Things to do in Singapore
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Singapore City Tour with optional Singapore Flyer
4 hours (Departs Singapore, Singapore)
by Viator
Get to know Singapore on a morning or afternoon half-day tour. You'll see all the city's highlights in one short tour perfect if your time is limited.…Not LP reviewed
from USD$25.60 -
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Asian Civilisations Museum
Inside a grand old Empress Place building (1865) named in honour of Queen Victoria, this museum is a must for any Singapore visit – escape the humidity, put your watch in your pocket and enter a timeless realm. Ten thematic galleries explore traditional aspects of pan-Asian culture, religion and civilisation, with exquisite, well-displayed artefacts from Southeast Asia, China, India, Sri Lanka and even Turkey. The exploration of Islam and its influence in the region is particularly compelling, though the boys might be more interested in the large display of krisses (daggers).
reviewed
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Singapore's Chinatown Trishaw Night Tour
4 hours (Departs Singapore, Singapore)
by Viator
Explore Singapore's vibrant Chinatown on a balmy evening tour that's filled with activities. After exploring Singapore's Chinatown and enjoying a Chinese dinner…Not LP reviewed
from USD$56.80 -
Golden Mile Complex
This is Singapore’s mini-Thailand, full of Thai shops, grocers, butchers and eateries. The signs are in Thai, the customers are mostly Thai and the food, clustered on the ground floor, is 100% magnificent like-mother-makes Thai. The atmosphere is often boisterous and drunken and a little rough-house for some. The Isan (northeast) food is best – try the Nong Khai Food & Beer Garden on the ground floor (with the orange sign in Thai and tiny lettering in English), then once you’re fed and boozed up, head for Thai Disco 1 or 2 to complete the evening.
reviewed
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Singapore Sentosa Island Afternoon Trip
7 hours (Departs Singapore, Singapore)
by Viator
Enhance your Singapore experience with an afternoon visit to Sentosa Island, Singapore's relaxing island resort. You'll travel to this island haven by scenic…Not LP reviewed
from USD$58.40 -
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Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre
For breakfast, head out to Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre. Go up to the 2nd floor, park yourself at a bench, look out for any stall selling cof-fee and order a kopi or teh (thick coffee or tea sweetened with condensed milk) and kaya toast (a heady coconut jam slathered with butter over thin charcoal-toasted bread). When you've polished that off, look for Jian Bo Shui Kueh (a market stall) and order some chee kueh – S$1 will get you four steamed rice cakes topped with chai poh (fried preserved radishes) and chilli.
reviewed
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Sakaya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple
In 1927 a Thai Buddhist monk founded the Sakaya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple, usually called the Temple of 1000 Lights. The entrance is flanked by a leopard and tiger, the latter in midleap, snarling jaws open. Inside is a 15m-high, 300-tonne Buddha alongside an eclectic collection of deities including Guan Yin (Chinese Goddess of Mercy) and the Hindu deities Brahma and Ganesh. At the base of the Buddha’s back is a low door into a small prayer room. Around the Buddha’s base are ‘Buddha – This Is Your Life!’ models and, of course, at least 1000 electric lights.
reviewed
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Raffles Marina
As remote as it's possible to get from the city, Raffles Marina is a surreal world of clanging halyards, cawing birds and salty stories out in the industrial wastelands of Singapore's far west. Temporary home to travelling yachties and a few boat-dwelling residents, it's a great place to sit at sunset over dinner with a few beers - even better if you have a few seaman's tales to share.
Have a dockside dinner at Marina Bistro (%6869 2299; h08:00-22:00), then a beer at the Discovery Pub (%6869 2277; hnoon-midnight). There's also a bowling alley and a billiard room.
reviewed
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Brauhaus Restaurant & Pub
The brick walls and dark wooden furniture in this basement pub, a hidden favourite for over 20 years, give it a distinctly Teutonic vibe. But what really makes the Brauhaus a slice of basement Bavaria is the vast selection of beers from all over the world, 150-plus including obscure names like Old Peculiar Stout, König Ludwig and Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale. Easily the most well-stocked beer house in the area, Brauhaus also boasts live bands from Monday to Saturday from about 8pm until 2am. It also boasts an outdoor pool table and a good menu featuring continental fare.
reviewed
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Katong Shopping Centre
Not a great deal of outstanding retail (unless you like model cars and suchlike), but an insight into Singaporean life. This ageing mall is full of ‘maid agencies’ – the people who source and place Indonesian, Filipina, Burmese and Indian maids with employers, taking a huge cut of their pay in the process – and lots of women coming and going, or waiting around for work. There’s also lots of ‘enrichment centres’ for parents worried that their kids might get left behind. An interesting but mildly depressing place.
reviewed
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Overland Singapore To Thailand
by Intrepid
Not LP reviewed
from USD$1,960 -
Singapore by Night Tour with Dinner along Singapore River
4 hours (Departs Singapore, Singapore)
by Viator
Experience Singapore at night with dinner and a trip to the Raffles Hotel on a Singapore by Night Tour. Your evening on the town starts by dining riverside to…Not LP reviewed
from USD$38.40 -
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Underwater World
Sentosa’s saving grace, Gracie the dugong is the star performer at Underwater World. Leafy sea dragons and wobbling Medusa jellyfish are mesmeric, while stingrays and 10ft sharks cruise inches from your face as the travellator takes you through the Ocean Colony’s submerged glass tubes. Watch divers feeding the fish, or muster some nerve for the 30-minute Dive with the Sharks experience ($120 per person; call for details and bookings). The lights are turned off after 7pm and the aquarium takes on an eerie torchlit atmosphere.
reviewed
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Wine Network
Tucked away in the Dempsey Rd furniture and antiques ghetto, this is a real find. A small, intimate bar with rough wooden floors and crumbling brick walls lined with wine bottles, where the wine is as cheap or expensive as you like (bottles start at $18, or it’s $7 a glass). Sit inside, or enjoy the sight of the semiderelict colonial barracks and the sound of twittering birds on the deck. Pizzas, German sausages and cheese platters fight off hunger. Get off the bus at stop B03 on Holland Rd; from here it’s a 10-minute walk.
reviewed
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Pasir Ris Park
Stretching along a couple of kilometres of the northeast coast, a short walk from Pasir Ris MRT station, this peaceful place is the third-largest park in Singapore and certainly among the best. There’s a surprising variety of attractions here, including a maze garden, adventure playground and sea fishing for kids; fish ponds; bicycle, rollerblade and kayak rentals; and a pristine 5-hectare mangrove swamp, complete with boardwalks and signboards describing the ecology of the area, and a large observation tower for bird-watchers.
reviewed
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HortPark
The idyllic leafy shade of Kent Ridge quickly gives way to the wide-open gardens of…don’t laugh… HortPark. This Hort (icultural) Park has more than a horrid name and a lack of shelter from the merciless sun. Walk past prototype glasshouses (sadly not open to the public) filled with all manner of flora. There are interactive displays for kids to learn about exciting gardening methods (hydroponics is cool kids!). Buy gardening tools and supplies at the HortMart before stopping for a Thai lunch at Kha.
reviewed
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Sultan Mosque
Kampong Glam’s gold-domed epicentre is Sultan Mosque, named after Raffles’ buddy Sultan Hussein Shah. Originally built in 1825 with a grant from Raffles and the East India Company, it was replaced 100 years later with the current edifice. The prayer hall can accommodate 5000 worshippers; a glaring red digital clock compromises the atmosphere a little, but at least everybody knows when to pray. The massive rug on the prayer hall (no entry to non-Muslims) is a gift from a Saudi Prince, whose emblem is woven onto it.
reviewed
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Istana
Constructed between 1867 and 1869 by Indian convicts transported from Bencoolen on Sumatra, the Istana is where Singapore’s President SR Nathan hangs out. The neo-Palladian structure, set 750m back from Orchard Rd in beautifully maintained grounds, was originally Government House, built at great expense to impress the visiting Duke of Edinburgh. It’s only open to the public on selected holidays (eg New Year’s) – bring your passport to get past the gun-toting guards. Call, or check the website, for details.
reviewed
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Bombay Woodlands Restaurant
Tucked away below street level in the Tanglin Shopping Centre, Bombay Woodlands is the sort of place you’d pass by without a glance. Don’t. The food is magnificent and cheap; go for the lunchtime buffet, or go à la carte and order the idli with terrific mint chutney, excellent dosai (try the Mysore Masala) or bhindi (okra), washed down with lassi (yoghurt-based drink). With its attentive white-shirted waiters, it has a charm not easily found in the Orchard Rd vicinity.
reviewed
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Amitabha Buddhist Centre
This seven-storey Tibetan Buddhist centre holds classes on dharma and meditation (check its website for the schedule), as well as events during religious festivals. The upstairs meditation hall, swathed in red-and-gold cloth, is open to the public and filled with beautiful statues and other objects of devotion. In addition to being involved with community outreach, the centre also operates a store selling religious and spiritual items such as prayer flags, spinning wheels, and other items associated with Tibetan Buddhism.
reviewed
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Singapore Art Museum
The Singapore Art Museum occupies the former St Joseph’s Catholic boys’ school. The gallery champions the arts in an economics-obsessed nation, with exhibitions ranging from classical Chinese calligraphy to electronic arts, though it seems content to hide away its permanent collection. The exhibition spaces are in a constant state of flux, always closed for maintenance or in preparation for the next show. You might get lucky and chance upon some of the S$70-million worth of Wu Guangzhong’s donated art.
reviewed
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Singapore City Hop-on Hop-off Tour
1 day (Departs Singapore, Singapore)
by Viator
With great views from the top of the bus, strategically placed stops and an interesting commentary, this truly is the best way to see the sights of Singapore.…Not LP reviewed
from USD$19.74 -
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Changi Museum & Chapel
The Changi Museum & Chapel poignantly commemorates the WWII Allied POWs who suffered horrific treatment at the hands of the invading Japanese. Stories are told through photographs, letters, drawings and murals; tales of heroism and celebration of peace temper the mood. There are also full-sized replicas of the famous Changi Murals painted by POW Stanley Warren in the old POW hospital. The originals are off limits in what is now Block 151 of the nearby Changi Army Camp.
reviewed
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Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple
The embodiment of the Singaporean approach to spirituality, the Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple hosts three religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, under one vast roof. There’s even a shrine devoted to Datuk Kung, a saint of Malay mysticism and Chinese Taoist practices. This temple is new and grand with large handcrafted wooden cravings, swirling dragons on large granite pillars and hundreds of colourful effigies of deities, gods and saints. It’s a bit off the beaten path, but worth the trip.
reviewed
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St James Power Station
The latest and greatest posterboy of Singapore's night scene, St James Power Sta-tion is a 1920s coal-fired power station ingeniously converted into an entertainment complex. All the bars and clubs are interconnected, so one cover charge (men/women S$12/10, Wednesday men S$30) gets access to all of them. Some bars - Gallery Bar, Lobby Bar and Peppermint Park - have no cover charge at all. Minimum age is 18 for women and 23 for men at all except Pow-erhouse, where the age is 18 for both.
reviewed