Singapore is one of the smallest countries in the world, yet one of the best we have visited. It is only 30 miles wide by 17 miles long (you could literally walk a length of it in one day). It is a melting pot of Asian cultures but has the modern feel of a big city with access to so many unique things to do and beautiful architecture to see + some yummy food!
Check out our Youtube Channel for videos from this trip and others.
We used points and miles to offset our flight and hotels for this trip? Take a look at some cards to help you get started!
Our Viator Shop for Excursions and Experiences
Advertising Disclaimer: This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
Getting to Singapore – 2-3 Days
Singapore is a pretty far destination from the United States but there are several direct flights which makes traveling convenient (still long though – flights from the U.S. are anywhere from 14-18 hours and the time change is right around 19 hours ahead. You will definitely lose a day getting over there)! We had the luxury of points and miles for this trip and flew business class on Singapore Airlines for FREE (seriously, check out some credit cards in the linke above) from San Francisco to Singapore direct. We also used Singapore as a launching off point to visit many other southeast asian countries on this trip – talk about getting max value out of our points! We were gone a total of 5 weeks for this particular trip.
Travel Tip – We used a “positioning” flight for this trip…what is that you ask? Well, it is the concept of finding a flight deal or route out of a different airport than your home airport! We booked this trip on points so we used a few extra points and flew Southwest from Denver to San Francisco in our to “position” for our flight.
We stayed at the Shangri-La Singapore and while it isn’t the “city center” (although keep in mind, Singapore as a country is like one big city), it was much more local and only a few blocks from a metro stop which made getting around quite easy (and affordable!). The hotel was quite comfortable with king size beds and a reasonablly priced breakfast buffet that was huge and was under $200 USD per night (at the time of booking) which is difficult to find in Singapore.
GoCity Singapore Pass – 2 Days
We purchased the GoCity Singapore Pass (all-inclusive) for 2 days of our trip. It was the BEST DECISION we made as we saved so much money and got access to not only all the attractions we wanted to see while we were in Singapore.
Visit: https://gocity.tp.st/IeIy5X53 to get yours (and support us and free content!).
How it works: Purchase it for 2 days and then it is up to you how many stops you fit into each day. There will be some places you need to make an advance reservation (we have indicated the ones below) for so make sure you do and let those guide your trip.
How we used ours:
Day 1 –
Universal Studios Singapore (advance reservation) – you don’t need a FULL day here like other U.S. parks…somewhere around 5 hours is plenty of time to ride the rides and see some shows. You can also get food here or other places around Sentosa Island where the park is located.
Scentopia – we got to make our own perfumes! About an hour to do and really fun since they are customized to you and all from essential oils. This is also on Sentosa Island so we lumped activities together geographically.
Singapore Cable Car Sky Pass – Use this to get two and from Sentosa Island!
Singapore Night Walking and Food Tour (advance reservation)– this is back by the Marina but we finished up these activities above and headed that way (this also counted as dinner!)
Day 2 –
Authentic Tea Experience (advance reservation)
Raffles Courtyard to Taste Singapore Sling Cocktails
Marina Bay Sands Observation Deck
Gardens by the Bay Flower Dome & Cloud Forest
Kele Souvenir Box – this is just a foodie gift that we highly recommend getting – their pineapple tarts are delicous!
Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus Tour (great way to get around the city other than public transit)
Local Hawker Centre Food Tour (advance reservation) – this is not currently on the pass anymore but was so fun and we highly recommend it if it comes back!
Otherwise a great option for a similar food tour is: https://www.viator.com/tours/Singapore/Small-Group-Michelin-and-Local-Hawker-Food-Tour/d60449-45610P13?pid=P00151140&mcid=42383&medium=link&medium_version=selector
2-Day Pass Cost: $239 USD/Person
Without the Pass Cost: $413.25 USD/Person
Exploring Singapore – 1 Day
On our last day, we didn’t have the pass so we spent some time at our lovely hotel pool and enjoyed a relaxing day in the sun as it had been raining off and on for the past few days. We did one last stroll around the Marina and Chinatown to see some of the beautiful architecture and ended up getting some foot massages to conclude our 5 days in Singapore.
We ended the day with food at the local Hawker Centre near Chinatown which whether you do a food tour or not, is a MUST DO on your visit. Why? Hawker Centres are Singapore’s version of street food taken into more of a food court setting. There are several Michelin-recommended options if that strikes your fancy, but more than anything the stalls offer really good food at really affordable prices ($10 USD or less per meal). They are located all over the city but one of our favorites was in Chinatown.
We hope this helps you plan your trip to Singapore (especially in the off-season!). We felt like we were able to achieve a pretty expensive destination for a reasonable budget without having to forgo activities we wanted to do and things we wanted to see.
MC Exploring 