Small island, big days out.
Hawker-centre breakfasts, Supertrees after dark, a bumboat down the river and the cable car across to Sentosa. What each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book.
Seven you’ll actually remember.
First trip or fifth, these carry the itinerary. The Supertrees lighting up at 7.45, a hawker crawl through Maxwell and Chinatown Complex, the bumboat gliding past the Merlion after the sun drops.
Lion City Bike Tour of Singapore
Small-group 4-hour bike tour of Singapore with local guide, poncho and snacks. Ride Marina Bay, Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam.
From $68 per person
Read the review →
★ 4.5Safe betBig Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour by Open-Top BusFrom $513,261 reviews
★ 4.9Books out fastLion City Highlights Bike TourFrom $672,010 reviews
★ 5.0Crowd favouriteExperience Singapore: Cultural Cooking ClassFrom $961,514 reviews
★ 5.0Worth the queueHistorical Singapore Bike Tour on Full-Sized BicyclesFrom $641,421 reviews
★ 4.0Easy winSingapore Morning City TourFrom $391,400 reviews
★ 4.0Traveller favouriteNight Safari Tour with TransferFrom $1011,260 reviews
Sentosa is a day of its own.
Ride the cable car out over the water, luge the hillside, grab a beach hour and stay for Wings of Time once it’s dark. The island packs a whole day between the mainland and the sea. These are the ones worth the ticket.
How do you want to eat?
The island runs on its food, and the right tour depends on your appetite. Three ways to do it: follow a guide stall to stall, graze across the old quarters, or roll up your sleeves at a wet market. Pick the one that sounds like lunch.
Stall to stall
The hawker crawl
from $79 · 1,890 reviews
A guide walks you through Maxwell, Chinatown Complex or Old Airport Road, ordering the stalls with the longest queues and the oldest recipes. Chicken rice, char kway teow, chilli crab, carrot cake. You eat until you tap out, then find room for one more.
See the hawker tours →
Three cultures
The quarters graze
from $80 · 224 reviews
Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam in one loop, tasting your way across all three. Kaya toast and kopi, a banana-leaf thali, a mutton murtabak straight off the griddle. The story of the island told through what its neighbourhoods cook.
See the tasting tours →
Hands on
The wet-market class
from $96 · 1,514 reviews
Start at a wet market picking lemongrass and laksa leaf, then cook the dishes yourself in a proper kitchen. Laksa, sambal, kaya from scratch. Come home able to make the meal, not just remember it. Small groups, plenty of eating at the end.
See the cooking classes →
The bay lights up at 7.45.
Spectra throws water and light across Marina Bay, the Supertrees hum through Garden Rhapsody, and a bumboat slides past all of it toward Clarke Quay. Catch one show, or string the whole night together with someone who knows the timings.
See it from the river.
The whole story of Singapore sits along the Singapore River. A bumboat past the Merlion and the old godowns, a harbour cruise at sunset, dinner under sail on the Royal Albatross. The skyline looks best from the water.
The island by bike.
Singapore is flat, green and easier on two wheels than you would think. A Lion City loop past the civic district, the East Coast park path, Marina Bay lit up on a night ride. Cover more ground and still stop for kopi.
Singapore keeps its heritage close.
Peranakan tiles down a Katong terrace, incense curling through a Chinatown temple, the spice shops of Little India and the textile lanes of Kampong Glam. The island rebuilt itself in a generation, but the good guides still know which doors to open.
Pick a quarter, spend a day.
The island works in pockets, and each is an afternoon. Marina Bay for the skyline. Chinatown for the temples and the hawker heat. Katong for Peranakan pastel. Little India for the garlands and the biryani.
Know what you’re after?
Twelve ways into the same island. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of day, and every option behind it has already been read and rated by the travellers who went.
Escapes, near and across the water.
Singapore is small, but the causeway and the ferry pier open up more. Malacca’s old streets, a day in Batam, Pulau Ubin’s last kampong, the mangroves out east. Three countries are within a day trip, and you are home by dinner.
Three days on the island.
You can’t see all of Singapore in one trip, but three days covers the island properly. This is the run we’d hand a friend landing at Changi tomorrow.
Day 1
Ease in at Marina Bay
The Gardens by the Bay domes, the Supertrees at dusk, a slow bumboat down the river once the Spectra show starts. Jet lag, meet skyline.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The quarters and the food
Chinatown temples at opening, a hawker lunch you’ll still talk about, Little India and Kampong Glam by afternoon, drinks along Boat Quay after dark.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Out to Sentosa
The cable car across the harbour, the luge, a beach hour, then Wings of Time to close it out. Or swap in the ferry to Pulau Ubin if you want the quiet island instead.
Plan day three →
The newest reviews.
★ 5.0From Singapore : Private Batam Island Snorkeling and CanoeFrom $3764 reviews
★ 5.0Private Tour Singapore Street Food & Night TourFrom $674 reviews
★ 4.8Private Nighttime Sightseeing with River CruiseFrom $1934 reviews
★ 4.5Singapore City Hotel to Marina Bay Cruise Terminal /SCC TransferFrom $304 reviews
★ 5.0Best Ever Street Foods with Local Foodie – PRIVATE TOURFrom $954 reviews
★ 3.5Singapore Sentosa Cable Car Return Ticket: 1 Flex Entry in 7 DaysFrom $294 reviews
★ 3.0Singapore Gardens by the Bay Admission Skip-The-Line E-TicketFrom $174 reviews
★ 5.0Nostalgic Chinatown of SingaporeFrom $524 reviews