Best 2-Day Singapore Itinerary
Singapore is a city-state that has built a reputation for itself as a model of effective city-planning. Singapore is one of the most efficient, safest, and cleanest places in the world. If you have a Type A personality (like myself), then you’ll take a liking to Singapore. It’s definitely a destination that’s cooler than cool, so if you’re ready to start planning your visit to Singapore, then read on!
A Quick Historical Timeline
The original inhabitants of the island were the indigenous Orang Laut people.
Singapore comes from the Malay name “Singapura,” which means Lion City. The legend is that a Sumatran prince landed on the island and spotted a lion. This is also why the unofficial symbol for Singapore is a Lion.
Singapore was then a place inhabited by many merchants, traders, and pirates due to its geographical placement.
Then comes the British colonization. Under British rule, Singapore’s position in the global economy boomed and its port became one of the best in the world at the time.
During WWII, the residents of Singapore suffered under Japanese rule. When the war ended and Japan left, Singapore’s nationalism grew and the colony became an independent nation.
Since then, Singapore’s leaders have intentionally implemented policies that improve the standard of living for Singaporeans — such as government subsidized housing to prevent homelessness.
Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin. For the most part, everyone that you’ll come in contact with speaks English. The official currency is the Singaporean dollar and as of the time of this blog, 1 Singaporean dollar = 0.77 US dollar. Singapore is hot, sunny, and humid for most of the year (it surely was when we visited in August), so pack light, breathable clothing, hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, and very comfortable walking shoes (because you’ll be doing plenty of walking).
Day 1 - National Museum of Singapore, Hawkers Food Court, Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay Sands
Public Transport
During your first full day in Singapore, try the following itinerary. Our flight landed in Singapore at 6 am local time, so we used this day as our full day. I knew I was going to be exhausted after a 16 hour flight from San Francisco, so I booked our Airbnb check-in as the day before so that we could go right to our room after leaving the airport as opposed to waiting around until 3 pm. That turned out to be an excellent idea because we were so exhausted by the time we checked-in.
Once we made it through immigration and customs, we took the subway to our Airbnb, which was located in the Little India neighborhood of Singapore. Singapore has a fantastic public transport system, one that’s clean, on-time, and easy to navigate. There’s a train station that’s connected to the airport and we got our transit cards there. They dispense a plastic card that’s easily reloadable. I used Google Maps to navigate and didn’t have any issues.
Where We Stayed
Singapore is not an inexpensive destination, but it can still be done on a budget. The best types of accommodation for a budget-conscious traveler will be shared Airbnbs and hostels. The place we booked was like a mix of the two and it’s called ST Signature Jalan Besar. They have full day stays and short stays (of 6 hour increments), which I thought was pretty cool. We ended up getting a small, windowless private-room with a double bed, small desk, and small closet, while the bathrooms were locker-room style. There was a large shared kitchen and different seating areas where people could relax or work. It was the most affordable accommodation I could find at $70 usd a night. It was surely no-frills, but if you plan to be out exploring all day and only need the room to sleep and shower, then it’s a good deal. Another bonus is that it’s a 1 minute walk from a subway station.
Here is the link to the Airbnb listing.
After we checked-in and set our bags down, we realized we were famished. It was around 7:30 am at this point and though the neighborhood around the Airbnb was filled with restaurants, most of them were closed. We walked a couple blocks and found a few restaurants serving breakfast, either Indian breakfast or Chinese breakfast (ubiquitous Indian and Chinese food was exactly what I was anticipating for Singapore). We decided to stop at a small local Indian joint and had some yummy curries and pastries. Then we returned to our room for a nap.
National Museum of Singapore
After we napped for a few hours, we got dressed and headed out to explore the city. Abraham and I try to visit at least one historical/cultural museum everywhere we go, so we decided to check out the National Museum of Singapore for our first stop. General Admission is $10.50 for a standard adult and $7 for students and those over the age of 60. There are special exhibitions that require a separate ticket, but we just chose to see the permanent galleries.
I was thoroughly impressed with the museum. The building itself is bright and airy on the inside with a large rotunda; there’s also a cute cafe where we enjoyed a cappuccino before hitting the galleries. The main gallery provides an excellent journey of Singapore’s history from the time of its indigenous inhabitants to the present day. It included hundreds of artifacts, photos, and audio supplements. After that gallery, we stopped in another section that probed deeper into Singapore’s history during the Japanese occupation. There are a few other permanent galleries (aside from the temporary ones) so it’s easy to stay there all day, but we knew that there were other things we wanted to see. But for what it’s worth, I highly recommend visiting this museum during your trip.
Hawkers Food Court - Tiong Bahru Market
At this point, we were feeling hungry and jetlagged. We popped into a Starbucks that was across the street from the museum (because one thing about Starbucks is that the coffee is going to be reliably strong no matter where you are). No trip to Singapore is complete without a visit to one of their famous hawkers food halls (just like the one that was featured in Crazy Rich Asians).
An old grad school classmate of mine is from Singapore and recommended that we go to the Tiong Bahru Market, located in Singapore’s Chinatown. Tiong Bahru Market is one of the largest food courts in Singapore, with hundreds of stalls serving up local and affordable delicacies. And when I say delicacies, I mean it. If you’re a foodie or don’t mind experimenting with unique food, then this market won’t disappoint. For those of you who prefer staying on the safe side, there are a couple vendors serving up familiar favorites.
Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands
At this point, you would be remiss if you went to Singapore and didn’t visit Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands. Both spots are located at the esteemed city waterfront. As the name suggests, Gardens by the Bay is a large botanical garden on the waterfront. It’s known for its Supertree Observatory (those large, purple-ish tree statues that you’ve probably seen on Instagram) and its Cloud Forest. The gardens itself is free to enter, but its different attractions are what require tickets. We ended up walking around the property and didn’t spend extra on attractions. The gardens are especially popular to visit around dusk.
Next, we decided to see what was going on at the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel. Marina Bay Sands is best known for its iconic boat-shaped roof that sits on top of 3 towers. Aside from being a hotel, Marina Bay Sands offers a number of restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues. We also considered going to their rooftop bar CÉ LA VI SKYBAR & CLUB LOUNGE, but ended up deciding against it. Instead, we walked through the length of the hotel (twice), which really was its own activity in itself.
After that, we decided to head back to the Airbnb to rest since had to work from our computers during the night. That concludes day 1!
Day 2 - The Jewel at Singapore Airport
The next afternoon, we had to fly out to Malaysia. Since we only had a half-day in Singapore, I knew that this day was optimal for exploring what’s colloquially known as the best airport in the world: Singapore Changi International Airport. If you spend any time on social media, you’ve more than likely come across photos or videos of Changi airport. It’s an airport, but on steroids. It’s a mall, but on steroids. It’s an entertainment center, but on steroids. This section of the airport with all of this is called The Jewel, and you absolutely should make an effort to put this on your itinerary. So if your departure flight from Singapore is in the afternoon or night, you’re good to go. If you have a morning flight out, I recommended checking out The Jewel after you exit through immigration and customs. In either case, there’s plenty of luggage storage so that you can walk around and explore without lugging your luggage around (pun intended).
The Jewel houses many American and European retailers as well as more regional stores. There’s also what I’m sure to be hundreds of restaurants - both casual and more formal. The best part of The Jewel is the waterfall in the center atrium. You’ll just have to see it for yourself.
After spending a couple hours at The Jewel, we headed to our terminal to prepare to board our flight. Then we were off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — which is just an hour flight away.
