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Awhile back there was a HUGE sale on flights to Singapore.  We were already looking into doing a fall vacation, and I’d looked into some stateside destinations at the time.  But, when the sale came up (and flights were somehow cheaper to Singapore than most of the other places nearby I was looking at…) we went for it.  My husband and I each have a “top 10” travel destination bucket list, and Singapore was on mine!  So I was beyond excited for our adventures.

I’ll be blogging our travels day by day over the next several weeks, so stay tuned

The day started bright & early, with our arrival at the Changi Village hotel around 1:30am.  We booked a hotel near the airport thinking it’d be convenient after a long flight, and that there’d be a shuttle service.  It was convenient to be close, however the hotel shuttle didn’t run that late in the night.  We ended up taking an Uber to the hotel, which worked out well.

After a few hours of sleep we got up, checked out a nearby Hawker Centre (which was so much fun, and deserves a post of its own later, so keep an eye out!) then decided to head downtown!  Here’s what we did:

Marina Bay Sands Hotel Sky Park

First off, we headed to the Sky Park to get a nice overview of the city.  There is a restaurant at the same level, and if you make a reservation & eat there, you get the great view (without having to pay the main ticket cost to go to the viewing deck)  We went ahead and did the viewing deck instead (having our hearts set on checking out another Hawker Centre later).

The views were pretty, and they had some snacks, cold drinks, and souvenirs available for sale as well.  We went for a mango slushy, which was oh. so. amazing. in the extreme heat & humidity.  (I’m NOT complaining one bit about the weather, it was gorgeous, just takes a lot of energy to walk around in the heat when you aren’t used to it)

Swimming pool on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Flower Dome

We spent probably about 1-1.5 hours at the Flower Dome.  They had a gorgeous display of all sorts of plants and flowers.  The fall displays were amazing too!  Sadly, a bunch of pictures taken on my husbands phone from the first day of our trip to Singapore were deleted, but thankful we were also using a digital camera so not too much was lost.

Cloud Forest

We probably spent another 1.5-2 hours at the Cloud Forest.  It was a huge place, and so beautifully taken care of.  The architecture of the building was so impressive too, like much of downtown Singapore.  Unique, and stunning buildings.

When we first walked to the Gardens by the Bay area, we took a shuttle down to the Supertree Grove & Domes ($2-3?) Which was nice to break up some of the walking time.  But, most of the tourist spots were fairly close together, so walking wasn’t a big deal either.  BRING LOTS OF WATER though, if you’re walking!

Supertree Grove

We made several visits to the Supertree Grove over our stay in Singapore.  Viewing them up close, and from afar give different charm.  The light shows at night are really cool to see too, we even went twice in the same night to get different views.  More on the Supertree Grove in a future post!

When it comes to timing estimates for each activity, my husband & I tend to breeze through things fairly quickly.  One could easily spend twice as long at any of these places, if you like to go at a more casual pace and take in the details.  That being said, I felt like we saw all we wanted to see, and didn’t miss out, we really enjoyed our visits.

THINGS TO BRING:

(links below are affiliate links, however they are of products I purchased for myself for this trip, and liked)

–Hat, water bottle(s), sunglasses, Sunscreen (Don’t forget to reapply!), bug spray, cash, small backpack/bag, camera, phone, good walking shoes, +/-umbrella (for sun protection or rain)

Check out the rest of our trip: Day 2,   daytrip to Malaysia,   30 hours in Bintan, Indonesia,     Day 6,  and Singapore Zoo