3 perfect days in Singapore
 

Hi,

We are going to Singapore for 3 days later this month. The hope was to meet an old friend who has moved to China, but he's MIA, so it will be just the two of us, on our own itinerary.

I've looked at some books, and here are the things we'd like to do: Singapore Museum, Botanical Garden, Zoo&NightSafari, Singapore Flyer. We'd also like to do some walking around.

I'm trying to figure out how to structure these. We'll be there Saturday-Monday, and we'd like to do the Zoo/Safari on Sunday.

Is this too much? How would you structure these? Also, we'd like to enjoy some regional restaurants for dinner (and lunch), so if anyone has favorites, please share. We are staying at the Marriott.

Thanks so much!

Can I also suggest you try looking at the first couple of pages of this forum.
There are myriad threads with myriad ideas that should inform your trip.
Here's a small sample ...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...er-merged.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...singapore.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...singapore.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...food-tour.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...singapore.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...singapore.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...ries-dont.html

Thanks I've looked at some of these, and will look at more, especially for restaurants, but I'm mostly interested in sequencing of the trip. We've pretty much decided what we want to do, I'm also just doing a sanity check - ie can we do it all?

Marriott is an very good central location. One of my favorite Marriott properties, btw. although I generally advise at to venture out at least one morning to find a "traditional" Singaporean breakfast of kaya toast, runny eggs, and kopi-c, the Marriott has a very good breakfast buffet. If included in your room per price or status, it is hard to beat. Go to the ground floor restaurant rather than the lounge. And unlike most visitors afraid of the heat, sit outside. It's in the shade, there is excellent air circulation, and at the intersection of Orchard & Scotts you are at the epicentre of people watching. Particularly on Sunday, if you stretch to brunch, you'll see the phenomenon of maids/laborers day off as you sit with your meal, coffee and newspaper. Excellent wifi at the restaurant too, although you will have had to register your device by connecting in the room, as I recall.

Three days is about right in Singapore, frankly. It's just not that big. And there are things to do, but you generally can squeeze multiple activities into each day. See Three Days in Singapore for some good ideas.

A good way to get around, and include some of the items you've mentioned, is a Hippo/Bus tour ticket. The Hippo is a double decker bus. They sell various tours, and it's a good way to get a sense of the island. I know one of the stops is the Flyer. You can hop on/off anywhere, just be aware of the bus schedule. The Duck is an amphibious vehicle tour of the Marina.

I would add Gardens by the Bay, around sunset, to catch the lightshow.

Regarding "regional restaurants," you might have to be a bit more specific in what you want. do you want to eat local, or do you want more of an international restaurant experience? If it were me, I'd breakfast at the Marriott, lunch somewhere at a hawker centre or eating house, and probably dinner at a hawker centre/eating house as well. For me, Singapore hawker food provides incredible variety, complete immersion into the local culture, and unbeatable value-for-price. Research Singaporean cuisine, decide what you want to try, and then just ask the concierge, taxi stand worker, taxi driver, etc. where their favorite is. It won't be at a restaurant, most likely. I'd avoid Newton though. Very popular hawker centre, but overpriced and touristy. There are much better. I prefer Maxwell, Lavender (I think closed now though), Zion Riverside, Bukit Timah View, Tiong Bahru, and East Coast Seafood Centre (getting a taxi back can be tough though, unless you have a local phone SIM card and take advantage of reserving a taxi by SMS)

For truly historic regional cuisine, typically found in local restaurants, try some peranakan/nonya food. I'd ask the concierge for a recommendation. For top places, you might need a reservation.

For walk-around efforts, Chinatown, Little India, Arab Street, and Geylang (for food and exposure to the seamier side of Singapore) would definitely provide local color.

I wrote this in ~2008 for a guidebook and still think it's a pretty good intro to Singapore:

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Three_days_in_Singapore

...although these days I'd ditch the entirety of Day 3 (Sentosa) and devote that to the Marina Bay Sands & Gardens by the Bay instead.

Interesting, Wikitravel copied your Wikivoyage info in entirety. I've used the Wikitravel link to advise people for years. Nice work. Agree on skipping Sentosa. Depending upon the OP's interest (or not) in casinos, I personally would skip MBS as well, but would definitely hit Gardens by the Bay.

It's all rather complicated, but basically, virtually everybody who was once active on Wikitravel (including myself) upped sticks and moved to Wikivoyage a few years back.

Re: MBS, agreed that the casino itself is eminently missable, but the building itself is pretty spectacular.

I did not know that. I'll start using WV.

Gardens by the Bay is more of a modern greenhouse with all the glamour for a metropolis garden of the future, while Botanical Garden is a classical park.

If you prefer air conditioned comfort, Gardens by the Bay is better but there is an entrance fee. Also note the restaurants in Gardens by the Bay are for tourists, and location is more isolated from the rest of the city.

The Botanical Garden is outdoor but in a shade and free for a walk. Come in the morning and mingle with locals doing their morning workouts in the park. Reminds me a bit of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens though the Singapore one is much smaller.

For your itinerary, I suggest doing the National Museum on the first afternoon, then walk around the surrounding area for the rest of the evening. Do the Zoo and the Night Safari on the 2nd day. For the 3rd day, head to the Botanical Gardens in the morning before finishing the evening at the Singapore Flyer, best if you visit in the sunset for the views.

The Gardens themselves are actually free to enter. However, you do have to pay to enter the greenhouse-domes or do the Skytree walk.

And I'm not quite sure what "the restaurants are for tourists" means. Yes, the restaurants up in the Skytrees are fancy and priced to match, but the Botanic Gardens also has Les Amis and Halia which aren't cheap by any stretch. And the Gardens by the Bay have the Satay by the Bay hawker centre, which is downright cheap.

I don't know where you are from, but I find being outside for long in Singapore tiring. It's hot and humid (yes, I live in equally hot and humid Memphis, but I venture out only in the early mornings here in the summer). I'd suggest Gardens by the Bay as a respite from the heat and humidity. If you're doing the flyer, it's just across the bridge there. If you're over that way, you could also check out what's doing at the museum at Marina Bay Sands.

Thanks. Your itinerary is pretty close to what we were planning although we will do the flyer on Saturday because we bought advanced tickets.

Great ideas here.

And, even though I spend WAY TOO MANY HOURS online researching our trips, I had never come across wikivoyage. I now expect to spend lots of time there.

2 days in Singapore as part of an 11 country three week trip. India and Philipines on each side of that, so thinking more luxury rest in Singapore.

Good lord, why?!?

Why so many flights in three weeks? Because we can!

Yea, crazy. Burning through miles/points and big anniversary year.

Every flight is in First or Biz except one.

BNA-DFW-DXB-ZRH-VCE-BER-CDG-JNB-DOH-DEL-SIN-MNL-ICN-DTW-BNA

EDIT - forgot to add one more stop. After three weeks of lounges and premium cabins, we will need help drying out.