traveling on Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane scheme, information which can be found here.
Currency: The currency is the Singapore Dollar (S$). For current conversion rates check http://www.xe.com/ before you go. ATMs are available everywhere and a lot of places will accept credit cards. If going to the hawker areas you will need cash.
Language: English is one of the main languages of Singapore, as well as Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. You will have no issues getting by with just English in Singapore.
Security: Singapore is extremely safe. There are no security risks in the country.