Singapore is a fantastic city with so much to offer, but it's also a place you could discover in 24 hours.
Start your day from the airport - a brief 10 minute drive gets you into Bugis junction. (Hotel drop off). Leave the bags and head out to walk the city. I started by walking through Bugis Junction towards Haji Lane.
Haji Lane
With its vibrant colours, Haji Lane is definitely a place that should appear on a Singapore itinerary. You can find these colourful buildings in the heart of Kampong Glam district, lined with colourful shophouses and graffiti murals, the narrow alley of Haji Lane (and Arab Street) exudes an atmosphere that draws in locals and tourists. Whether you're wanting to get an early start on photos, or fancy sipping a coffee, Haji Lane is one to visit. The earlier the better for the photos.
Sultan Mosque
I was a little too early here and I couldn't go inside as it was before 10am but the beauty of the Mosque is clear to see from the outside. Don't forget the market just beside it and the Kampong Glam wall graffiti as you enter the Mosque area.
Little India
Next stop, Little India. I took more of a walking tour route for this area; so after reaching the start of the district, I chose to head towards Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple and head inside. It's stunning inside. Of course, be respectful - cover knees and shoulders and remove your shoes at the entrance.
As I read the signpost for the Little India Heritage Tour, one place stood out to me - Former House of Nan Teng Niah. This is where I headed to next -->
Jumping on the MRT - I headed down to Telok Ayer (Downtown line) as I had seen a few brunch style places that I wanted to check out.
Sarnies - This is a cool place if you like eggs and seafood - unfortunately I don't so I carried on down the street to French Fold while I waited for my friend to join me. We chose to head next door to My Awesome Cafe and have Brunch - definitely worth the wait.
Along this road with the Brunch cafes, you can find Telok Ayer Green and Thian Hock Keng. These are both free to walk around and lovely in the morning sun.
Continuing round to Chinatown, we came across various streets that had cool grafffiti on them. I would 100% recommend walking around the various districts in Singapore as you just never know what you will find.
Chinatown
As you can see, we really went for it with our exploring. Including heading inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple - don't worry if you have your shoulders uncovered, they offer you a sarong on entry for this.
From here, we jumped on the MRT (East-West Line) towards Raffles Place where we did a bit of a circle. Starting at Fullerton Hotel, we walked towards the Merlion Park before heading round to Esplanade for a brief snack and drink break. By this point, the heat had really started to kick in and we were feeling it.
Marina Bay Area
Now we were at Marina Bay area; we had a reservation at 3pm in one of the rooftop areas and we wandered across until this point. There is currently building work going on around Bayfront area which makes it quite dusty in the heat to walk through. Heading across the Helix Bridge was pretty cool though and then you reach the base of Marina Bay Sands.
So, as my friend lives in Singapore she knew the trick to get the MBS view without paying the price of the Observatory. She had booked us into LAVO, which is inside Tower 1 of Marina Bay Sands and for the price of a drink, you can see Singapore from above.
At this point, utter devastation hit for me as I got a migraine. So I quickly headed back to the hotel, had a power nap and set off again at 6pm to resume the tour of Singapore.
First stop - Finding my friend at Providore - Orchard Avenue Mall.
Once I had located her, we went to the best bookshop I've seen outside of Waterstones in Manchester (if you know, you know). I bought just 2 books, true restraint, and we set off for the 8:45pm show at Gardens by the Bay.
Gardens by the Bay
Singapore at night is something else - the light up of the whole Bayfront area is worth sticking around the city for. Entry to Gardens By the Bay is free and a light show lasts around 10 minutes. I went when it was an Opera showing. The walk across from MBS to the Gardens offers amazing views as well.
There you have it, a day in Singapore seeing as many sights as possible. Of course it's better to stay longer but sometimes you only have a day!
Comments