A few transit and cash basic questions
 

I've searched around and think I've got most of my questions resolved. This will be my first visit to SIN in 25-ish years, so even if I remembered anything, the only useful thing that remains in my memory is the delightful arctic-like weather. :cool:

Airport transit to/from - Staying at Sheraton on Scotts Road. Most efficient transport to/from airport? Options? Approximate train / taxi costs?

MRT Fare payment - tap/enter/exit functioning properly with foreign credit cards?

Best apps for getting taxi or similar services? (I also assume that any taxi will accept a CC payment.)

And for two people, how much cash on hand do you think we'll reasonably need for 4 full days (as opposed to paying for things with CCs).

Suggested arrival time to SIN for evening SQ J, allowing for some reasonable lounge and perhaps shopping time?

Any further unsolicited advice also welcome!

Max 40 SGD, but probably less. Some surcharges depending on arrival time: https://www.changiairport.com/en/air...e-airport.html

Works fine. Google and Apple pay as well, which is even easier.

I only use a taxi for the airport, MRT everywhere else. Yes, taxi's accept CC.

In 5 days with 2 people, I got 200 SGD out at the airport. Use ~10SGD once for a food hall hawker that didn't accept card. Spent ~5SGD at one souvenir vendor that didn't accept card either.

If you're not familiar with the "jewel" at Changi you might want to take a look - light and water show is cool - and you mentioned shopping - you could get lost there ;)

Just got back from Singapore.

Taxis were and plentiful and reasonable at the airport. Traveling with the kids and forgot to get cash at the airport or the next day and it didn't really matter.

We used the Grab app (like Uber) most of the time and it was easy to use and worked really well (linked to my US credit card).

One suggestion - do the online arrival card for Singapore ahead of time. It's a lot easier to complete before you arrive (up to three days) as opposed to in the Singapore airport with two tired and impatient kids (my bad)...

We did use the automated immigration lanes and that saved quite a bit of time. https://www.ica.gov.sg/enter-transit...g-arrival-card and https://www.ica.gov.sg/enter-depart/for-visitors/ACI

Kids fell in love with pepper crab, chili crab, hawker stands and the endless shopping!

How much is crab these days? Last I was there (it's been a few years) it had gone up a lot over the last 2 or 3 years - hope the trend didn't continue...

It was around $10-11 per 100g for the mud crab at Jumbo's East Coast, considered more touristy and more expensive than other places.

We also went to Chicken Pie Kitchen and tried the Black Pepper Crab Bee Hoon (among other things) - it felt like the price was similar...

That works out to be around $70 USD for a 2lb crab. It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than getting crab at a nice restaurant in Seattle...

Depends on times. There are (were) times when taking MRT was faster than taking a car. From the airport and if there is no traffic, the cheaper compared to taxi would be Grab/Gojek because they do not have an airport departure surcharge. Taxis do - $8. And not all taxis take credit cards - Transcab (red) is cash only. Blue - Comfort - do.

Yes, make sure that cards have NFC. It is better to use NFC enabled cards compared to Apple/Samsung Pay - it is faster.

Grab/Gojek. Better to install the app and enter your CC info before arrival so you have it on hand. To do so you must disable location services for the app while not in Singapore and when asked, select an address in Singapore when opening the app and enter CC information. Upon arrival, enable location services again.

Max $100, if you two all the time will be eating at hawker centers (except Newton and Lau Pa Sat - don't go there).

No sure you will have the desire to go shopping after flying 16 hours. Also, not sure if price tags matter for you, but you will be at Scoot/Orchard - a soulless shopping district - where you will have plenty of opportunity to pay 10x more for everything.

You might want to get a SIM card. Go to any 7-11 (not in the airport) and ask $15 Starhub Prepaid card. Comes with enough credit and data for these 4 days.
It also has an option for data roaming in Asia, so if you are planning to have trips in Asia, keep the sim card - $3 would be sufficient to extend validity every year. Add money to wallet only when you need before travels and buy roaming data.

OT but I'm in the US and cannot find a way to disable location services for Grab app on android - it won't let me proceed without entering a location - what am I missing?

The concierge at our hotel in Singapore suggested using the Grab app when I asked for a recommendation. Downloaded pretty quickly and set up easily in the hotel lobby (and linked to my US credit card).

Two more suggestions...

- Don't get the Singapore Tourist MRT pass - the fares are low (around $1 each way) and it's hard to break even unless you're riding a ton. Plus they take a $10 deposit on the Tourist pass that can only be refunded at certain MRT stations. We did ours at the airport on the way out. The suggestion not to purchase was posted in another thread, but I didn't see it until after I had purchased the cards.

- I know that the Newton hawker stand is considered touristy/expensive, but it was fun to go to Michelin recommended Singapore Carrot Cake or BBQ chicken wings stands at Newton (the kids really enjoyed both). It is a lot more expensive at Newton, one chicken wing was $1.60 at Newton while most of the plates at the Chinatown hawker stands were $2-3 (the kids also loved the food in Chinatown).

By the way, my "kids" are in their young 20's - one is a foodie and the other is "whatever." Getting them to rave together about food is not common, but it happened numerous times in Singapore!

Got to settings->App settings->Grab->location service->disable.
After that you need to enter any location in Sinapore and you can add credit card.

I don't know if I'd agree with that. Yes, for strictly subway usage, probably you do not get fair value. But once I had the card,
I started using buses for the 5-20 minutes walks, and even the 1-2 stop bus rides - for example from the subway exit
for 1 stop to my hotel, from the hotel for 4 stops to Chinatown, etc. Yes, I know it is better to walk, but in a humid 36 degree
climate, it is nice to have to option to hop on a bus for a few minutes. Without the tourist pass, I would not think of the buses.

Singapore's public transport operates on a continuous journey principle when switching between train <-> bus and bus <-> as long as you use the same payment method and don't have more than 45 min between transfers. And you don't need to buy tourist pass for that.

As an example: if you take a train from Changi to Reffles place, then got out and take #10 bus from Raffles Place to Jurong East, and then hop on another bus from Jurong East to take you to Zoo - as long as you use the same payment method, it would be considered as a single journey and you will pay something like $2.20 for it. Another example is if you take a bus at Botanical Garden going towards Orchard, got out and switch buses three times, as long as you don't have more than 45 min stops between buses, it is the same journey and will be something like $1.

In the past there were cases when I was going from Plaza Singapora to Larkin bus terminal in Johor and the total journey was something like $2.5...

Thanks all for the useful help.

The Grab app was very good, once properly installed and activated, which was a royal PITA. During a major downpour, rides were hard to get and prices went way up. Otherwise it was fine. MRT doesn't take AX, but worked fine with our MC and VI. I still don't know how much the rides are, because I had one 7¢ pending charge show for probably a dozen rides over 4 days, and nothing has yet posted as final. Took a taxi from the airport, and a premium Grab back to the airport. The airport wasn't as impressive as I had expected, but it was a pleasant place. The SQ Business lounge did have a quite appealing spread of F&B. I can't say that I've ever had laksa along with XO cognac at the same time anywhere else ;)

The final charges will post in a week or 10 days. It's cheaper to use MC as fees are netted everyday vs. Visa which I believe you pay for every transaction

From what I heard the card machines at the MRT stations only accept local cards and not foreign cards for payment and this was my experience the last time I was there in November. But please correct me if I'm wrong.