En route to Australia, I decided to stop off for a couple of days in Singapore. It’ s no secret that the journey over to Australia is a long one. Over the summer back home I had seen so much on social media about Singapore and when I looked at flights to Aus, I weighed up the options and surprisingly, breaking up the journey with this little stopover actually worked out cheaper. No brainer, right? This is only the second Asian country I’ve ever been to, and I wanted to explore a bit (and do some really touristy things).
So here’s how you can spend 48 hours in Singapore…
Jewel Changi Airport
When flying into Singapore, you’ll fly into (and back out of) Changi Airport. Changi Airport has been voted the World’s Best Airport a dozen times and has also been awarded for being the cleanest and best transit airport. As well as the 4 terminals at the airport, you may have heard of Jewel Changi Airport – this is a nature-themed shopping and entertainment complex connecting to the airport and it is an absolute must if you are visiting Singapore.
I landed mid-morning and by the time I had gone through immigration and got my bag, I had a few hours to kill before I could check into my hostel. It’s around a 5-10 minute walk from the terminals to Jewel which is in the centre of the airport (but is a free standing build so you don’t have to be in the airport to visit). Jewel is most famous for its incredible 45-foot waterfall and surrounding rainforest right in the heart of the complex. I could have stayed sat at the waterfall all day – partly through jetlag, partly because it really is amazing! They play classical music and it’s just so relaxing to watch the water and it’s also a great place to do some people watching (there’s so many influencers)!
There are 7 floors to this shopping and entertainment complex, each with its own view of the waterfall. I definitely recommend that you check out the various shops and food outlets here.
While you don’t need a ticket to visit Jewel, there are a few extras inside that you do need a ticket for. I got a ticket for the Canopy Park which cost me SGD$13.90 (£8, you can purchase this in the airport terminals). The park includes entrance to the topiary walk, petal gardens, mirror maze, bouncing nets, foggy bowls and more! In total, I think I spent 3-4 hours at Jewel and it was just amazing! Photos don’t do it justice, so you’ll just have to go see it for yourself!
Chinatown
I stayed in Chinatown, and boy am I glad I did! With great transport links (more on this later), this bustling area is a great spot to visit. There are so many restaurants and food stalls, historic buildings, murals, street art, market stalls and more!
Speaking of historic buildings, I highly recommend you visit the Sri Mariamman Temple, a Hindu temple, and the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, a Buddhist temple. Both temples are architecturally spectacular to see. You can go inside the temples, something I didn’t do, just be respectful of the customs of their respective religions.
Check out the market stalls, I guarantee you will see the dread Durian fruit and you’ll definitely smell it before you see it! There are “No Durian” signs literally everywhere because it smells VILE (but apparently tastes sweet).
S.E.A Aquarium
Oh. My. God. The best aquarium I have ever been to! Honestly, I could stop writing right there and just put a load of photos but I’m not going to. Located in the Sentosa Resort, S.E.A Aquarium is one of the world’s largest aquariums and is home to over 1000 species including manta rays, hammerhead sharks and sea dragons. Each exhibit was well designed and there was so much space throughout the aquarium. The biggest exhibit has a huge viewing area where you could sit for hours just watching the rays, sharks and fish swim about (very relaxing). It really was fantastic! Entry to the aquarium cost SGD$44 (£25) and I spent around 2 hours or so there!
Universal Studios
I was joined by a couple of friends from back home for lunch and then we decided to head to Universal Studios which is also located within the Sentosa Resort. Entry cost us SGD$83 (£49) each. This was my first time to a Universal Studios so I was pretty excited just to be there. We ventured through Hollywood complete with walk of fame stars, New York and saw the Sesame Street gang, Ancient Egypt where we jumped on the Mummy Returns rollercoaster (so fun), saw Blue the Raptor in Jurassic Park and Far Far Away with Shrek and friends. We had so much fun and we’ve already said we want to return so we can go to MinionLand when it opens in 2025. We were there for a couple of hours but you can definitely expect to stay for the whole day if you arrive in the morning and go on every ride.
Gardens by the Bay
This is probably one of the most iconic, insta-worthy spots I’ve been to. We visited the Gardens by the Bay at night when the Supergrove Trees were lit up and it was awesome! You could sit there all evening watching the colours change. If you visit the Gardens by the Bay in the daytime, there are biodomes you can visit (for an entry fee) and you can do the trees canopy walk (again, for an entry fee) if you wanted. If you are budgeting, I would suggest going to the biodomes instead of doing the canopy walk – this was recommended by travellers at my hostel and from doing research, the biodomes look amazing! I would also recommend visiting the Gardens by the Bay both during the day and in the evening.
Singapore has great transport. It’s easy to use. It’s cheaper than expected. It’s modern. It’s air conditioned (thank the lord!). Stops are written and spoken out loud in English as well as Malay and Singaporean Mandarin. And, absolutely NO Durian fruit!
You can do so much in a short amount of time. The one full day I had in Singapore, I did everything listed above expect the Jewel which I did when I landed. You can do so much and I probably could have fit even more in had I got up and gone out earlier (jet lag). I’ve already got a list of things to do next time I go to Singapore.
Singapore was way cheaper than I expected. I spent SGD$276.65 (£161.75) in total over 2.5 days and this included my food, activities and transport. I expected Singapore to be expensive as it is a large city/country but I was pleasantly surprised. I cant wait to visit again!
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