Must See Sights

[groupie]

I am visiting Singapore for 5 days on a business trip. I have several meetings set up, but want to see the top 5 or 10 must see / must do's while there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

[katbh]

Ominous silence.....
Haw Par Villa gardens for pure nuttiness.

[x9200]

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic44563.html

[groupie]

Thanks for the link x9200!

[uscate]

OK -

Here are the suggestions from the linked post:


1. Zoo (Day and Night Safari)
2. Jurong Bird Park
3. Sentosa/Mt Faber
4. Botanic Gardens
5. Clarke/Boat Quay (for the nightlife)
6. Chinatown
7. Geylang (durian + supper)
8. Arab Street
9. Mustafa Centre (shopping)
10. Orchard (shopping)
11. Pulau Ubin
12. Japanese/Chinese Garden
13. Haw Par Villa
14. DHL Balloon - looks kinda crap tho, doesn't it?
15. NEWater Visitors Centre
16. Singapore Discovery Centre
17. Lau Par Sat or Newton
18. Kranji Countryside

I think you're going to have problems with Sentosa / Mt. Faber given the distance and the lack of visibility....Unless you're from China, I wouldn't recommend Haw Par Villa unless you're really keen for weirdo stuff. If I were only here for 5 days with limited time during that time period, I wouldn't visit this area.

If you're looking for good hawker food, the Gluttons by the Bay Hawker Center is really good - it's smaller than most (and more expensive), but I think the food is better. It's only open from 5:00PM onwards....Also, it's at the Esplanade, so you can eat, and then walk around Marina Bay and watch the light show at the Marina Bay Sands. I live next door to Lau Pa Sat, and it isn't the best, unless you like satay, and then you can have good satay for dinner....

Boat Quay is good for dinner, as is Robertson Quay (we love the Wine Connection for cheap, good eats). Clarke Quay is great if you're of a certain age (mentally or chronologically) and want to get your drinkies on....

The Arab Street area is great - there are a lot of good restaurants, and the Mosque is beautiful.

Little India has a lot of restaurants and if you're around during the day, Tekka Market is a fun and interesting place to look around and take pictures.

The Botanic Gardens (Orchid Garden and Ginger Garden which are adjacent to each other) are a great place to visit when the Orchid Garden opens at 8:30AM. the Gardens by the Bay are beautiful as well, but cost....

I haven't done this, but a boat ride up the river from the Marina to Robertson Quay might be fun.

There's lots to see and do here as a tourist - you may want to check out TripAdvisor for other ideas.

Have fun!!

[groupie]

Thanks!

[zzm9980]

Given it is a 5 day business trip and I assume you'll be working during the day, you probably will only have a few evenings to see things.

From the below list, I'd make an evening of the following.

- Clarke/Boat Quay. Touristy bar/food area. A wide variety of food Singapore is "known for" is at Boat Quay, catered towards tourists. So 50% more cost, not the best possible specimen of each on the island, but it's all in one spot and you can walk along the river and choose one. Plenty of foreigner bars then to drink at after. Be aware drinks are pricey in Singapore, and by pricey I mean 2x-3x the price of most other major cities.

- Arab Street. Walk around, see the Mosque and shop houses, eat dinner. If you need to buy some knick-knacks, walk over to Bugis street market. It's similar to the outdoor Markets in Mong Kok Hong Kong if you're familiar. Kwan Im temple is also very close to Bugis. Might be worth a photo from the outside (but not inside).

- Chinatown area. Walk around, more knick knacks like Bugis. It'll feel very much like a China town in any western city. It is right next to Maxwell street hawker center which will give you a good sample of where locals go for good cheap food. I would suggest Maxwell instead of Lau Pa Sat or Newton as it's the same food (or better), without the tourist markup. Club Street is also right here, and as its name coincidently implies, there are a lot of bars, lounges, coffee shops, trendy cafes here.

- Marina Bay. This is where you'll see the nice skyline views of Marina Bay Sands (the god awful ugly Noah's Ark hotel), the CBD, etc, depending on which part of the bay you're at. The Merlion statue is also here. You can do a nice walk from the Fullerton Bay hotel where the Merlion is, over the bridge, along the Esplande (the big building which looks like a Durian - a native spikey fruit), and then over the Helix bridge to Marina Bay Sands. There is shopping , food, etc at all of those places. You can do the whole walk in 15-20 mins at a casual pace. Boat Quay (see above) is extremely close to here, so if you wanted to eat dinner over there you could probably do both of these in the same night.

- Orchard Rd. A string of very expensive and fancy shopping malls. They all have roughly the same stores repeating themselves. Might be nice to walk down, kind of like 5th Ave in NYC or Michigan Ave in Chicago, or any other major shopping area in a big city.

The botanic garden is a botanic garden. It's popular IMO because it's (mostly) free. The Zoo is allegedly nice, but it's in the middle of nowhere. I guess if you're into zoos, do research and see about going there. Jurong Bird Park is also pretty far out there, and I wouldn't really recommend it unless you're a bird person. Gardens by the Bay may be nice if you have an afternoon free.

If you're a single lonely male looking for something to do at night, go to the "mall" on Orchard Rd called "Orchard Towers" for an Asian experience you won't really find in the west. (Not like this at least). You can go to google and let it auto-complete "Four floors of " for more information if you want it.

1. Zoo (Day and Night Safari)
2. Jurong Bird Park
3. Sentosa/Mt Faber
4. Botanic Gardens
5. Clarke/Boat Quay (for the nightlife)
6. Chinatown
7. Geylang (durian + supper)
8. Arab Street
9. Mustafa Centre (shopping)
10. Orchard (shopping)
11. Pulau Ubin
12. Japanese/Chinese Garden
13. Haw Par Villa
14. DHL Balloon - looks kinda crap tho, doesn't it?
15. NEWater Visitors Centre
16. Singapore Discovery Centre
17. Lau Par Sat or Newton
18. Kranji Countryside

[thismyvoice]

My recommendation as follows.

Night Safari
Gardens by the bay
Have a walk around the Marina area
Sentosa
Orchard road for shopping
One of Clarke quay/Boat quay/Robertson quay for dinner and drinks
Chinatown. There are some temples if you want to visit.

Try food such as satay, chilli crab, etc. You can visit one of the hawker centre or go to a more establish restaurant such as Paradise, Jumbo, No Signboard, etc.