Singapore

Most Westerners get up to 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 biometric “token-less” clearance has been live airport-wide since 2024, but a first-time visitor still presents a passport on arrival — the speed is mainly at departure and for residents.

The SG Arrival Card is free and mandatory — including for visa-free travellers — and must be filed within three days before arrival via the official ICA e-Service or MyICA app. Ignore the copycat sites that charge a “service fee” to submit a free government form; use ica.gov.sg, and you’ll have the digital pass before you land.

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 or two neighbourhoods — 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.

The MRT is world-class, cheap and covers the tourist map; you don’t need a car (the government’s COE licence to own one topped S$130,000 in 2026, before the 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$2–3 and 35–45 minutes to the centre), and Grab and taxis fill the gaps. Changi itself is an attraction — the world’s best-rated airport, with Jewel and its 40-metre indoor waterfall landside, no ticket needed, worth arriving early for or breaking a layover.

Plan the budget around that split: eat at hawker centres and the food bill stays small; it’s the drinks, hotels and taxis that make Singapore expensive. Prices include 9% GST, and a restaurant “++” means a further 10% service charge on top — so “S$25++” is really about S$30. Tourists can reclaim the GST on purchases over S$100 via the eTRS kiosks at Changi (goods only, carried out within two months). Tap water is safe and there’s no tipping.

Watch the hidden add-ons on a Singapore bill: prices include 9% GST, and a restaurant “++” means a further 10% service charge on top — so “S$25++” is really about S$30. The way to keep the city affordable is to eat at hawker centres (a full meal for a few dollars) and ride the MRT; it’s the drinks, hotels and taxis that make Singapore world-expensive.

Gardens by the Bay is the signature: the two cooled Conservatories are about S$46 for a non-resident adult (the combo now bundles Jurassic World: The Experience, the Avatar run having ended), while the outdoor gardens and the nightly Supertree light show are free. Sentosa is the resort island — Universal Studios (from S$76; its Minion Land opened in February 2025), the new Singapore Oceanarium (from S$55, rebuilt from the old S.E.A. Aquarium and reopened mid-2025), beaches and a casino. The Mandai wildlife cluster — the Zoo, the standout Night Safari, River Wonders and the 2023 Bird Paradise — is the other half-day. The table shows the gate prices, and the swaps below head off the common letdowns.

• You want the infinity-pool photoSkipbuying a SkyPark deck ticket — the pool is guests-onlyGobook a Marina Bay Sands room, or a rooftop bar like CÉ LA VI for the same skyline
• You want Gardens by the Bay at its bestSkippaying for the conservatories and leaving by dayGostay for the free nightly Supertree “Garden Rhapsody” light show
• You came hoping for a beachSkipexpecting natural coast — Sentosa’s sands are man-made and busyGotreat Sentosa as a theme-park island and save real beaches for the region

The quarters are compact and genuinely walkable (if sweaty) — Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam sit within a few MRT stops of each other, and Katong/Joo Chiat is a short ride east for the Peranakan shophouses and laksa. Each has its own hawker centre or food street, which is the point: the hawker centre is the headline experience, not a budget fallback. Maxwell, Lau Pa Sat, Old Airport Road, Tiong Bahru and the Michelin-studded Chinatown Complex are the famous ones.

Because the climate barely changes, there is no high or low season for weather — Singapore is warm and humid every month, with short afternoon thunderstorms year-round and the north-east monsoon (roughly December to early March) the wettest stretch. Pick dates around events and price instead: the F1 weekend and Chinese New Year push hotels up, while the mid-year months are a touch quieter. The genuine wildcard is the Aug–Oct haze — most years a nuisance, some years negligible, and occasionally, as in 2026, genuinely bad.

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 since 1 May 2026 the penalty rose to fines up to S$10,000, with deportation and entry bans for foreigners (pods laced with etomidate, the so-called “Kpods”, are treated far more harshly under the drug laws). 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 littering, jaywalking and eating or drinking on the MRT — and, since September 2026, on buses — all carry fines. And the warning printed on arrival cards is literal: drug trafficking carries a mandatory death penalty, actively enforced.

The upside of all this is the everyday experience: English is the working language, tap water is safe, the transport is spotless and Singapore is among the safest cities in the world, including for solo women. It is multicultural by design — Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian communities, four official languages — so cover your shoulders and remove your shoes at temples and mosques. Socially it is liberal-leaning but cautious: gay sex was decriminalised (Section 377A repealed) in January 2023, though same-sex marriage is not recognised. Plugs are UK-style Type G, 230V.