48 Hours In Singapore – Part 1

Where and when: Singapore, April 2023

0730: Arrival into Singapore’s Changi Airport. Arrival is smooth and I am through immigration within 20 minutes.

Tip: If your trip includes a transfer via Singapore, I would highly recommend a day time layover at Changi airport. There is so much to see here, it is a destination in itself. (More on this on a later post).

0830: Get a sim card from “Changi Recommends” information centre on arrival at the Airport.

Tip: If you want to buy a sim card in Singapore, I would not recommend buying it at the airport. A sim card for 7 days with 100GB of data cost me 50 SGD. But in the city, you can buy a sim card for half the price (or less) – head to the Mustafa Centre in little India.

0900: Taxi to the hotel.
There are several transport option from Changi airport to the city:

• Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MTR): Probably the most cost effective option – you can buy a travel pass that cost 5 SGD and top up as you go along. Each trip only cost a few dollars. Getting to the city will probably take 45 minutes. This is a great option if your hotel is near a MTR station.
• Airport-Hotel shuttle: Costs 10 SGD per person. This needs to be booked in advance to avoid a wait on arrival. We didn’t book and were told there is a 2 hour wait.
• Metered taxi: Available at Arrivals, costing 25 to 40 SGD, depending on traffic and destination.
• Other taxis: The “Changi Recommends” information desk can also arrange a taxi, but this can be very expensive at peak times. We were quoted 60 SGD for trip into town, when the metered taxi only cost us half as much.

Tip: If there is more than three people travelling, a metered taxi from Arrivals is probably the most comfortable and cost effective way to get to the city.

0915: Arrive at One Farrer Hotel. Despite it being really early, they were kind enough to arrange an early check-in for us.

Tip: I can highly recommend One Farrer Hotel for your stay in Singapore. It cost a fraction of the price of some of the other 5 star hotels in the city.  It is located at the edge of little India which puts you within lots of great shopping and food. The service and amenities are first class. The only downside is that it is away from the waterfront and therefore you need to travel to attractions around gardens by the bay and Marina Bay Sands, but the hotel is built right over the Farrer Park MTR Station which means it is really easy and quick to travel anywhere.

1300: After a leisurely lunch in little India, we head to Gardens by the Bay.

Gardens by the bay is a 250 acre nature park in centre of Singapore next to the Marina reservoir. The park itself is free to access, but some of the major attractions within the park, such as the cloud forest and flower dome glasshouses and the supertree walkway and observatory charge an entrance fee.

Tip: Entrance to the flower dome and cloud forest are not cheap (about 50 SGD for both) but are well worth it. You get to see an amazing array of flora, waterfalls and trees and plants from different parts of the world.

During our visit there was also an Avatar feature in the Cloud Forest, linked to the release of the latest Avatar film.

The flower dome is the larger of the two conservatories at 3 acres. This houses many different gardens from around the World and a seasonal display- which in early April was the Sakura

1900: As it had been a rather long day, we decided to have an early dinner and call it a night.