Singapore in 1 Day
How to see the best of Singapore in less than 24 hours? That was the question facing us, as the first part of my group tour was coming to an end. I booked one long trip, lasting 4 weeks, but it’s composed of two shorter ones. The group and leader would be changing for the second half. This also meant I couldn’t book any extra time in Singapore, as I had to fly on to Indonesia immediately. We left Melaka in the morning and took the public bus down to Singapore. Of course, this meant crossing the border, disembarking the bus twice to exit through Malaysian immigration and enter through Singapore’s. We arrived at the hotel in the middle of the afternoon, and my next flight was first thing in the morning. Time to see the best of Singapore in just 1 day!
Downtown Singapore
Our tour leader took us for lunch first, at a local food court not far from the hotel, which in turn was near Little India. Just from seeing this area, and the bus and taxi rides through the city, it was clear that Singapore is a vast, modern, international city. Not unlike Hong Kong in some ways, but even more modern, since it’s only 50 years old as a country. We didn’t linger long for lunch, though, as we were all eager to see as much of the city as possible in the time we had!
We caught the MRT (though I kept incorrectly calling it the MTR, the same as in HK) to Raffles Place. Named for Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who founded Singapore and owned much of the land in this area. There was a statue of him there, discussing trade with Chinese merchants. We walked along the river, where we could just make out a clock tower and the park where the Victoria Monument is. One of the most famous buildings along here is the Fullerton Hotel, a 5-star hotel where important guests in Singapore stay. It looked very impressive, with its colonial style architecture, and the other side of it has views looking on to the bay.
Marina Bay
We continued towards the bay ourselves, passing the hotel and crossing the road, eventually arriving at Merlion Square. The merlion is part lion, part mermaid, and the national animal of Singapore. This makes me feel much better about Scotland’s national animal, a fellow mythical creature, the unicorn! At least we don’t have gigantic fountains of it around our cities. Although I must admit, the huge merlion statue spouting water into the bay isn’t a sight you’ll forget easily!
This was also a great spot for views all around of the Singapore skyline. The Fullerton and various tall banking buildings were beside us. The Esplanade, including the ‘durian fruit’ stadiums. And directly opposite, the Marina Bay Sands, a vast hotel of three towers topped with a boat-like deck, which has an infinity pool overlooking the bay. We neither had the time nor the funds to visit that one – apparently, there’s one price for only the observation deck, another for access to all the facilities up there. But it’s definitely an impressive and memorable structure even just to view from below!
We walked around the bay, starting from Merlion Square, passing the Esplanade, and crossing the Helix bridge. It was a fun one to walk across, with its metal strands twisting over us. We noticed there were circles on the ground with the letters t, a, c, and g, which are the nucleobases that make up DNA strands (hence the double helix). Fittingly, the bridge also led towards the flower-shaped art & science museum next to the Marina Bay Sands shopping centre, the lower building in front of the hotel. Neither was our destination, though!
Gardens by the Bay
Instead, we headed behind the hotel to where the Gardens by the Bay lay in wait. This was my top priority for Singapore, as I’ve been dying to see the Supertrees in person for years! There are three groves, and we passed the Silver trees as we entered the gardens, getting our first glimpse of these massive, iconic structures. I assume the plants growing up their trunks will eventually cover their branches too, but for now, these are bare, standing out against the sky. I still think it looks pretty cool! We could see the tops of the main Supertree Grove over the tops of other trees, but first we headed to the two conservatories, which require entrance tickets.
Flower Dome
We visited the Flower Dome first, home to various tropical and temperate plants. It has gardens themed around various climate zones, including Australia, Africa, South America, and the Mediterranean. We browsed in here for over an hour, stopping to take photos of the prettiest blooms and most unusual plants, especially the cacti and baobab trees. We were also fascinated by the wood carvings, gnarled and twisted pieces made to look like different animals. The most impressive was the dragon, surveying the dome from up high!
There was also an autumn harvest-themed display happening in the basin of the dome, which clearly changes seasonally. There was a huge vegetable man in the middle, surrounded by hundreds of pumpkins and seasonal flowers, in hues of orange and yellow. Some of the pumpkins served as scarecrow heads, and others were even carved into jack-o-lanterns. I preferred the flowers and other garden areas in comparison, as this seemed a bit more artificial. But I guess having changing displays like this is good for regular visitors, like those with annual passes.
Cloud Forest
The second conservatory is the Cloud Forest, and we conveniently managed to arrive just as it was being misted! The flowers in here are from cooler, wetter climates in tropical mountains, such as from South East Asia, and South and Central America. I was certainly reminded of my time in the actual cloud forest in Costa Rica. When you first walk into this dome, the initial view is staggering; a 42m high mountain stands before you, decked in greenery and flowers. Windows look out from its different levels, and waterfalls cascade down in front of the whole thing.
Walking around it allowed us to get a closer look at the array of plants growing from the sides, which definitely included some more unusual blooms. We had to queue for a while to take the elevator to the top of the mountain. But the line was even longer later on as we were leaving, so our wait time wasn’t too bad in comparison! We whizzed to the top, where we were met by the Lost World, which included a display of carnivorous plants – entirely constructed from Lego bricks! This level also gave us an impressive view of the Marina Bay Sands, as the sun was setting behind it.
Wandering along the cloud walks – not going to lie, my fear of heights was sorely tested here! – had us suspended near the roof of the dome, and up close to the mountain walls. There were some other displays on the different levels too, like the crystal cave, full of rock formations and sparkling geodes. At the base of the mountain, there is also the Secret Garden, hidden from view on the ground level.
Supertree Grove
We exited the conservatories, with a brief stop in the gift shop, and headed for the Supertree Grove as it started to get dark. This grove is home to more than a dozen trees, the tallest of which has a restaurant on top, and two of the others are linked by the Skywalk. While the other, smaller groves are Gold and Silver, these are mainly purple in colour, from the flowers blooming up their trunks. The Supertrees are more than just interesting to look at, though. They also function like real trees and help the whole Gardens, by harnessing solar energy to light themselves, collecting rainwater for irrigation, and acting as vents for the conservatory cooling systems.
We sat and waited for it to get darker, watching the trees start to light up, ahead of their light show ‘Garden Rhapsody’. This was a 15-minute sound and light display, set to musical theatre tunes, as the trees glowed in different colours, and their branches twinkled with fairy lights in time to the music. It was a very fun display, and certainly made the trees look even more spectacular than they already did!
Spectra
We then legged it over to Marina Bay Sands again as soon as it finished, crossing the bridge and passing through the hotel, to reach the roof of the shopping centre. Another light show, Spectra, takes place in the bay. However, since it starts almost immediately after the Supertrees finish, we missed the start. It was a little hard to watch from the roof, too, as wooden beams cut across it. We saw enough to get the general idea, and didn’t feel the need to stay for another hour for the next showing. It involves lights, music, and fountains on the water, glowing in different colours, and projecting images onto the sprays of water sometimes. It was interesting, but I still think the Supertrees were more impressive!
River Cruise
It was after 8pm, so we were more than ready for dinner by this point. Earlier, our tour leader had pointed out a street of restaurants and bars along the riverside near Raffles Place. Rather than walk all the way back around the bay, we went in search of a boat instead. There are cruises up and down the river, but we only bought a short cruise ticket, as we wanted to get off at the jetty near the restaurants. Although our journey was shorter, it was still a great way to take in Singapore at night, with all those structures we saw by daylight lit up at night. The Helix Bridge was bright red, it turned out!
The boat had some commentary about the city, too, and if I ever return to Singapore, I’d quite like to do the whole circuit. However, we were quite content to disembark at our stop when it came – I think our ride lasted around 20 minutes. We wandered along the riverbank, browsing the available restaurants, which have all sorts of cuisines available, fitting for such an international country. Before settling on one to have dinner and one last drink together, before catching the MRT back to the hotel.
Singapore in 1 Day
My time in Singapore was short but sweet, and I’m pretty pleased with how much we managed to see in just one day! The Supertrees were my main priority, but I’m glad we paid to explore the conservatories too. Since there are so many famous sights situated around the bay, we were able to see a lot of them quickly and easily. There are still plenty of other areas of Singapore to explore, which I would have if I had more time. But I definitely think I ticked off the most iconic locations for this trip! And that brought the first half of my Intrepid to a close. The next morning, I caught my flight to Jakarta, to kick off the second half, in Indonesia. This is also the final country of my summer of travel, where I’ll be spending two and a half weeks in Java and Bali.
Update: Years later, in 2025, I did indeed return to Singapore for a further two days exploring more of the country!
Melaka | Malaysia Part 3
