Singapore fits in four days. The order is the whole trick.
Which hawker crawl is worth fifty dollars and which is a queue with a guide attached. What the Gardens cost after dark. Whether the river beats the Flyer. Reviews of every tour you can book on the island.
The Gardens after dark, a hawker crawl, the river, the night zoo.
The four bookings a first Singapore trip is built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The first eveningGardens by the Bay Bundle Entry TicketBoth glasshouses and the treetop walkway on one pass. Take a late slot and stay outside for the Supertrees at quarter to eight.
02Dinner as a walking tourSmall Group: Michelin and Local Hawker Food Tour with 9 tastingsNine tastings across hawker stalls and a Michelin-listed counter. Skip lunch, wear the loose shirt.
03The water hourSingapore Starry Night Cruise, Garden Rhapsody & Spectra ShowA bumboat down the river, timed so both light shows happen while you are on the deck.
04After the lights go outNight Safari Tour with TransferThe zoo that only opens once it is dark, with a tram through the open enclosures and a hotel pickup.
In Singapore you plan dinner, then fit the day around it.
Hawker centres with two hundred stalls under one roof, a Michelin counter with a queue down the block, a class that ends as lunch. Three ways to spend an evening eating, what it costs to join each, and how long you are on your feet.
Six Singapore districts, and the day out that defines each one.
The bay with the light show, temple streets that smell of roast duck, an island of cable cars and roller coasters, a quarter of gold shops and jasmine, pastel shophouses out east, and the white colonial core. Pick the district first, the day second.
Singapore does its best work after seven.
The Supertrees go off at quarter to eight and again at quarter to nine, the bay throws lasers across the water outside the shops, and the zoo that matters only opens once it is dark. Evenings here run to a timetable, not to chance.
The Singapore days out that fill up first.
The full Singapore list →More travellers take these than anything else on the island, and each one earns the slot for a different reason.
1
Lion City Bike Tour of Singapore
Cycle Singapore’s landmarks and backstreets with a local guide, from Marina Bay and Chinatown to Little India and Kampong Glam.
From · $68
Read our review →
2
Gardens by the Bay Bundle Entry Ticket
from $7
3
Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour by Open-Top Bus
from $51
4
Lion City Highlights Bike Tour
from $67
5
Small Group: Michelin and Local Hawker Food Tour with 9 tastings
from $79
6
Morning at the Zoo with 1-way Transfer (Free & Easy)
from $87
7
Experience Singapore: Cultural Cooking Class
from $96
8
Historical Singapore Bike Tour on Full-Sized Bicycles
from $64
What a day out in Singapore actually costs.
Every tour on the island, grouped by price. The cheap end is not the thin end here: a garden ticket or a river boat costs less than the cocktail you will have afterwards.
Garden tickets, the river boat, temple-street walks and the observation decks.
- 1Gardens by the Bay Bundle Entry Ticketfrom $7
- 2Singapore Morning City Tourfrom $39
- 3Singapore Flyer Entry Ticketfrom $31
Hawker crawls, the night zoo, Sentosa passes and the full-day city runs.
- 1Lion City Bike Tour of Singaporefrom $68
- 2Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour by Open-Top Busfrom $51
- 3Lion City Highlights Bike Tourfrom $67
Private guides, chartered boats and the cross-border days out.
Three things Singapore does that nowhere else bothers with.
Skylines and theme parks turn up everywhere. A public garden that puts on a light show, a zoo that opens at night, and a food court with Michelin recognition do not.
The Supertrees
Eighteen steel trees, between 25 and 50 metres tall, planted with ferns and bromeliads and wired to collect rainwater and vent the two glasshouses beside them. Twice a night they run a sound-and-light piece from the lawn underneath, free to anyone standing there. What you pay for is the walkway strung between them and the conservatories at the far end.
- 1Gardens by the Bay Bundle Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 3,726 reviews
- 2Singapore Starry Night Cruise, Garden Rhapsody & Spectra Show★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 782 reviews
- 3Singapore River Cruise, Garden Rhapsody & Spectra by CYT★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 683 reviews
The Night Safari
The first nocturnal zoo anywhere, opened in 1994 on the reservoir side of the island, and it only trades from about quarter past seven until midnight. The lighting is pitched to read as moonlight, a tram runs a loop through the open enclosures, and the walking trails put you level with the animals that are actually awake.
- 1Night Safari Tour with Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,260 reviews
- 2Night Safari with Buffet Dinner with hotel pick-up★★★★★★★★★★ 3.5 · 181 reviews
- 3River Wonders Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 173 reviews
The hawker centres
Singapore moved its street food under roofs in the 1970s, gave every stall a licence and a hygiene grade, and ended up with something UNESCO now lists. A plate of chicken rice still runs a few dollars, a handful of stalls carry Michelin recognition, and at the good ones the queue is the review.
- 1Small Group: Michelin and Local Hawker Food Tour with 9 tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,890 reviews
- 2Small Group: Singapore Street Food & Night Tour with 9 tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,240 reviews
- 3The Award-Winning PRIVATE Food Tour: 10 Tastings of 3 Cultures★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,017 reviews
Four Singapore bookings that will not wait.
Most of this island can be decided over breakfast. These four run on timed entry, fixed show times and a causeway queue that takes no interest in your morning.
- 01Night Safari Tour with TransferEntry runs on timed slots and the tram seats go first. Arrive late and you are walking the trails instead of riding them.
- 02Pass Save up to 50% – Includes Universal StudiosTickets are dated. A wet Saturday and a dry Tuesday stop being interchangeable the moment the date is printed.
- 03Gardens by the Bay Bundle Entry TicketThe glasshouses shut well before the gardens do, and the light show runs at set times. Buy for the right slot or you see the domes and miss the trees.
- 04Private Tour: Sightseeing Daytrip to Johor Bahru from SingaporeCross-border days leave early because the causeway queue decides everything. There is no later departure that still gets you home for dinner.
The afternoon downpour, and where to be when it lands.
Singapore sits one degree off the equator. Thirty-one degrees most days, and a thunderstorm that builds through the afternoon, empties itself for forty minutes and clears. Nobody plans around it. They just put the covered thing in that hour.
Marina Bay is a stage, and most of the show is free.
The hotel with the boat on the roof, the lotus-shaped museum, the water in between. One light show plays on the bay outside the shops, another plays in the trees across the bridge, and the walk from one to the other takes a quarter of an hour.
Every Marina Bay day out →
By district
Bay, districts, island: the run that works when a long weekend is all you have.
The GardensThe newest Singapore tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Join-in Yacht Fishing at the Southern Islands of Singapore
Read our review →
Private Market Visit and Cooking Class With A Professional Chef
Read our review →
Universal Studios Singapore + Roundtrip Transfers
Read our review →
Singapore Airport: Changi Experience Studio Entry Ticket
Read our review →
Twilight Magic Singapore River Cruise and 2 Light Show
Read our review →
Thread of Faith and Fabric: Singapore Kampong Glam Walking Tour
Read our review →
Trails Of Tan Ah Huat : Singapore 1920s. A storytelling guided bicycle tour!
Read our review →
