Singapore, an island city-state off southern Malaysia, is a global financial center with a tropical climate and multicultural population. Its colonial core centers on the Padang, a cricket field since the 1830s and now flanked by grand buildings such as City Hall, with its 18 Corinthian columns. In Singapore’s circa-1820 Chinatown stands the red-and-gold Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, said to house one of Buddha’s teeth.
Set on a peninsula jutting into the Upper Seletar Reservoir, the Singapore Zoo is world class. Its 28 landscaped hectares and open concept (no cages) are a far cry from the sad concrete confines some zoos retain. The Singapore Zoo is one of the best in the world.
The Singapore Flyer is an expensive 30-minute ride with views towards the Colonial District, CBD, Marina Bay, the high-rise housing landscape to the east and out to the South China Sea. You’re better off going on a clear day than at night, if only to avoid the annoying flashing neon lights outside the cabin
If Singapore’s urban planners could manufacture paradise, it wouldn’t look too different from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The front entrance leads to an idyllic koi pond. On weekends, laughing children feed the multicoloured fish. Right behind, a waterfall gurgles and birds hop around the water’s edge, at ease with the locals
This ageing attraction is still popular with school kids, families and nature photographers. The Jurong Bird Park is home to 8000 birds -600 species, 30 of them endangered. Visitors walk through themed enclosures along 1.7km worth of trails: pelicans gawp at passers-by along a boardwalk, leggy pink flamingos stand proud by a lake, penguins nosedive through water in air-conditioned comfort and cutting through it all is the escapable scent of bird poop.
Famous by name, Orchard Rd was once was lined with nutmeg and pepper plantations. Today it’s the domain of Singapore’s elite and well-heeled tourists, lured here by the shopping centres, nightspots, restaurants, bars and lounges. A showcase for the material delights of capitalism, Orchard Rd also possesses some sights of cultural interest where a credit card is not required.
This modest but colourful area of wall-to-wall shops, pungent aromas and Hindi film music is a relief from the prim modernity of many parts of the city. Centred around the southern end of Serangoon Rd, this is the place to come to pick up that framed print of Krishna you’ve always wanted, eat great food and watch streetside cooks fry chapatis. The Zhujiao Centre is the main market, but there are also interesting spice shops nearby. The best temples are Sri Veeramakaliamman, Sri Srinivasa Perumal and the glitzy Temple of 1000 Lights.
You’ll be fluttered by more than 50 species of butterfly inside the Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom. The Insect Kingdom museum has thousands of mounted butterflies, rhino beetles, Hercules beetles (the world’s largest), scorpions, and other critters and varmints – kids stare wide-eyed while adults feign disinterest.
You can walk around the three trails in the 40-hectare forested park but the best experience is via the tram (adult/child S$10/5), even though we think it’s a little cheeky (and greedy) that you have to pay for the atmospheric 45-minute jungle tour past a parade of 120 different spot-lit nocturnal species.
Universal Studios Singapore is a theme park located within Resorts World Sentosa onSentosa Island, Singapore. It was a key component of Genting’s bid for the right to build Singapore’s second integrated resort. It is the second Universal Studios theme park to open in Asia (Japan being the first), and the first in Southeast Asia. Universal Parks & Resorts markets the park as a “one-of-its-kind theme park in Asia” and promises that the park will be the only one of its kind in Southeast Asia for the next 30 years.
End your day at Sentosa with the Award Winning Outdoor Night Show (Wings of Time) in the world set against the majestic open sea. Be mesmerized by a multi-sensory presentation of water display, laser show, fire effects and spectacular music as you soar through space and time in a magical adventure.
Singapore, an island city-state off southern Malaysia, is a global financial center with a tropical climate and multicultural population. Its colonial core centers on the Padang, a cricket field since the 1830s and now flanked by grand buildings such as City Hall, with its 18 Corinthian columns. In Singapore’s circa-1820 Chinatown stands the red-and-gold Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, said to house one of Buddha’s teeth.
