Is it possible to fall in love with a city? If it is, then I fell for Singapore. The city and its people were perfect.
Top 4 places to visit in Singapore
- Marina Bay Sands – spend a day
- Gardens By The Bay – spend a day
- Clarkes Quay – stay in hotel in Clarkes Quay, recommend The Paradox Hotel
- Jewel of Changi at Airport
Marina Bay Sands
My first full day in Singapore I went to Marina Bay Sands. When people think of Singapore, if they have an image in their head of the city, it is this image. You can certainly go to the top of towers where the platform is, spanning the three towers. (yes it is totally worth the time and cost) Assuming you stay at a hotel in Clarkes Quay, you can walk to Marina Bay Sands.
What is not obvious about the Marina Bay Sands is that beneath it, is one of the best malls you will ever visit. At the base of the three towers are three ‘stepped roof structures’, easily overlooked. This is the mall, and it is absolutely enormous, beautiful, elegant and expensive.
Assuming you are staying at a hotel in Clarkes Quay, you can walk to Marina Bay Sands. It is a lovely walk.
The image below is of the inside of the enormous mall beneath the three iconic towers of Marina Bay Sands. The mall is at least three floors possibly more, I did not have time to fully explore.
To gain access to the towers that takes you to the roof top platform, you pass through the mall just as seen in the picture above. Shortly after entering as seen in the picture above you can find information booths and that will direct you to the tower entrance for the roof top.
In addition to all the many shops the mall has a rather large casino.
Is Singapore Safe?
I travelled alone and everywhere on foot. I walked both day and night. Everywhere I went I felt completely safe. I saw not one sign of crime, homelessness, trash or danger anywhere. It was like the city had a sense of pride that it was clean, beautiful and had little to no crime.
If you only have a few days in Singapore, these are the three places to spend your time. While it might seem that only three places is not much, the reality is that you can easily spend two or three days visiting them and not feel like you saw it all.
Gardens By The Bay
My second full day I had a great buffet breakfast at the Paradox Hotel. Then I went to the Gardens By The Bay, which is directly to the east of Marine Bay Sands. You will see it marked on the map (map lower on this page) near the number 3.
While it might seem tempting to walk to the Gardens, after all on the map they are just east of Marina Bay Sands and they are side by side. The reality is that it is much farther than you think. I estimate that it is between 1.5 and 2 miles more of walking and that is too much considering all the walking you will do once you get to the Gardens.
The best plan for this is to exit your hotel at (number 1 Paradox Hotel – see map lower on this page) enter the train station (number 2 on the map) and use the train to get to the gardens. It is really easy to follow the map and get there. The Gardens have their own stop all to themselves.
The Gardens are amazing, huge and you can spend an entire day walking around. There are two main areas to visit. Both large and both very different. You can easily spend a day visiting these two. The two parts are The Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. If you spend a couple hours in each you have just barely scratched the surface of what is there.
I think I learned to appreciate flowers more from my visit. So many different flowers from all over the world it is a sight to see and experience.
Flowers and gardens have never really been my thing. My visit to Singapore changed that.
Once you have had your fill of amazing flowers, walk over to the Cloud Forest. Cloud Forest of an enormous green house filled with the tallest indoor waterfall and a lush manmade mountain filled with plants from all over the worlds. You will walk a spiraling ramp round and round the mountain to the top.
I cannot recommend this enough. Well worth your time.
Clarkes Quay
The following assumes you are staying at the Paradox Hotel in Clarkes Quay. There are others hotels in Clarkes Quay of course.
My room Paradox Hotel. It is actually bigger than it appears in the photos and the bathroom was very large.
Getting Around Singapore
From the airport to Clarkes Quay
First I took the train from the airport. Take a look at the map in the airport station before you jump on the train. You will be in the far east or the right side of the map at Changi Airport. You will ride a train west, into the city and eventually change over to another colored line and head slightly north to your destination. Your end point is the Clarke Quay Stop. This will be easy to see on the map. When you change from one train to the next, do not leave the station and go into the city. That is not necessary. Just follow the signs to the correct colored train. Stay underground.
Before you know it you will be at Clarke Quay Stop. If I recall correctly the entire trip from the airport took about 30 minutes. Maybe slightly more.
On the simple map below you will see that Clarke Quay is the purple area. A very tourist friendly area. Number 2 is a rough approximation of the Clarke Quay Station exit. When you exit the station you will find that you are actually inside of a small shopping mall. At first this confused me. However, if you simply exit the mall you will be about 50 steps from the entrance to the Paradox Hotel. (number 1).
Super simple and incredibly convenient.
I marked with a 1 on the map the approximate location of the Paradox Hotel. Do not let the map dimensions fool you. Number 1 (the hotel) and Number 2 (the Clarke Quay MRT exit) are side by side with nothing between them.
If you have time and energy on your first night in Clarkes Quay, I recommend just going out and staying in the area (purple). Lots of people, restaurants and attractions are to be found here. Clarkes Quay is bigger than the map makes it seem.
I suggest taking 2 trips on 2 different days from the Paradox Hotel / Clarkes Quay. The first trip is to walk along the water front (start after breakfast) and roughly following the red line on the map. It will take you to Marina Bay Sands. The walk is not short. Wear good shoes. Bring a small towel to dry off the sweat and when you get to the water area looking out to Marina Bay Sands, stop and enjoy some food.
Follow the waterline, rather than the main streets to Marina Bay Sands as the main roads will add at least a half mile to one mile to your walk and will not be as nice.
You will still have a good half mile to the entrance of the mall at the base of Marina Bay Sands Towers, assuming you follow the waterline and now the streets.
After going to the top of Marina Bay Sands and looking around, retrace your steps back to your hotel and Clarkes Quay. I found this to be a 1 day experience for me. After taking a nap I went out at night in Clarkes Quay and found food and entertainment easily enough.
Walking from Clarkes Quay to Marina Bay Sands
Jewel of Changi Airport
My last and third main item for this short trip is visit the Jewel of Changi Airport.
The Jewel of Changi is located inside the airport. If you have an afternoon flight out of Singapore you can simply go to the airport a few hours earlier than normal and see the Jewel. It is a very popular site and good viewing spots fill up quickly so it is best to be there early. Also the airport is rather big and the Jewel is a bit out of the way from where most people catch their flight so plan for the time accordingly.
The water does not flow 24 hours a day however. I got to the airport very early for my flight thinking I would have maximum time enjoying the waterfall only to find that the water was turned off.
If I recall correctly, the waterfall began flowing at 11 AM. Crowds of people start gathering about an hour before that looking to settle in to good viewing spots.
There are a lot of places you can watch the waterfall from including many that are higher up on platforms. I would suggest finding a spot higher up and watching the waterfall begin and then moving to ground level.
The Jewel is a popular place for people to get their social media pictures. Droves of people are constantly trying to set up and take the perfect picture. All of this is really a shame as they spend more time setting up and taking the picture than watching and enjoying the waterfall.
