✺ Singapore · Asia

Singapore

A garden city of hawker stalls and rooftop bars.

🌃 City after dark

Save to My trips

✺ In pictures

Singapore, up close

Executive Summary: Singapore (Singapore) is at its prime during Feb–Apr, Jul–Aug. Characterized by city after dark, it ranks #4 on the Luxe score and is best suited for with the kids and the two of us and just me and the group chat planning a a long weekend journey.

The feeling

Spotless, green and endlessly delicious, from Michelin-recognised hawker stalls to the supertrees of Gardens by the Bay. Warm all year; February to April is the driest stretch.

The scorecard #4 of 63

4.3Luxe score out of 5 · #4 of 63

🍜 FoodOne of the world's great food destinations

🏞️ SceneryBeautiful landscapes or cityscapes

🛎️ Luxury staysExcellent luxury hotels and resorts

🛡️ SafetyExceptionally safe

🧭 Easy to visitEffortless, even for first-timers

💞 RomancePleasant for couples

🍸 NightlifeLively nightlife

🧸 FamilyVery good for families

💸 Cost$$$$Expensive

👥 CrowdsVery crowded in peak season

Scored across structured editorial rubrics from our notes on Singapore. How we score →

By the numbers measured, via Nomads.com

$5.5ka month to live like a visitor

$2.9k1-bed rent in the centre, monthly

101 Mbpstypical internet speed

⭐ 3.7Nomads.com overall, out of 5

🛡️ Safety

🚶 Walkability

🗣️ English spoken

🏥 Healthcare

🎉 Fun

👩 Female-friendly

🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly

Data from Nomads.com, fetched October 1, 2026. Costs are Nomads.com estimates for a long stay, not a hotel holiday.

When to go

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

At its best Still lovely Off season

Best for: 🧸 With the kids · 💞 The two of us · 🎒 Just me · 🥂 The group chat
Give it: A long weekend
Right now: Off season in October; aim for Feb–Apr, Jul–Aug.

On the travel desks

Nothing filed about Singapore today. Here's what the desks are writing about instead:

Condé Nast Traveler · 39 min agoMy Favorite Airbnb: A Hilltop Hideaway on an Underrated Greek Island

One Mile at a Time · 50 min agoNTSB’s Preliminary Report On Amazon Air 767 Crash Confirms It Was An Avoidable Mess

One Mile at a Time · 3 hr agoFlyDubai Boeing 737 Pilot Terror Plot On Israel-Bound Flight: I Have No Words

✺ Your Luxentravel trip

Three days in Singapore

Three days in a spotless garden city, where hawker stalls and supertrees sit side by side, and the best meals often cost the least.

Save to My trips

Day 1
Marina Bay and the gardens

Morning
Walk the Marina Bay waterfront, then explore the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay.
Afternoon
Retreat to your hotel pool through the heat of the day.
Evening
Watch the Supertree Grove light show, then dinner at a hawker center nearby.
Insider pick: Odette, City Hall · ★ 4.6 · $$$$
Day 2
Chinatown and Kampong Glam

Morning
Explore Chinatown and its temples, then grab chicken rice at a hawker center.
Afternoon
Visit Kampong Glam, with the Sultan Mosque and the boutiques of Haji Lane.
Evening
Sip a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in Raffles Singapore, then dinner in Little India.
Insider pick: Burnt Ends, Dempsey Hill · ★ 4.5 · $$$$
Day 3
Gardens and Tiong Bahru

Morning
Walk the Singapore Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO site, and its National Orchid Garden.
Afternoon
Wander the art deco neighborhood of Tiong Bahru, with its bakeries and bookshops.
Evening
A final rooftop drink overlooking Marina Bay as the city's lights spill across the water.
Insider pick: Atlas, Bugis · ★ 4.6 · $$$

Where to stay

Raffles Singapore for colonial grandeur, or a Marina Bay hotel for skyline views.

Insider pick: Raffles Singapore, City Hall · ★ 4.6 · $$$$

Our tip

At hawker centers, locals reserve tables with a packet of tissues; don't move it, and look for an empty seat instead.

When

Best Feb–Apr, Jul–Aug; still lovely May–Jun, Sep.

Insider picks from HelpTravel (4.5★+ from 1,000+ Google reviewers). The itinerary is our own.

✺ The insider's edit

Where to stay, eat and drink in Singapore

Hawker stalls and supertrees in one tidy island. Every pick holds a 4.5-star average from at least 1,000 reviewers, with one tip from someone who's been.

★ 4.610,000+ reviews$$$$

Raffles Singapore

City Hall

The 1887 colonial grande dame where the Singapore Sling was invented and Somerset Maugham wrote on the veranda, reborn after a 2019 restoration as an all-suite hotel with its famous Sikh doormen. Afternoon tea and frangipani courtyards complete the time capsule.

Even non-guests can visit the Long Bar and the arcade — but book suites and afternoon tea weeks ahead in high season.

★ 4.650,000+ reviews$$$$

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay

Three 57-story towers carry the SkyPark and its 150-meter infinity pool — the world's largest rooftop pool, with the skyline lapping at its edge. Moshe Safdie's silhouette is now shorthand for Singapore itself.

The infinity pool is for hotel guests only — one night buys the bragging rights; go at the 7am opening for photos without the crowd.

★ 4.610,000+ reviews$$$$

The Fullerton Hotel

Marina Bay

The monumental 1928 General Post Office, its Doric colonnades now wrapping 400 heritage rooms between the Singapore River and Marina Bay. The rooftop Lighthouse bar overlooks the nightly bay light show.

Ask for a quay-facing room over the river bridges, and join the free heritage tour of the building's postal past.

★ 4.63,000+ reviews$$$$

Capella Singapore

Sentosa

Norman Foster curved a contemporary crescent around two restored 1880s colonial bungalows on a Sentosa knoll — the stage for the 2018 Trump–Kim summit. Peacocks roam the lawns above the sea.

Book the earliest slot at Auriga spa and arrive early for the bath circuit — weekday rates dip steeply.

★ 4.67,500+ reviews$$$$

Shangri-La Singapore

Orchard

The 1971 flagship that launched the entire Shangri-La brand, set in 15 acres of gardens with over 100,000 plants just off Orchard Road. Garden Wing balconies spill over with bougainvillea.

Pay the difference for the Garden Wing — the greenery is the experience — or the Valley Wing for quiet, champagne-poured luxury.

★ 4.51,500+ reviews$$$

The Warehouse Hotel

Robertson Quay

An 1895 spice warehouse on the Singapore River — once a secret-society haunt and later a disco — converted into a 37-room industrial-chic boutique. Local designers kept the trussed roof and added brass and velvet.

River-facing rooms cost a little more and earn it — and the riverside path walks you to Clarke Quay in 15 minutes.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full hotels guide for Singapore → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

★ 4.61,500+ reviews$$$$

Odette

City Hall

Julien Royer's three-Michelin-star dining room inside the National Gallery has twice been named Asia's best restaurant for produce-first modern French cooking. Courses unfold beneath a floating kinetic sculpture in a famously pastel room.

Book the moment your dates firm up — lunch delivers the same kitchen for less — and mind the dress code.

★ 4.52,000+ reviews$$$$

Burnt Ends

Dempsey Hill

Dave Pynt's modern-Australian barbecue, cooked in hand-built four-tonne brick kilns, earned a Michelin star and a fixture spot on Asia's 50 Best lists. The pulled-pork sanger and smoky beef marmite are cult orders.

Counter seats facing the kilns are the ones to book — releases run about a month ahead — or walk in early for bar seats.

★ 4.510,000+ reviews$

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

Maxwell Food Centre, Chinatown

The hawker stall Anthony Bourdain called the best chicken rice in Singapore still draws Maxwell Food Centre's longest queue. Poached chicken, fragrant fat-slicked rice, chili-ginger sauce — the national dish at its benchmark best.

Go at 10:30am before the office rush, order a half chicken to share, and note it closes on Mondays.

★ 4.55,000+ reviews$

Liao Fan Hawker Chan

Chinatown

Chan Hon Meng's soya sauce chicken rice made history in 2016 as the cheapest Michelin-starred meal in the world at around two Singapore dollars. The queues remain for the lacquered, anise-scented chicken over rice or noodles.

The Smith Street shopfront moves faster than the original hawker stall — go before noon.

★ 4.57,500+ reviews$$$

Jumbo Seafood (Riverside Point)

Clarke Quay

The standard-bearer for Singapore chilli crab since 1987, cracking mud crabs into a sweet-savory tomato-chili gravy made for mopping with fried mantou buns. The Riverside Point branch faces the lights of Clarke Quay.

Reserve a river-terrace table online, order one crab per two people plus extra mantou, and wear the bib without shame.

★ 4.57,500+ reviews$

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh

Clarke Quay

A peppery Teochew pork-rib soup institution that began as a 1969 pushcart and now holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, with queues at the New Bridge Road original. Broth refills are free and encouraged.

Order the premium loin ribs with you tiao fried dough for dunking, and wave for the free broth top-ups.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full restaurants guide for Singapore → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

★ 4.65,000+ reviews$$$

Atlas

Bugis

A soaring Art Deco 'grand lobby and gin parlour' inside Gotham-esque Parkview Square, with a bronze tower holding over a thousand gins. The sheer grandeur made it a World's 50 Best Bars fixture.

Walk-ins land lounge seats on weekday afternoons — book ahead for evenings and order the signature Atlas Martini.

★ 4.55,000+ reviews$$$

Long Bar

City Hall (Raffles Hotel)

Birthplace of the Singapore Sling around 1915, where peanut shells swept to the floor remain the only sanctioned littering in Singapore. Touristy, certainly — also obligatory.

Go mid-afternoon — the queue peaks at sunset — and yes, brush your peanut shells onto the floor.

★ 4.62,000+ reviews$$$

Jigger & Pony

Tanjong Pagar

Crowned Asia's No. 1 bar in 2020 and a top-tier regular since, this warm, hospitality-first room in the Amara Hotel serves impeccable classics. Its menu is printed as a glossy magazine you'll want to take home.

Reserve the early 6pm seating online — later slots go days ahead on weekends.

★ 4.61,500+ reviews$$$$

Manhattan

Orchard (Conrad Singapore Orchard)

A grand hotel bar channeling 19th-century New York, famous for its in-bar rickhouse where cocktails age in oak barrels. A multi-year top-five entry on Asia's 50 Best Bars.

Come Sunday for the famous cocktail brunch — book well ahead — or weeknights for a quiet barrel-aged Manhattan.

★ 4.55,000+ reviews$$$$

CE LA VI

Marina Bay Sands SkyPark

Fifty-seven floors up on the Sands SkyPark, this club-lounge-restaurant trio delivers the Marina Bay panorama without needing a hotel booking. Sunset DJ sets keep the energy loud.

The entry cover is usually redeemable against drinks — arrive just before sunset on a weeknight and claim the north rail.

★ 4.51,500+ reviews$$$

28 HongKong Street

Clarke Quay

The unmarked 1960s-shophouse speakeasy that kicked off Singapore's modern cocktail renaissance in 2011 and cracked the World's 50 Best Bars. American-style hospitality, killer truffle mac-and-cheese balls.

Book online and look for the unsigned door at number 28 — then trust the bartender's dealer's choice.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full bars guide for Singapore → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

★ 4.7150,000+ reviews$$

Gardens by the Bay

Marina Bay

A 101-hectare garden of 18 solar Supertrees, the cathedral-like Flower Dome — the world's largest glass greenhouse — and the Cloud Forest's 35-meter indoor waterfall. The free Garden Rhapsody light show plays nightly.

Buy conservatory tickets online and do Cloud Forest at opening — then return for the free 7:45pm Supertree show, watched lying on the grass.

★ 4.675,000+ reviews$$$

Universal Studios Singapore

Sentosa

Southeast Asia's only Universal park packs seven themed zones, the dueling Battlestar Galactica coasters, and a Transformers dark ride into a compact footprint. It is conquerable in one well-planned day.

Go on a weekday, ride Battlestar Galactica first at rope drop, and save Express Passes for weekends and holidays.

★ 4.650,000+ reviews$$

Singapore Zoo

Mandai

A pioneering open-concept zoo where moats replace cages and orangutans swing through free-ranging canopy overhead. The breakfast-with-wildlife sitting and the adjacent Night Safari are world-famous.

Arrive at the 8:30am opening when the animals are active, prebook the wildlife breakfast, and pair it with the separate Night Safari after dark.

★ 4.750,000+ reviews$

Singapore Botanic Gardens

Tanglin

Singapore's only UNESCO World Heritage Site is a 165-year-old green lung containing a patch of primary rainforest older than the garden itself. The National Orchid Garden displays over a thousand species and twice as many hybrids.

The gardens are free and open 5am to midnight — pay the small Orchid Garden fee and go early morning, before the heat.

★ 4.550,000+ reviews$

Merlion Park

Marina Bay

The 8.6-meter half-lion, half-fish has spouted into Marina Bay since 1972 as the city's official mascot — equal parts kitsch and pilgrimage. The promenade frames Marina Bay Sands and the nightly light shows.

Come at 7:30am for tourist-free photos or after dark when the bay lights up — the 'drinking the spout' shot needs the lower platform.

★ 4.610,000+ reviews$$

National Gallery Singapore

City Hall

The former Supreme Court and City Hall — where Japan surrendered Singapore in 1945 — now joined into the world's largest public collection of Southeast Asian modern art. The rooftop deck stares down the Padang to Marina Bay.

Time your visit to end on the rooftop around sunset, then stay for cocktails at Smoke & Mirrors upstairs.

Curated by HelpTravel: the full sights guide for Singapore → Ratings and review counts from Google Places, rounded down.

✺ Make it happen

From daydream to departure

Live from travel partners when you ask: real fares, a walk through the city, guided trips and ferries. You book with them directly.

★ marks Singapore's best months. We search ±3 days around the middle of the month.

Live fares from Kiwi.com; prices change quickly and are confirmed when you book with them.

✺ Pair it with

If you love Singapore, you'll love these

#14 ⭐ 4.0

United States

Aspen

Powder days, après and golden aspens in autumn.

❄️ 🌃 · Best Jan–Mar, Jul–Aug

#53Peak in Oct ⭐ 3.4

Morocco

Marrakech

Riad courtyards, souk lanes and rooftop mint tea.

🕯️ 🌃 · Best Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov

#11 ⭐ 4.0

Switzerland

Zermatt

A car-free village under the Matterhorn.

❄️ 🌿 · Best Jan–Mar, Jul–Aug

Singapore

Singapore, up close

The feeling

The scorecard #4 of 63

By the numbers measured, via Nomads.com

When to go

On the travel desks

Three days in Singapore

Marina Bay and the gardens

Chinatown and Kampong Glam

Gardens and Tiong Bahru

Where to stay

Our tip

When

Where to stay, eat and drink in Singapore

Raffles Singapore

Marina Bay Sands

The Fullerton Hotel

Capella Singapore

Shangri-La Singapore

The Warehouse Hotel

Odette

Burnt Ends

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

Liao Fan Hawker Chan

Jumbo Seafood (Riverside Point)

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh

Atlas

Long Bar

Jigger & Pony

Manhattan

CE LA VI

28 HongKong Street

Gardens by the Bay

Universal Studios Singapore

Singapore Zoo

Singapore Botanic Gardens

Merlion Park

National Gallery Singapore

From daydream to departure

If you love Singapore, you'll love these

Aspen

Marrakech

Zermatt