Nine Women - Two-Night Stopover in Singapore on the Way to Vietnam ... Hotel? 1/2 Day Tour?

The Holiday Inn Express Orchard is basic/budget, but fine. Location is good if you want midrange shopping, not quite as convenient for the traditional neighbourhoods (Chinatown, Kampomg Glam and Little India), heritage, history etc. But the MRT network makes it easy and cheap to get around. And $300 a night is a good rate - I would say mid range is more like $400 a night. If you want something cheaper (about half the price) take a look at the Furama City Centre in Chinatown- a much better location, old and tired but still decent. Or the Wyndham - also old but recently renovated, and well sited near Ciry Hall MRT.

You definitely don't need a guided tour (and because all tour guides need to be licensed, this would be expensive). The vast majority of English speaking tourists just find their own way around.

If you can share your interests, I can make recommendations. Shopping? History? Temples? Mosques? Culture?

Getting around - use your contactless credit card for MRT and buses, download Grab for rideshare (no Uber here). Use an ATM to withdraw a little bit of cash or bring USD and change here - vast majority of hawkers centres only accept cash or local electronic payment. Taxis charge a 10% surcharge for card.

I have been in Singapore twice and there’s so much to see and do there! I loved it. My son spent two weeks there and never ran out of activities.

I want to second the warning about the hot/humid weather. It can be very draining. Use the air conditioned subway system (very easy and inexpensive) to get around. The stations can be huge, so study the maps to find the exit nearest to your destination. This will reduce the amount of time you’re walking in the heat. Another way to handle the heat is to plan your activities for the morning and evening (Singapore really comes alive then), and stay cool in the afternoon at your hotel or an air conditioned venue like a museum or shopping mall. By the way, the shopping malls are amazing and have terrific food courts with everything imaginable to eat.

On my last visit, I stayed at the Mondrian Singapore Duxton hotel, located not far from Chinatown and close to a subway station that will get you anywhere you want to go. It was very nice and the staff were friendly, but I don’t know if it’s in your price range. It’s part of the Accor hotel group. Join their loyalty program for a discount. Here’s their website:

https://all.accor.com/hotel/B7F8/index.en.shtml?utm_campaign=seo+maps&utm_medium=seo+maps&utm_source=bing+maps

Singapore is easy to navigate on your own (get a good guidebook). Your time is very limited so you’ll want to narrow down exactly what most interests you. Gardens on the Bay is quite a unique botanical garden and especially fun in the evening when they do a music and light show in its Supertree Grove. There are many wonderful museums. I especially liked the National Museum of Singapore (history) and the Asian Civilizations Museum (art).

For organized tours, I used a company called Monster Day Tours twice during my last stay: a walking tour of Little India and a food tour in the evening. These were small group tours with other travelers (an interesting bunch!) They also do private tours. Here’s the website:
https://www.monsterdaytours.com/

Have a wonderful trip!

We were in Singapore earlier this year and stayed at Oasia Downtown (five nights). Very nice, and conveniently located across the road from an MTR stop.

As previous posters said, you don't need a tour. You can easily get around everywhere, and communicate.

That said, we did do a food tour "Ten Tastings" (With Locals), and a walking tour called "of guns, graves and battles: a tour of Fort Canning Hill". Both were excellent.

The best value food is in the Hawker Centers. $11 for two, vs $100 at Clarke's Quay.

Hi everyone and thanks so much for your helpful tips.

I'll check out the hotels you all recommended.

We'll essentially have two and a half days. We arrive at 6am on February 20th (after taking "the longest flight in the world," almost 18 hours from JFK). When I go to Europe, I hit the ground running, but I'm not sure how we'll all feel after that long flight. That said, I doubt anyone will want to book the hotel for the night before in order to get into our hotel rooms early. Our outbound flight departs for Hanoi on the 22nd at 3pm

Great advice about the heat: only two of us are from Florida. I dislike the heat, and will advise everyone of "little tricks" like a neck wrap and portable fan. Visiting a museum one afternoon (recommendation?) and an air conditioned shopping mall on the second afternoon is good advice. We have a couple of serious shoppers in the group and the rest of us enjoy tagging along.

Gardens by the Bay is a must. (Is the evening preferred?)

Most of us were in Morocco together and visited mosques and we'll visit temples in Vietnam, so I don't think we need to do that

Everyone enjoys good food, so perhaps a walking food tour? Also an evening river tour looks interesting.

Everyone is interested in history and culture. I'll have to see what everyone thinks about the zoo and the botanical gardens.

Is it worth splurging on a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel?

Again, much appreciated.

Back then it was over $30 USD, but I still remember the experience! That's the one and only time I've been in the Raffles Bar. It was crowded with tourists - but kind of fun. I wonder what the going price is now!

ORDtraveler, you aroused my curiosity so I had to look it up. And it appears to be the same price—$30. :-)

A friend has recommended two hotels in Singapore. The One Farrer Hotel and Hilton Singapore Orchard. Anyone have experience with or recommendations regarding these two hotels?

Haw Par Villa, yes excellent suggestion (albeit a bit out of the way). Used to take the kids there when they were small, but actually more suitable for adults. It calls itself "Hell's Museum" but really more of a funny theme park on Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

ORDtraveler's given lots of great details on what to do - can't really think of much to add for a short trip, but for anyone planning a longer visit, enjoy the great outdoors kayaking on McRitchie Reservoir or hiring a bike and exploring Pulau Ubin (take a bumboat over, and watch out for the monkeys).

If I had a very limited time I'd prioritise the ethnic areas - also great for food. In terms of hawker centres, Singaporeans tend to have preferred stalls, rather than preferred centres, but in general terms the central downtown ones are really popular with tourists - Newton, Maxwell and Lau Pa Sat. I find Lau Pa Sat to be lacking in authenticity, although the evening satay street stalls are fun. Newtown also gets LOTS of tourists, but has some great food as well. Maxwell is perhaps a little less touristy. If you want to experience a neighbourhood (aka 'heartland') hawker centre, you need to get out of the centre a bit, which may be difficult on a short trip. If you're in Little India, there's Tekka Centre, which is central.

Simpgolf, between One Farrer and Hilton Singapore Orchard - both good hotels, location is the main difference. Orchard is lots of mid range malls, shopping etc. Not great for local food, quite upmarket. One Farrer is in Farrer Park (Little India) which is a more local residential neighbourhood with great food, much less shopping (although you have City Square Mall, my local mall). Maybe slightly less central but still OK. It does get VERY busy on Sundays when workers have their day off.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your thoughts. Much appreciated and we now have a pretty good idea of what we want to do during our short stay

We're booked at the Holiday Inn Express Serangoon in Little India. It gets good reviews, includes breakfast and is reasonably priced.

Again, many thanks

Hi there, lived in Singapore for 12 years, you've already gotten some great advice. Just let me chime in with a few details - Are you in Singapore on a Sunday? If so, I wouldn't stay in Little India, it's JAMMED with day laborers on their off day. I loved it, but took some friends and it made them SO nervous. Very crowded, everyone lovely and polite, just jammed. Otherwise, Little India is a fun excursion.

As for the Botanic Gardens, it might be my fav spot in Singapore. If you arrive at 6AM, you could drop off your bags and have an early look around, before the inevitable heat sets in! Have breakfast in the cafe, it's great. Don't miss the ginger garden, delightful.

I don't recall the apps, i haven't been back in 5 yeras, but look at Uber and whatever else is available and put them on your phone, very useful when you can't get a taxi, which if not near a subway line, is THE way to go, and fairly cheap.

If the taxi drivers start blathering about how fabulous Singapore is, or about politics, just ask them 'Where's the best place to eat chicken rice?" They all LOVE to talk about food!!

Spend some time learning about the food, it's amazing!!!

Timely post! Turns out that I will have 3 days in Singapore in early December (on my way to Indonesia). I have just started to research what to do there.