Are you traveling to Southeast Asia and wondering what to see in Singapore in 3 days? Thanks to its enormous airport, Singapore has become an important gateway to Southeast Asia, so many of us take advantage of this to start our journey here and spend a few days exploring this incredible city. On our trip, we spent a total of 4 days in Singapore (3 when we arrived and one more on our return), and these were the highlights of everything we saw:
Index
- Bugis Street Market and Albert Food Centre
- Chinatown
- Little India
- Singapore Botanic Gardens
- Southern Ridges and Henderson Waves
- Marina Bay Sands
- Gardens by the Bay
- The Merlion Statue
- Changi Airport
1. Bugis Street Market and Albert Food Centre
If you love markets as much as I do, you can’t miss the craziness of Bugis Street Market. It is one of the largest and cheapest markets in the city. It has practically everything, from clothes to accessories, souvenirs, takeaway food, and exotic fruit juices. (Don’t leave without trying the sugar cane juice!)
The market is made up of several floors with narrow alleys that make it a labyrinth in which it is very easy to get lost. In fact, we had to leave through the emergency exit because we couldn’t find another way out…
After an exhausting shopping (or just looking) session at Bugis Market, there’s nothing like recharging with a plate of typical food at Albert Food Centre. It is a covered but open-air space with dozens of Asian food stalls (from Chinese to Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, or Malay). In the central area, there are tables with benches where people sit to eat. Simple, but economical. And the quality of the food is more than acceptable.
2. Chinatown
Chinatown is one of the most important neighborhoods in the city. The best way to get there is by metro, getting off at the Chinatown stop and exiting at Pagoda Street. The moment you step onto the street, you will undoubtedly know which neighborhood you are in. The red lanterns, shops, restaurants, and the number of tourists walking down the street make it clear.
What to see in Chinatown in Singapore? For cultural visits, in this neighborhood, you cannot miss the Chinatown Heritage Centre, to learn about Chinese culture and its tradition in the city, and the Singapore City Gallery, to discover many curiosities that are not in the guides. There are also various temples you must visit, such as the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (Buddhist), the Thian Hock Keng Temple (Buddhist), and the Sri Mariamman (Hindu).
Lastly, you cannot leave without eating at one of its hawkers (old street food stalls that are now in enclosed spaces), where you can eat very cheaply with surprisingly good quality. We ate at Liao Fan Hawker Chan, the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant in the world. We have to say that we expected more from a Michelin star, but considering that we paid less than 4 euros, we were quite satisfied.
3. Little India in Singapore
The main avenue of Little India, where most of its tourist attractions are located, is Serangoon Road. To get there, you can use the Little India or Farrer Park metro stops. This neighborhood, situated east of the Rochor River and north of Kampong Glam, was initially formed by the settlement of Tamils, although people from different regions of India and around the world now live there.
What we liked most about Little India were its temples, especially Sri Srinivasa Perumal with its great 20-meter-high tower displaying various incarnations of the god Vishnu.
We also found the Tan Teng Niah house beautiful and very photogenic. This colorful house, built in 1900, belonged to the owner of a confectionery and other businesses on Serangoon Road.
For shopping or grabbing a bite to eat, I recommend taking a stroll through the Little India Arcade and the Tekka Centre.
4. Singapore Botanic Gardens
The Singapore Botanic Gardens, with its 160 years of history and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, has been recognized many times as one of the best botanical gardens in the world.
A visit here is a must if you want to disconnect a bit from the hustle and bustle of the big city and enjoy its 64 hectares of plants, trees, flowers, rainforest, fountains, lakes, waterfalls, and sculptures.
Most of the gardens can be visited for free, you only need to pay to enter the National Orchid Garden (5 SGD), which houses more than 3,000 species of orchids and is one of the most visited gardens in the entire park.
5. Southern Ridges and Henderson Waves
Another ideal place to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city is the Southern Ridges. This is a series of trails totaling more than 10 km that connect different parks in the southern part of Singapore (Labrador, Kent Ridge, Hort, Telok Blangah Hill, and Mount Faber).
Some of the trails are cleverly designed to allow walking above the forest, thus reducing the tourist impact on the area’s fauna and flora while offering an unusual and surprising perspective of both the park and views of the city of Singapore.
6. Marina Bay Sands
The Marina Bay Sands complex, opened in 2014, not only redefined Singapore’s skyline but also marked a before and after in the world of architecture. The ensemble features 3 hotel towers, each 55 stories high, with a total of 2,560 rooms. Most impressively, it boasts a 340-meter-long platform on the 57th floor, supported by the three towers, housing a park, an observation deck, a restaurant, a nightclub, and what could be the most incredible infinity pool in the world, stretching 150 meters in length and accommodating 3,900 people.
On this 200-meter-high platform known as the Skypark, there are some areas of public access, such as the Cé La Vi restaurant or the Observation Deck, a lookout located at the northern end of the platform offering breathtaking views of the city. To access the observation deck, you need to pay an entrance fee of 26 SGD. However, the infinity pool is exclusive to hotel guests (if you plan to stay here, note that rooms start from 400 euros per night).
Other areas of free access within the complex include the casino, with 600 gaming tables and 2,300 slot machines, the shopping center, and the light, water, and sound show performed every night in front of the shopping center, with free admission.
7. Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay are the most famous and most visited gardens by tourists in Singapore. They were opened in 2012 with the aim of improving the quality of life for the city’s residents and occupy 101 hectares of land reclaimed from the sea.
The most iconic feature of these gardens is their giant trees, also called Supertrees, which make up the Supertree Grove. Over 160,000 plants have been vertically planted on these structures, chosen according to sustainability criteria, weight, ease of maintenance, climate adaptability, and visual interest. Every day at 7:45 pm and 8:45 pm, a 15-minute light and music show is performed on the trees, with free access. Truth be told, we didn’t find the show to be that impressive, but since you’re already there, it’s worth seeing and taking a break from all the walking.
Most of the gardens are freely accessible; you only need to pay to access the OCBC Skyway (8 SGD), a walkway connecting the treetops at 22 meters high, and the Flower Dome (28 SGD), the world’s largest glass greenhouse according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
8. The Merlion Statue of Singapore
After watching the sunset at Gardens by the Bay, a good plan is to go see the symbol of the city: the Merlion statue. To get there, you’ll have to cross the Esplanade Bridge, a bridge that passes by Theatres by the Bay, something like the equivalent of the Sydney Opera House.
The Merlion is a sculpture with the body of a fish (mer) and the head of a lion (lion) that spouts water from its mouth and has its origins in 1964 when the Ministry of Tourism wanted to design an emblem for the city.
Legend has it that Prince Sang Nila Utama found a lion when he discovered the city in the 11th century. For this reason, he renamed this ancient fishing village, formerly known as Temasek, as Singapura, which means Lion City.
9. Changi Airport
Singapore Airport, also known as Changi Airport, truly left us speechless. It’s no wonder it has been chosen as the best airport in the world for seven consecutive years by the World Airport Awards. And it doesn’t lack a single detail.
In April 2019, the airport extension was inaugurated, built on the old T1 parking lot. We’re talking about Jewel, a complex of 135,700 m2 that aims to be a tribute to the city of futuristic buildings and infinite gardens.
This space, designed by architect Moshe Safdie, houses under its imposing dome the world’s largest indoor waterfall, Rain Vortex, 40 meters high. But that’s not all; the complex has over 280 shops, restaurants for all tastes, cinemas, a hotel, and even attractions like trampolines.
Who wouldn’t want to have a layover here?
And that’s the rundown of the 9 places that, in my opinion, you can’t miss if you visit Singapore. Feeling the urge to go? By the way, if you’re having a long layover at Changi Airport, you might be interested to know that private tours in Spanish are organized from the airport, lasting between 4 and 8 hours, according to your choice.
