Singapore

Most Westerners get 90 days visa-free, but the SG Arrival Card is mandatory — including for visa-free travellers — and must be submitted within three days before arrival through the official ICA e-Service or MyICA app. It’s free, it carries a health declaration, and you can be denied entry without it; ICA explicitly warns against commercial sites that charge for it. Changi’s passport-free biometric clearance is fully rolled out, but a first-time visitor still presents a passport on arrival — the convenience is mainly for departure and residents.

Singapore is about 730 km², crossable by MRT in under an hour, and its headline sights — Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay, Sentosa, a hawker centre, one neighbourhood — fit comfortably into two or three days. That isn’t a knock; it’s the shape of the place. It works best as a frictionless stopover or a bookend to a longer regional trip through Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand. “Not much to do beyond two or three days” is the single most common visitor sentiment, and it points at the same conclusion.

Plan the budget around that split: eat at hawker centres — Maxwell, Lau Pa Sat, Chinatown Complex, Old Airport Road — and the food bill stays small; it’s the drinks, hotels and taxis that make Singapore expensive. Tap water is safe and there’s no tipping (a 10% service charge is usually already on the bill).

The MRT is world-class, cheap and covers the tourist map, with fares from about S$1.28; you don’t need a car. The easy way to ride is to tap any contactless bank card or phone wallet straight at the gate — same fare as a stored-value card, nothing to buy — but tap the same card in and out, since using two different cards double-charges you. Changi is on the MRT (about S$2 to the centre), and Grab and taxis fill the gaps. Changi itself is an attraction — Jewel and its 40-metre indoor waterfall sit landside, no ticket needed, worth arriving early for or breaking a layover.

Gardens by the Bay is the signature: the two cooled Conservatories are around S$46 for a non-resident adult, while the outdoor gardens and the nightly Supertree light show are free. Marina Bay Sands carries the city’s biggest gotcha — its SkyPark observation deck (around S$32–36) is open to all, but the rooftop infinity pool is hotel-guests-only; a ticket does not get you in, only a room does. Sentosa is the resort island — Universal Studios (around S$83–89), the cable car, aquarium and casino — and the Night Safari at the Mandai zoo cluster is the standout of the rest. Orchard Road is the shopping belt, and the hawker centres are a headline experience in their own right.

Vaping is the one that catches people. E-cigarettes and pods are banned outright — possession itself is illegal, with no tourist or transit exemption and no carve-out for checked luggage — and from 1 May 2026 the penalty rose to fines up to S$10,000, with deportation and entry bans for foreigners. Do not bring a vape, even connecting through Changi. The rest is milder: chewing gum can’t be bought or imported for sale (chewing it isn’t itself prosecuted), and eating or drinking on the MRT, littering and jaywalking all carry fines. And the warning printed on arrival materials is literal — drug trafficking carries the death penalty.

The upside of all this is the everyday experience: English is universal, tap water is safe, the transport is spotless and Singapore has among the lowest crime rates in the world. The strictness that reads as intimidating on paper is what makes it the easiest, safest city in the region to travel.