In this guide
Visiting Singapore for the first time?
The good news is that Singapore is a relatively easy city to figure out.
The less good news is that the internet can make planning it unnecessarily complicated.
You don't need seventeen apps, a military-grade itinerary or a spreadsheet telling you exactly when you're allowed to eat chicken rice.
You need to know where to stay, how to get around, what deserves your time, how many days you need and a few things that are useful to understand before you arrive.
We're Wandoras, a Singapore-based travel company, and this is the guide we'd send to a friend visiting Singapore for the first time.
Singapore at a glance
Ideal first trip: 3 to 5 days
Language: English is widely spoken
Currency: Singapore Dollar (SGD / S$)
Getting around: MRT, buses, taxis/private-hire vehicles and walking
Weather: Hot, humid and tropical throughout the year
Best for: Food, city sightseeing, families, wildlife, shopping, culture and short city breaks
Don't miss: Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore food and at least one experience after dark
How many days do you need in Singapore?
For a first visit, we'd recommend at least three full days.
Three days gives you enough time for the major sights without spending your entire trip moving between attractions.
Four or five days is even better.
With five days, you can explore Singapore at a much more pleasant pace and dedicate proper time to Sentosa, Mandai, heritage neighbourhoods and food.
1 day: Enough for a taste of Singapore, particularly during a stopover. Focus on Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay and one heritage neighbourhood.
2 days: Enough for the essentials, but you'll need to choose carefully.
3 days: A very good first visit. You can cover the main city sights, Sentosa and either Mandai or more local neighbourhoods.
4 to 5 days: Our preferred amount of time. You stop having to choose between everything.
Read our 3-Day Singapore Itinerary
When is the best time to visit Singapore?
Singapore doesn't really have the traditional four-season calendar that many visitors are used to.
Expect tropical weather throughout the year.
That means heat, humidity, sunshine and rain can all be part of the same trip. Sometimes the same afternoon.
Rather than obsessing over finding a mythical month where Singapore becomes cool and dry, we'd plan around your travel dates and build some flexibility into each day.
An umbrella is useful. So is accepting that your hair may have its own itinerary.
What should you pack?
You don't need an expedition kit.
For most visitors: lightweight clothing, comfortable walking shoes, small umbrella, sunscreen, water bottle, portable charger and something light for heavily air-conditioned indoor spaces.
Comfortable shoes matter more than people expect.
Singapore looks compact on a map, which has tricked generations of visitors into accidentally walking enormous distances.
Where should first-time visitors stay?
There's no single 'best' neighbourhood.
For a first trip, we'd prioritise being reasonably central and close to an MRT station.
Marina Bay: Best if you want the iconic Singapore experience and don't mind paying for it.
City Hall: Extremely convenient for sightseeing and getting around. A strong all-round choice.
Bugis: Good transport connections with easy access to Kampong Gelam and other central areas.
Chinatown: Great if you want heritage, food and easy access to central Singapore.
Orchard: Best known for shopping, with plenty of hotels and transport connections.
Sentosa: Consider this if Sentosa itself is a major part of your holiday. For a general first-time Singapore trip, however, staying in the city usually makes exploring the rest of Singapore easier.
Wandoras tip: Don't choose your hotel purely because it's 400 metres closer to one attraction. Being near an MRT station usually matters more across the entire trip.
Getting from Changi Airport to the city
Changi Airport is well connected to central Singapore.
Depending on your arrival time, luggage, group size and budget, you can use public transport, a taxi/private-hire vehicle or arrange an airport transfer.
MRT: Usually the economical option if you're travelling light and aren't arriving at an inconvenient time.
Taxi or private-hire vehicle: Much easier when you have luggage, children or several people travelling together.
Pre-booked airport transfer: Useful if you simply want someone waiting for you and don't want transport logistics to be your first activity in Singapore.
Book Singapore airport transfer
Don't rush out of Changi too quickly
There's a reason people voluntarily arrive early for flights here.
Jewel Changi Airport is connected to the airport complex and is home to the enormous indoor Rain Vortex.
If your flight schedule allows, leave some time to explore Jewel either after arriving or before departing.
But use common sense.
If you've just completed a twelve-hour overnight flight with two exhausted children, perhaps admire the waterfall another day.
How do you get around Singapore?
MRT: For most visitors, the MRT will do a substantial amount of the work. It's useful for moving between major tourist areas and avoids road traffic.
Bus: Singapore's bus network goes far beyond the MRT network and can be useful once you're comfortable navigating the city.
Taxi and private hire: Useful late at night, when travelling with luggage or when the alternative involves several transport changes.
Walking: Some of Singapore's best sightseeing areas are very walkable. Marina Bay, Chinatown and the Singapore River are good examples.
Just remember: Distance isn't the only variable. A twenty-minute walk at 1pm in Singapore can feel rather different from the same walk at 8pm.
Do you need cash?
Cards and contactless payments are widely used in Singapore, but carrying some Singapore dollars is still sensible.
Smaller businesses and some food stalls may have different payment options from large shops, hotels and attractions.
We wouldn't arrive with a wallet stuffed with cash. We also wouldn't arrive with absolutely none.
What should you actually do in Singapore?
For a first trip, think in categories rather than assembling a random list of attractions.
See iconic Singapore: Marina Bay, Merlion Park, Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay.
These places fit together naturally and should form part of almost every first-time itinerary.
Read Best Things to Do in Singapore
Experience Singapore after dark
Don't finish sightseeing at 5pm.
Some of Singapore's best experiences happen after sunset.
Consider Singapore River Cruise, Spectra, Garden Rhapsody, Night Safari, Sentosa and Marina Bay after dark.
If you have limited time, combine geographically connected evening attractions rather than treating each as a separate excursion.
Read Things to Do in Singapore at Night
Explore beyond Marina Bay
Singapore is much more than its futuristic skyline.
Make time for at least one or two heritage neighbourhoods.
Chinatown: Temples, shophouses, food and easy access to central Singapore.
Little India: Colourful streets, temples, food, textiles and a noticeably different atmosphere from Marina Bay.
Kampong Gelam: Malay heritage, Sultan Mosque, restaurants, shops, street art and the streets surrounding Arab Street and Haji Lane.
Don't visit all three just to photograph a landmark and leave. Choose one or two and actually walk around.
Go to a hawker centre
You haven't properly experienced Singapore food by exclusively eating in hotel restaurants.
Visit a hawker centre.
Good starting points include Maxwell Food Centre, Lau Pa Sat and Old Airport Road Food Centre.
Don't worry if you don't know exactly what to order.
Walk around first. Look at what's being cooked. See where people are eating. Then commit.
Food indecision is one of Singapore's more enjoyable problems.
What food should you try?
You could construct an entire holiday around this question.
Some good places to begin: chicken rice, laksa, satay, roti prata, nasi lemak, char kway teow, kaya toast and chilli crab.
You don't need to eat everything from one viral list.
And don't spend 90 minutes queueing for something purely because social media told you that every other stall is unacceptable.
Singapore contains quite a lot of competent cooking.
Gardens by the Bay: don't just see the Supertrees
This deserves repeating because it's an extremely common first-time mistake.
Gardens by the Bay isn't simply Supertree Grove.
There's also Cloud Forest, Flower Dome and extensive outdoor gardens.
If you want to visit the conservatories, give yourself enough time.
Then stay until after sunset for Garden Rhapsody.
The regular evening performances are currently scheduled for 7:45pm and 8:45pm.
Should you visit Sentosa?
If you have three or more days, probably.
But what you do there depends entirely on your interests.
Sentosa includes Universal Studios Singapore, Singapore Cable Car, beaches, resorts, restaurants, family attractions and evening entertainment.
Don't attempt to experience the entire island in four hours.
If Universal Studios is important to you, give it most of the day.
Should you visit Night Safari?
If you like wildlife, we'd strongly consider it.
Night Safari at Mandai is a dedicated nocturnal wildlife experience involving both a tram and walking trails.
Allow enough time to experience both.
The other important consideration is location.
Mandai is away from central Singapore, so account for transport time rather than scheduling Night Safari immediately after something on the opposite side of the city.
Visiting Singapore with children
Singapore is particularly manageable for family travel.
Our favourites for families include Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Sentosa, Universal Studios Singapore, Cable Car and Singapore River Cruise.
But don't turn every day into an attraction marathon.
Singapore's weather and the amount of walking involved can tire children faster than expected.
Schedule breaks. Hotel swimming pools were invented for a reason.
Is Singapore expensive?
It can be.
Hotels and major attractions can add up quickly.
But Singapore also gives you plenty of opportunities to balance your spending.
You can have an inexpensive hawker meal followed by a free multimillion-dollar skyline.
Some excellent free experiences include Marina Bay waterfront, Merlion Park, Spectra, Garden Rhapsody, Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Gelam.
Spend money on the experiences that matter to you. Not every hour of your holiday needs a barcode.
Common first-time mistakes
Trying to do too much: Singapore is small geographically. That does not mean you can experience the entire country between breakfast and dinner.
Ignoring the weather: Build indoor breaks into long sightseeing days.
Only seeing Marina Bay: It's spectacular. It's also not the entire country.
Treating Sentosa as a two-hour attraction: If you're going, give it time.
Taking the Night Safari tram and immediately leaving: Explore the walking trails too.
Eating exclusively in restaurants: Visit a hawker centre.
Planning every minute: Leave some room to change your mind. Your holiday is allowed to improvise.
Is Singapore safe?
Singapore is generally regarded as a very safe destination for travellers, but normal travel precautions still apply.
Look after your belongings, use legitimate transport services and pay attention to your surroundings.
'Safe destination' shouldn't translate into leaving your phone unattended because you've temporarily retired from common sense.
Singapore laws tourists should know about
Singapore has a reputation for strict laws, and the internet occasionally turns this into a collection of increasingly bizarre myths.
You don't need to be frightened of visiting.
You do need to behave as you would expect a visitor to behave.
Pay attention to signs, don't litter, don't smoke where smoking is prohibited and follow local rules around public transport and public spaces.
For anything involving customs, medication, vaping, prohibited goods or immigration requirements, check the relevant Singapore government guidance before travelling rather than relying on something you saw in a 2019 travel blog.
Do you need a visa for Singapore?
This depends on your nationality and circumstances.
Don't rely on a generic travel article for immigration advice.
Check Singapore's official immigration information for your passport and travel dates before departure.
The same applies to entry requirements and arrival procedures. These things can change.
A simple first-time Singapore itinerary
Day 1: Chinatown -> Marina Bay -> Merlion -> Singapore River Cruise -> Spectra -> Gardens by the Bay.
Day 2: Cable Car -> Sentosa -> Universal Studios or other Sentosa attractions.
Day 3: Kampong Gelam -> Little India -> afternoon break -> Night Safari.
That's already a very good first visit.
See our complete 3-Day Singapore Itinerary
What we'd book before arriving
You don't necessarily need every minute pre-booked.
But we'd consider reserving the experiences that are important to you, particularly when availability or specific time slots matter.
That might include Universal Studios Singapore, Gardens by the Bay conservatories, Night Safari, Singapore River Cruise, airport transfers and guided tours.
Then leave enough flexibility around those anchors to explore.
Plan your Singapore trip with Wandoras
This is ultimately what we're building Wandoras around.
Travel planning shouldn't require opening fifteen websites just to answer: What should I do? Will these attractions fit together? How much will everything cost? How do I get there? Can I book all of this?
With Wandoras Build My Trip, the idea is simple.
Tell us where you're going, how many days you have, who's travelling, your approximate budget and what you're interested in.
Then build an itinerary around you.
Add experiences. Remove things you don't care about. Change your days. Add attraction tickets. Add transport. Eventually, add accommodation. Then turn the itinerary into something you can actually book.
Welcome to Singapore
For your first visit, don't worry about seeing everything.
See Marina Bay after dark. Eat something you've never tried before. Explore at least one neighbourhood beyond the major attractions. Give Gardens by the Bay enough time.
And don't schedule so much that Singapore becomes a checklist you're trying to defeat.
Three to five days here can give you a remarkably varied trip.
You'll probably leave with another list of things you didn't get around to doing.
That's not a failed itinerary. That's your second visit.
Continue planning your Singapore trip
Best Things to Do in Singapore
Things to Do in Singapore at Night
Opening hours, show schedules, prices, transport arrangements and entry requirements can change. Check current official information for your travel dates before making final plans.
