Visiting Singapore For the First Time? Here’s What To See and Do

Taking to the water is always a good way to get oriented in a new city—plus, it’s relaxing, which is ideal if you’ve just stepped off a long flight. In Singapore, the Singapore River feeds into Marina Bay, the city’s main waterfront area that's home to many big-name attractions, including Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, and the Singapore Flyer.

You can hop on a cruise in various places, including Boat Quay, near the river mouth, and Clarke Quay, a bit farther up the river. Cruises are available to suit various interests, timings, and budgets: expect to be able to pick from dinner cruises, yacht cruises, history cruises, night cruises, and more.

If there’s any kind of central point for sightseeing in Singapore, it’s Marina Bay, and you can easily spend a day (or more) just focusing on the sights and attractions around this waterfront area. To start, take a walk along the Waterfront Promenade from one end of the bay to the other (or join a cycling tour) to get an overview.

Depending on which MRT (subway) stop you use to access Marina Bay, you can even do a counter-clockwise loop of the bay starting at Gardens by the Bay or Marina Bay Sands and passing the lotus-shaped ArtScience Museum, the pedestrian Helix Bridge, the Singapore Flyer Ferris wheel, the durian-like Esplanade–Theatres on the Bay, and Merlion Park. (The Merlion is Singapore’s national mascot, and the 28-foot (8.5-meter) half-fish, half-lion statue is a Singapore must-see.)

Insider tip: If Singapore’s daytime heat is getting you down, take a stroll around Marina Bay after dark. The sun sets early in Singapore (about 7pm), and it’s a very safe city to explore at night, so evening is a great time to admire the city lights.

Modern Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, proposed turning Singapore into a “Garden City” back in the 1960s, and his vision has borne fruit (and flowers) in the decades since. Although Singapore has more than its fair share of steel, concrete, and glass skyscrapers, it’s also abundantly green. However, Lee probably couldn’t have envisioned the futuristic Gardens by the Bay, which opened in 2012.

The 260-acre (105-hectare) park contains enormous domed conservatories—the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome—as well as a whimsical Supertree Grove containing 18 artificial Supertrees, with a walkway between them. While there are admission fees for the conservatories and Supertrees, many areas of the gardens are free to visit.

Insider tip: Traveling with kids? Head to the Far East Organization Children’s Garden, in the northeastern part of the gardens. Here, you’ll find outdoor fountains and water play areas where children can cool off.

Visiting Singapore’s diverse neighborhoods is a great way to experience the city’s varied cultures and their respective cuisines. Singapore’s Little India offers some of the best South Indian cuisine outside of India; basically, if you like a good banana-leaf curry, make a beeline for this part of the city.

The Little India MRT station is right beside the Tekka Centre, an old-school hawker center with Indian clothing stalls on the upper floors and food stands below. Even if you’re not up for a hearty spiced curry, this is the place to buy fresh coconuts. Once there, wander down Serangoon Road for more Indian eateries, and stop to admire the colorful multi-tiered Sri Veeramakaliamman Hindu temple along the way.

Insider tip: Handily, many Singapore food tours cover the area.

Another must-visit cultural enclave in Singapore is Chinatown, a lively area of markets, traditional colored houses and shopfronts, and top dining and drinking. It’s also one of the best places to shop for souvenirs—you can find all kinds of affordable clothing, home goods, and other typically Singaporean trinkets here.

While you’re in the neighborhood, make sure to also check out the huge Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, a traditional yet modern Buddhist temple that opened in 2007, and, somewhat surprisingly, the colorful South Indian Hindu Sri Mariamman Temple.

Insider tip: Here, walking tours are a good way to get around, as you won’t have to worry about navigating the busy streets alone.

While you’re most likely to see (and hear) a variety of Singaporean birds within the city—and perhaps the odd monkey and monitor lizard in the parks—head to Singapore Zoo to glimpse a larger range of wildlife. It’s consistently ranked among the best zoos in Asia, and even in the world, so you shouldn’t have any animal-welfare concerns here.

It actually mimics a rainforest environment—which isn’t hard in tropical Singapore—to provide natural-like habitats for animals such as Malayan and white tigers, chimpanzees, rhinos, and orangutans. And the zoo’s special Breakfast with the Orangutans and Night Safari experiences are definitely worth getting up early (or staying up late) to take part in.

Singapore’s national flower is the orchid—the pink-and-orange Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid, to be precise—and lovers of the exotic tropical flower (who isn’t?) won’t want to miss the Singapore Botanical Garden and National Orchid Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Here, the 200-acre (80-hectare) green space is a lovely place to walk and admire the thousands of orchid species and hybrids, as well as other tropical plants and flowers. It's mostly outdoors, and the gardens aren’t too far from the Museum of Ice Cream Singapore, so you can easily combine both in one day.

Insider tip: True orchid enthusiasts should check out Scentopia on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, where you can craft your own custom-made perfumes using Singaporean orchid oils.

Singapore might be small, but it’s packed with fascinating history and culture, and has been at the crossroads of international trade and security for centuries. So, whatever your interests, there’s almost certainly a museum or gallery to keep you occupied for a few hours. (Plus, there'll probably come a point where you might want to retreat into some air-conditioned comfort, anyway.)

Learn about Singapore’s diverse cultures at the Peranakan Museum, Malay Heritage Centre, or Indian Heritage Centre. Admire beautiful art and artifacts at the National Museum of Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, or Singapore Art Museum (SAM). And if you’re traveling with kids, perhaps head to the MINT Museum of Toys or ArtScience Museum. You really are spoiled for choice.

Singapore is itself an island, but off its southern tip is Sentosa—an island that’s long been associated with resorts, theme parks, and semi-artificial beaches. You can get there by road or monorail, but by far the most scenic way is by cable car.

The Singapore Cable Car has two lines that connect Mt. Faber on the mainland with various places on Sentosa; one of the lines operates only on Sentosa itself. It’s not the cheapest way to get to Sentosa, so budget-conscious travelers might want to weigh up their options, but the views across the city and the Singapore Strait make it a worthwhile trip.

However you make the trip to Sentosa Island, once you’re there you can take your pick from several amusement parks to suit your interests. It’s an ideal destination for families and the young at heart. Resorts World Sentosa is a casino and amusement park complex with several top attractions, including the Singapore branch of Universal Studios™ and the fantastically fun Adventure Cove Waterpark, a perfect destination for cooling off from Singapore’s heat.

Other Sentosa amusement parks include Sentosa 4D AdventureLand, which screens 4D movies; KidZania, where children can role-play many professions; Mega Adventure, featuring obstacle courses and bungy trampolines; and Wave House Sentosa, where you can ride artificial waves.