Being an Indian & living in India, there are some obvious suggested tourist destinations that trend & are preferred by many Indian. One such designation is Singapore. As per the online data available more than 1MM Indian tourists visit the lion city. Why are we telling this you? Because when we planned to visit Singapore in 2019, most of the friends were so surprised that how have we not yet visited this city? Being avid travellers, they thought that Singapore must have been ticked in our travel chart long time back. But for us, we really never thought that we would enjoy visiting the island city – Singapore. ?We thought its a concrete jungle, full of shopping complexes, big malls & sky scrapper buildings. None of these excites us. So read on to know what changed our mind 🙂
For our anniversary, Shivani wanted to visit Bali. So while doing our research, I suggested to club Singapore as well. This was solely because otherwise, we would have never planned to visit Singapore. So we did some research made our bookings & we were set to visit this country with zero expectations.
Visa Process – Getting Singapore Travel Visa for us was fairly simple. We applied for an online visa via Make My Trip Travel site. Do keep in mind that you have to courier your scanned documents & original passport to the MMT office for the visa application process. So do make sure, you have enough time in hands for the same & not keep it for the last minute. For the visa process, we paid INR 4000 for two-person visas + INR 300 for the courier.
Getting There – To visit Singapore, we took a late-night Indigo flight from Bengaluru & landed in Changi Airport (SIN). Reaching Singapore from India is very easy. You can find multiple flights that suit your schedule & budget. The flight duration will be approximately 4-5 hours only.
Getting around in Singapore – The fastest, most convenient & cheapest way to travel in Singapore is through Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) subway. Almost all popular attractions are connected via MRT.? You will just need a MRT pass that you can buy from any 7-Eleven store.?
Where to Stay – One of friend’s who had lived in Singapore suggested to stay in & around Orchard Road. Going by his inputs, we decided to stay in Hotel Yotel, Orchard Road. The per-day room tariff here was INR 10,000 (excluding breakfast). Being a centrally located hotel, we use to start our day early & come back to our hotel for some rest in the hot afternoons 🙂
Tips for booking your hotel in Singapore:
- It should be well connected to?Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) subway/metro
- It should be centrally located so that you can avoid spending time on travel. The hotel & humid weather of Singapore can be nasty & long travels will tire you down
- Tariff of a good location hotel will usually be INR 10,000 and more
- If you enjoy exploring local food, then book a hotel without breakfast option. You can find loads of food courts & hawker markets that serve amazing local breakfasts
View this post on Instagram
Must-Visit Singapore Iconic Landmarks that we loved 🙂
1. Merlion Park?
Singapore’s pride & one of the most clicked icons is the “Merlion”,?a mythical creature which is half fish symbolising the past fishing villages of Singapore & half lion which represents Singapura (Singapore’s original name). This is an unmissable statue, so grab your selfie stick & strike a pose with Merlion.
2. Marina Bay Sands?
Do you want to get awe stuck with something really awesome? Head to Marina Bay Sands (MBS). This 57-storey skyscraper was opened in 2011 & since then has been the centre of attraction for tourists. If you are looking for some super luxurious stay, MBS has a luxury hotel which is very famous for its infinity pool on the 57th floor. It also houses “The Shoppee” mall that shops of some top-notch brands of the world & a casino.
Pro tip – Visit Marina Bay Sands in evening & head to CE LA VI, the rooftop bar & restaurant. Enjoy some marvellous city skyline views from here with a glass of wine :). The city lit’s up at night & the skyline view should not be missed. Do check for the cover charges in advance
3. Chinatown?
Neighbourhoods like Chinatown will give you a glimpse of Singapore’s heritage. Chinatown, with its colourful buildings, shopping & food shops, museum & more. Do make sure you take out at least half a day to fully enjoy the bustling Chinatown & plan to visit the Chinatown Heritage Center to learn the personal stories of people & their culture who were the early residents of Chinatown, Budda’s Tooth Relic Museum which has a relic said to be a tooth from Buddha, various mural arts that depict old & new times of Chinatown. These murals are designed by YC & each mural’s location can be found on his website.
4. Gardens by the Bay ?
If we have to pick one most touristy places we visited in Singapore, it will have to be Gardens by the Bay. If you want to see what nature & technology can bring to you, you need to visit this place. Don’t just get mislead by it name and think of it is just any other garden. From the diverse vegetation in Cloud Forest to hidden floral gems in Flower Dome to colourful & magical world of Garden Rhapsody sound & light show, you will amaze every single second of your visit
Pro tips:
a. We would recommend visiting Gardens by the Bay in the evening around 4 pm so that you can club visiting all the major attractions within the garden & then head to enjoy the Garden Rhapsody show that happens twice every day. The show timings are 7.45 pm & 8.45 pm.
b. While visiting Cloud Forest, time it with a refreshing mist of the waterfall. Mist timings in the evening are – 4.00pm, 6.00 pm & 8.00pm.
c. Before the?Garden Rhapsody light & sound show starts,?grab a beer & a comfortable spot to enjoy the show 🙂
d. Book your tickets online & pick them up from xxx?? to be updated by Rohit any discounts, tips etc?
e. To plan your visit to Gardens by the Bay & to make most of it, do check the timings of all the shows & attractions on http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg website
View this post on Instagram
5. Future World?
This is the place where Art meets Science. Visit Future World exhibition in ArtScience Museum & must visit is the Crystal Universe installation for some breathtaking light effects that are created by over 170,000 LED lights. The beauty that gets created by these LED lights will leave you spellbound
View this post on Instagram
6. Colonial District of Singapore
In the middle of so many touristy things to do in Singapore, generally, people tend to miss visiting the colonial district of Singapore. This part of town will throw some light on Singapore’s past. We took a walk around the heritage buildings & its colonial architectures such as CHIJMES, Raffles Hotel, Stamford Raffle Statue & St. Andrew’s Cathedral. These buildings are such a beautiful part of Singapore but usually go unnoticed by many tourists. So would recommend to just walk around these places
7. Hawker Centres
We would want to call these hawker centres as the “Lifeline” of Singapore. Hawker centres are the simpler versions of food halls serving some of Singapore most authentic & mouth-watering dishes like satay, chicken rice, laksa & many more. Guess this is the comfort food for a lot of locals there because we spotted many working professionals visiting hawker centres for their lunch. The food is really cheap here & you can enjoy a hail & hearty meal for just INR 200. Some of our favourite Hawker Centres in Singapore are Maxwell Food Center, Lau Pa Sat (visit here in evenings to enjoy a cold beer & some hot satays ) & Chinatown Food Centre
8. Rain Vortex at Jewel, Changi Airport?
A visit to Singapore is incomplete without experiencing the grandeur of Rain Vortex waterfall at Jewel, Changi Airport. This is the world’s tallest indoor waterfall with 40 meter high. The sound & light show that happens every evening will leave you stunned
Singapore has a lot more to offer 🙂
Some of the other major sightseeing attractions are Sentosa Islands, Universal Studios, Jurong Bird Park, Singapore Zoo & River Safari and the very famous Night Safari. These attractions are even more fun if you are going with kids & family. Visiting some of these sites will need a day so plan it accordingly
If you are with a group of friends, you should not miss visiting Clark Quay for its party scenes at night. Its a riverside quay full of pubs, restaurants & cafes. We visited Clark Quay on a Friday evening & the live music was awesome
Super useful tips that will help you in Singapore?
- 7-Eleven stores are a saviour – For all your important needs like buying a Sim card, MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) card, Singapore’s locals favourite Milo drink, some munchies, snacks etc just head to any 7-Eleven store. You will find these stores easily
- Singapore weather can nasty -? Be prepared for some sunny sun & humidity that may drain you down. We would recommend to carry a hand fan, stay hydrated & most importantly start your day early for any sightseeings. Keep afternoons for shopping in malls 🙂
- Cabs are expensive – We faced issues using Grab cab service (Its the Uber of Singapore) in Singapore, maybe because navigation skills are not so good as we never were able to locate the pick-up spot our driver choose for us & we ended up paying cancellation charges :(? Cabs are convenient but they come with a price
- Do not forget your GST refunds – If your shopping more than $100 Singaporean dollars at any shop, than don’t forget to get your refund on the 7% Goods and Services Tax (GST)
- Important website & app that were extremely useful – The official website by Singapore Tourism Board is – http://www.visitsingapore.com & App. You can get all the important information from here.
Hope you enjoyed this post. Let us know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! We?d love to keep sharing travel tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail. You can also follow us on?Instagram?and?Facebook?