Weekend in Singapore

Following our trip to Malaysia, we decided to get away for a weekend to Singapore. Seeing that my boyfriend was born there, he was excited to show me around the city and I was looking forward to experiencing yet another new country.
We flew into Singapore Changi Airport early in the morning from Kuala Lumpur. It was very easy to get into the city from the airport thanks to the public transport. The metro tickets were easy to buy, the metro map was easy to understand, so it was a very tourist friendly experience.

We stayed at the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel, extremely close to the center of all the action Singapore has to offer. Our hotel was near Clarke Quay, The Raffles Hotel, the Merlion, and Marina Bay; the perfect location for us.

After getting to the hotel and checking in our bags, we could start our first day. We did not have a schedule on ‘what to do’, so we just kind of started walking and hoped we’d end up somewhere cool. In this map, you can see approximately what route we walked on our first day.

1. The Raffles Hotel
2. The Merlion
3. Marina Reservoir
4. Marina Bay Sands
5. Gardens by the Bay
6. Helix Bridge
7. Clarke Quay
8. Chinatown

​(yes my feet killed in the evening)

First, we walked through the Raffles Hotel. Some might know the famous cocktail "The Singapore Sling"? Yes, no, maybe? Well… that cocktail was created at this hotel. Many tourists come here to try the signature cocktail. However, since I visited the hotel in the early afternoon and I wanted to function properly for the remainder of the day, I didn’t get to try one (maybe next time?😋). 

Continuing our walk, we ended up at the famous tourist selfie spot, the Merlion. Merlion=Mermaid Lion, took me a while to figure that one out. Here, you also have a great view on the very luxurious Marina Bay Sands Hotel. For like… 700 euros per night, you can swim in their rooftop infinity pool, which honestly might be worth it if you see the amazing view it gives you over the city🏙💁🏻. 

From the Merlion, we walked to the other side of the bay to get a look inside the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. There is a huge… HUGE mall in front of the hotel, where you can get a vibe of how luxurious this part of Singapore is, regardless of all the tourist. 

Walking through the mall and the hotel, we finally reached the very unique Gardens by the Bay. The gardens were created to enhance the quality of life by raising the greenery and "flora" in the city. We mostly stayed by the Supertree Grove in the garden. Supertrees? Yup. They mimic real trees, except for the fact that they are man-made and covered in flowers, vines, and plants. These supertrees imitate the real ecological function of trees—pretty cool to see and walk through.

​To get back into the 'city' city, we crossed the Helix Bridge and made our way back up along the water. We stopped at Clarke Quay to have some drinks. Clarke Quay is a small district of bars and restaurant that run up part of the river. Apparently, the streets come alive in the evening when people come out here with friends to have drinks and party💃🏻🕺🏻.

​For dinner, we followed Marcus’s friend to his neighborhood near Chinatown. Here, we had dinner in a big Chinese food court. I had dumplings (in case you were wondering) and they were delicious (and cheap). 

We packed our first day with so much that the remaining 2 days were much more relaxed.
Getting a late start on our second day, we decided to walk around the Orchard Road district. With many malls and stores, it was a fairly crowded area, kind of like the Madison/5th Avenue of Singapore. Orchard Road had a really unique side street with many colorful houses👇🏼.

Sri Mariamman Temple

Later in the afternoon, we headed back to Chinatown to check out some of the temples and little street markets. We stopped at the Sri Mariamman Temple and the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Being small temples, they were easily explored in less than one hour. Chinatown has streets filled with little souvenir shops and local foods; a very different Chinatown compared to the one in Kuala Lumpur.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

In the evening, we had drinks at the bar Level 33 located in a high-rise building in the financial district. With a view over Marina Bay and Central Singapore, it was a worthwhile experience.

On our last day, we took a look at the Indian District of Singapore. We came across the Masjid Sultan Mosque. It was very cool to see this type of architecture/building in the middle of this concrete jungle. The mosque is surrounded by streets full of all sorts of restaurants; perfect place to try new foods.
From Little India, we headed back to Orchard Road to walk around a little bit more in the city before we had to head to the airport for our flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

In my opinion, 3-4 days in Singapore is perfect. If you want to visit the islands like Sentosa, you might want to spend some more time there but I guess it all depends on what you want to do 😌.
Singapore was the perfect weekend getaway to finish off our mini vacation in Asia. 

Singapore was our last stop before heading over to Taiwan, so you can probably imagine how anxious I was about this being the official end of our summer holiday…
 
With love,
Sara