Wildman

Six of us will be in Singapore for four days. What is the best use of our time to sight see / experience? Our flight arrives at 1:45 AM from NRT and leaves at 6 AM four days later. I was thinking that we may stay at the new Crown Plaza (Airport) on the night before the return flight, however we have not made any reservations yet. Traveling the first week of May. We have the Night Safari down as one thing to do for an evening.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Wildman

unagi1

Got an hour?

No really, I could write pages on what to see and do. It would help if you could be a little more specific on your interests in terms of sightseeing, food, shopping, etc. There are any number of S'Pore vets on FT. My wife and I go a couple times a year at least and she grew up in SIN so we can give you some good ideas.

Kismaibat

Hi there,
Don't think the Crown Plaza is opened yet.
Last I saw it was still undergoing external paintjob and still seems to be a bit off from completion.

4 days in SIN City-
Shop and eat, vibrant nightlife along Clark Quay,happening clubs like Zouk,St James Power Station,go to the Night Safari,
Singapore Flyer ( World's largest ferris wheel apparently)
a visit to the museum, check out some shows and concerts( not too sure who or what is playing in the first week of May)
chilling out on Sentosa,
a day trip to Batam Island,Indonesia which is a short ferry ride away,
a day trip to Johore Bahru Malaysia,
a visit to the heartlands of Singapore - housing estates,MRT ride around the island,
a visit to Bugis, Jalan Sutlan, Chinatown,Little India Serangoon( not on a Sunday though,packed on Sundays)

Some may think 4 days is a tad too long in Singapore.
It may come across as a bit sterile for some people but if you plan right, check out online some of the sites and activities I mentioned above, and you will have a good time in SIN City.

Have a good trip! Cheers!

"Some people think they have firing squads in Singapore.
Singaporeans don't shoot them.. they just hang them... hahhahah"

Wildman

The six consist of three married couples. I think the Crown Plaza is scheduled to open May 8th, however you can not book it yet (at least not online.) That is great list of things to do. I think a day trip somewhere else would be good to do on the third full day. Because of our short time there and long flights to get there (coming from MSP.) I would like to have the time spent there planned out ahead. Not to say, we can not change due to weather or how we feel.....we all are pretty flexible. Just want to take in as much as we can, since it will probably be a long time before we get to do it again. Maybe have more items on the list than we can do, therefore if something is closed / not available we can move on to something else.

I will start checking the list of things written so far. Thanks....any other suggestions. Since we are traveling lite, I thought we might do some hotel hopping too. Does that make sense or would it be better to travel back to the same hotel every evening?

Wildman

TXTrvlr55

Since Singapore is relatively small (18mi x 22mi), I wouldn't suggest hotel hopping. Stay around the CDB (Central Business District), Orchard Road area. All the shoppng and major hotels are there. Swissotel - the Stamford is good (right next to Raffles). There is an MRT Station right there so you can go anywhere from that location. Since you are leaving early, I wouldn't bother moving to another hotel the night before you leave. Have the hotel concierge arrange for a van for the six of you. Singapore has a great zoo, Sentosa is a fun spot (small island acroos a causeway), Boat Quay (across from Clark Quay) has great bars and restaurants along the river. Chimes (near the Swissotel) has good restaurants and bars.

FYI - heading over there myself week of May 11th...

jpatokal

I have written pages and pages -- 178 of them, to be precise -- on what to see and do

http://wikitravelpress.com/books/en/Singapore/

But here's the online version of how to spend three of your days:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Three_days_in_Singapore

tednugent(no relation)

I'm going to pile on to the OPs thread and see if I can impose on unagi1's offer of help.

My wife and I are coming to Singapore for 7 days (20-26 May).

We are pretty mobile and active, so getting out of SIN for a few day trips sounds like fun. ^

We both have our scuba certification and are pretty experienced divers.

We live in Hawaii, so merely sitting on a beach is not something I want to fly 7000 miles to do.

While I'm not a gastronome, I do enjoy a decent meal (at regular intervals ) and an adult beverage in the afternoon, so touring the old quarters sounds interesting as well.

Chinatown, Little India, the Riverwalk, the Zoo, Night Safari, and the Sculpture trail are on our list so far. Comments welcome.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Aloha, Ted

JohnWM

On one occasion, I wanted to cool off inside, so ... I went to the Museum of Asian Civilizations. I found it enormously interesting! It is situated in a historic building, and has a magnificent collection of art work from various centuries representing a number of different East Asian cultures.

sadeghi

If you enjoy water activities, at Underwater World (the aquarium) you can dive with sharks, dolphins and other mammals or fish.


I would agree that this was a good museum. If you just want to check it out for a short while I think you can get in for free on Fridays after 7pm.

Dr_wanderlust

I would not waste time with the "zoo" at night tour or Sentosa unless those are activities you know you enjoy. I would eat and shop. Good art and gems. The Botanical gardens are a must. Enjoy!

MrHalliday

The Le Meridien Singapore is pretty good value with starwood points or cash+points. Not the finest hotel, but OK if you want to preserve cash.

taipeipeter

Ie, much depends on your individual tastes: I myself would skip hokey Sentosa & I don't shop; but I love the night safari at the zoo as well as the Botanic garden (especially the orchid section). The Chinese garden was interesting too (out a bit, but accessible via subway). Lots & lots of good eating. And as said above, there is simply no need for an airport hotel.

TIMP

Singapore Walking tours are great. Meet outside of MRT stations and take 2-3 hours to explore little bits of singapore. Cant remember their web address off hand, but I know they do tours of Little India, Chinatown and the Arabic area.

faithng

I second the night safari. We thoroughly enjoyed that. You could see the animals up close and you don't have to walk in that nice, humid weather.

Wildman

We will be taking a one day trip to Kuala Lumpar, thanks to an OP in this forum. We were able to book six tickets All-in for S$25. each on Tiger Airlines. We will be there for about 24 hours, should be a great little side trip. Anybody flown them? In searching there web site, it appears that they fly fairly new A320s. How is their service? On time?

If you want to select seats ahead of time you must pay. For a short 55 minute flight, I will just take whatever seat I am assigned.