We made most of our last day crossing out our bucket list of things to do in Singapore. Since we have few hours left before we head back home in the afternoon, we woke up very early and had a walkathon from our hotel to Raffles Hotel Singapore, Esplanade, Merlion Park, China Town and Orchard Road. What we loved about Singapore is that is is a very compact city and everywhere is almost walking distance with a pair of good walking shoes. At the end of the day, we couldn’t believe that we toured all of these places in less than a day!
1. Raffles Hotel Singapore
Just 15 minutes walk away is Singapore’s oldest and grandest hotel – Raffles Hotel Singapore. We stood outside this well-known Singapore landmark and got mesmerized with the simplicity and elegance of the hotel’s white facade. The hotel also looks very well maintained despite of it being more than a hundred years old. It felt very peaceful outside the hotel, a stark contrast to the heavy foot traffic in Orchard Road. No wonder this hotel is a popular staycation for Singapore locals who want to zone out from the daily grind.
Raffles Hotel Singapore is very famous for it’s Singapore Sling and such kind of experience has always been a top things to do in Singapore by tourists. Unfortunately, we have to pass the Singapore Sling experience for next time so we can cover the rest of the places in our itinerary before heading back home.
2. Esplanade and Merlion Park
After some photo ops outside Raffles, we walked towards Esplanade and Merlion Park. It took only us 15 minutes of good walk to reach our next destinations. We didn’t mind the hoards of tourists trying to get a shot of the Merlion since the view from Merlion Park is fantastic anyway!
3. China Town and China Town Heritage Center
Singapore China Town is not that far from Merlion Park and it’s only 10-15 minute walk away. Lot’s of cheap fancy stuffs in the China Town area and we were able to buy some last minute souvenirs to bring back home.
We found the China Town Heritage Center tucked within a busy shopping area in China Town. Actually, this museum is not included in our itinerary but we gladly went there on our last day since we got the tickets for free from our Sentosa Package Tour. The China Town Heritage Center is a small museum yet it is jam packed with lots of information. The museum portrays the settlement and struggles of Chinese in Singapore in the early years, and how they transformed Singapore to a powerful rich country. We ended up 2 hours inside and to me this is the most under-rated tourist spot in Singapore. This museum is a MUST VISIT among your things to do in Singapore especially for those with Chinese lineage.
4. Orchard Road
A visit to Singapore is not complete without visiting Orchard Road. Orchard Road is a shopping heaven especially during the yearly Singapore sale. From China Town, we took a cab to the West end of Orchard Road which dropped us off in Marriott Hotel. From there, we started our Orchard Road Walk. We walked pass Wisma Atria, Ngee Ann City and other malls, occasionally entering to cool down ourselves from the heat outside. We enjoyed people watching and our walk along Orchard Road proved the penchant of local Singaporeans with shopping. The side walks of this busy shopping street are always filled up with people day or night. Orchard Road is not as long as I previously thought it to be, we were able to reach the East end of Orchard Road in just 30 minutes.
If you are looking for other things to do in Singapore, please feel free to browse through Asiatravelbug’s Singapore trip report below.
Go to:
Day 1: Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by Bus from Harbour Front Centre
Day 2: Petronas Twin Towers, Merdeka Square & Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur
Day 3: Genting Highlands and Batu Caves
Day 4: Bayview Hotel Singapore and 2 Day Singapore Pass
Day 5: Duck Tours Singapore, Heritage Hippo Tour & Moonlight Adventure
Day 6: Singapore River Cruise, Clark Quay & Sentosa
Day 7: Singapore Zoo and Night Safari
Day 8: Things to Do in Singapore in Less Than a Day
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Malaysia have plenty of places to be visited, not just KL.
West Malaysia
If you have the time, you can go to Terregganu State. Here, there are many island (eg Pulau Tioman, Redang Island, Perhentian Island (just to name some). These Island are awesome..!!!
The beach are nice too..!!
If you are an outdoor person, try waterfall abseiling at Gopeng Town, it will cost you MYR100 per person.
South Malaysia
Port Dickson, is another state to be visited, it is about 1 hour from KL.
A Famosa fortress in Malacca State was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century. This is the historical state in Malaysia.
Sarawak State (East Malaysia, need to cross the sea) is another place to visit.
eg Mulu Cave, a lot caves to be visited, bat’s watching.
Mount Kinabalu as well nice to be visited.
But of course, if you have the time..
You should plan a trip to visit Malaysia alone. I went there before, You won’t regret it..!!
You can visit their homepage http://www.cuti.com.my
this is a very informative blog. we are in big group 20 pax going to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur this July 9 to 17. I think we can save time and money following your itinerary. thanks for your blog.
Thanks for ur suggestion Asia Travel. Soon on landing Singapore we have booked flight ticked to KL inorder to save time. On return from KL to singapore(via flight) we are planning to explore singapore. I would like to know ur real name and nationality, if u dont mind.
Hi Pramod. Both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are excellent cities to travel. They have good public transport system and almost everyone knows English so there is nothing much to worry about. The only tricky part in planning this two city trip is crossing SG-Malaysia border. However from experience, the process in passing customs is fast and smooth, though you need to bring down your bags from bus in each cross. I would strongly suggest you book your bus tickets well in advance (Aeroline, Transtar, etc) as most of the seats are already fully booked on same day of departure.
8 days is good enough to tour SG and KL. If you want to can follow my itinerary but given that SG is very dynamic tourist city, some of the tours mentioned like DHL balloon ride have ceased. However, I suggest you to go to ducktours to book for hop on hop off package depending on their current tours available. I highly recommend their packages as they are good value for money. There are also new tourist sites not mentioned in my blog like Singapore Eye, universal studios and singapore sands which are worth to see. I hope this helps, enjoy!
I appreciate the way u have presented the tour that u enjoyed. I dont know ur nationality. I belong to India and myself with a group of 8 persons have made arrangements to visit singapore and malaysia for 8 days. I would request you to give us advice to plan our trip. We will be landing on 16.02.2010 at singapore and have to leave from singapore on 24th evening.
I too found this blog and itterinary very helpful. I would like to know which is the best time to visit singapore and malaysia. And one more thing which i dont understand is when your plane landed in singapore then why did you have malaysia trip first and then come back again for singapore trip.
Thanks in advance for your reply
very helpfuLL ITINERARY