Don’t miss:
The National Museum, with its great history of the island.
The Intan, a museum owned and run by Alvin Yapp, who realized his Peranakan/Chinese heritage was being lost. He accumulated antiques such as an intricately carved Chinese ancestral altar, rare porcelain ware, hundreds of stunningly valuable beaded slippers and much more. The tour includes a talk by Yapp. You can also arrange for a dinner in the museum, prepared by his mother.
Bumboat ride on Singapore River. You can hop on and off this river taxi (they come every 10 or 15 minutes) or do the whole trip in about 40 minutes. It costs about $18.
High tea or a Singapore sling at Raffles Hotel. Tea is $43 (plus 16 percent tax), but it’s a slice of history, as is the $22 Singapore sling, which is done the “real” way with a multitude of liquors and juices. Advance reservations are necessary.
Changi WWII War Trail and Museum Tour. Travel by bus to a war museum, beachfront site of battles, chapel and a huge defense cannon.
Public transportation. The light rail system is clean, efficient and cheap.
Orchard Road, a mile-long high-end shopping mecca flanked by upscale pedestrian shopping centers. Name the international gourmet food shop or highest-end store and it’s there.
Changi airport. It has won so many international awards that they can hardly keep count (480 at last tally). Even before you clear security, there’s a four-story slide and countless shops and restaurants. Once through security, you’ll find gardens, restaurants, children’s play areas, a hotel, swimming pool, free movie theater and a quiet zone for people with long layovers, including massage lounge chairs where you can ask for a bedcover. It has been voted best airport to sleep in for 18 years in a row.
Gardens by the Bay, a grove of “Supertrees,” two garden domes and restaurants. Entrance to the grounds and nightly sound and light show is free; the garden domes are not. There’s a drier Mediterranean dome with more cacti than you knew existed and the tropical dome with an encircling, elevated walkway, waterfalls and killer views. The Supertrees, from 80 to 160 feet tall, are covered in tropical plants and lighted at night so they transform into a scene from the movie Avatar.