Singapore
A garden city-state where the hawker centres are the real attraction.
Singapore is an island city-state at the tip of the Malay peninsula, orderly, green and tropical, with a skyline around Marina Bay, colonial and Chinese and Indian quarters behind it, and rainforest reserves and beaches at its edges. It is a stopover that rewards staying longer.
Why go
For the food, first: hawker centres where chicken rice, laksa, chilli crab and roti prata are made by stalls that have done one dish for decades. Then for the design — the Supertrees, the bay, the museums, the shophouse streets — and for how easy the whole place is.
And for a green side that surprises: the botanic gardens, the MacRitchie treetop walk, the night safari and the southern islands, all a short ride from the centre.
Highlights
What people go for, in no particular order.
01Marina Bay and the Gardens
The three-towered hotel with its rooftop, the lotus-shaped museum, the bay-front promenade and Gardens by the Bay with its Supertrees, which light up in a sound show each evening.
02The hawker centres
Maxwell, Lau Pa Sat, Tiong Bahru, Old Airport Road and Chinatown Complex, each with dozens of stalls and a queue that tells you where to go.
03Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam
Three quarters of shophouses, temples and mosques: the Buddha Tooth Relic temple and Ann Siang Hill, the spice shops of Serangoon Road, and the Sultan Mosque with Haji Lane's cafés beside it.
04The Botanic Gardens and the rainforest
The orchid garden and rain trees of the botanic gardens, the canopy walk at MacRitchie and the nature reserve at Bukit Timah, all inside the city.
05The museums and the civic district
The National Gallery in the old city hall and supreme court, the Asian Civilisations Museum on the river and the colonial-era buildings along the Padang.
06Sentosa and the southern islands
The resort island with its beaches, the theme park and the aquarium, reached by cable car or boardwalk, and the quiet islands of St John's and Lazarus by ferry.
07The zoo and the night safari
Open enclosures in the forest to the north, with the night safari by tram and on foot after dark, and the river and bird parks alongside.
Areas
Where to base yourself, and what each area is like.
Marina Bay and the civic district
The skyline hotels, the bay and the museums. Central, and close to everything.
Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar
Shophouse hotels, hawker centres and the bars of Keong Saik and Duxton. Walkable and lively.
Orchard Road
The shopping boulevard with many of the larger hotels and the botanic gardens at its end.
Kampong Glam and Bugis
The Arab quarter's cafés and boutiques, the mosque and the night market, with easy MRT links.
When to go: Singapore
- Dry seasonFebruary – September
- Hot and humid all year, with these months usually the brighter ones. Showers can come any afternoon and pass quickly.
- Wet seasonNovember – January
- The north-east monsoon brings the wettest weeks, with heavier and longer rain. The city carries on under cover.
- Shoulder monthsOctober
- Between monsoons: warm, changeable and often clear in the mornings, with Deepavali lighting Little India.
Getting there
Airports
One airport in our search serves Singapore. Distances are measured in a straight line.
- SINChangi
Distance from
- BOMMumbai3,910 km
- DXBDubai5,830 km
- SYDSydney6,310 km
- JNBJohannesburg8,640 km
- CDGParis10,710 km
- LHRLondon10,870 km
- JFKNew York15,340 km
Getting around: Singapore
The MRT is fast, clean and reaches the airport, the bay, the quarters and the gardens; buses fill the rest. A contactless bank card taps in and out of both.
Taxis and ride-hailing are plentiful and metered. Walking between neighbourhoods is possible with the heat in mind; the river promenade and the bay are the pleasant routes.
Practical facts
The country, its currency and languages, the time zone and the time there now.
- Country
- Singapore
- Currency
- SGD · Singapore Dollar
- Languages
- English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil
- Time zone
- Singapore Standard Time
- Local time now
- Calling code
- +65
The atlas
Singapore in figures
The figures under this guide: the climate on modelled 2001–2020 averages, how far it is from the UAE, and the places around it.
Climate
The weather in Singapore, month by month
- Jan28°
- Feb29°
- Mar30°
- Apr30°
- May30°
- Jun30°
- Jul29°
- Aug29°
- Sept29°
- Oct29°
- Nov29°
- Dec28°
- Mild to warm and dry
- Mild to warm, humid or showery
- Hot
- Cool
- Wet
- Cold
Good for going, on these averages: February.
Mean highs run from 28°C in January to 30°C in April, with about 2,368 mm of rain in a year.
These are modelled averages for 2001–2020; the seasons described above are our own reading of a typical year.
Month-by-month climate for SingaporeModelled averages for an area about 50 km across, not a weather station's record: NASA POWER climatology, 2001–2020.
Airports
How far it is from the UAE
From DXBSingapore
5,830 km
7 hrs 35 mins · Estimate
From AUHSingapore
5,870 km
7 hrs 40 mins · Estimate
The great-circle distance, and a rough flying time: the distance at an average 850 km/h plus 45 minutes for take-off and landing. Real flights follow airways, meet headwinds and wait for traffic, so schedules differ.
On the map
Places near Singapore
From the journal
Related reading
Plan this trip: Singapore
Open the trip builder with Singapore already filled in. Flights, stays and everything else are priced together in one quote, prepared by a person on our team.
