Singapore Travel Guide - Things To Do

There are beaches and nature reserves, numerous amusement parks, exercise activities and, of course, shopping and eating to keep the locals occupied. Almost all of these activities are available to visitors too.

Walking tours: the best way to appreciate Singapore’s legacy is on foot, and there are several areas that are full of historic or cultural sites. The Singapore River is the best place to start, wandering along the quaysides, stopping for a coffee at one of the numerous restaurants or bistros and admiring the cityscape. Cross over to the Colonial district and experience Singapore under British rule, with its spacious layout of grand administrative buildings.

Amusement parks: Singaporean families like to enjoy themselves after a hard week of work and the island has a surprisingly large selection of fun facilities for such a small area. Sentosa Island, described in detail in the attractions section, is a must for all visitors, with its amusement park, water world, aquarium and several free attractions such as the manmade beach.

Jurong Bird Park is also situated out west and provides a fun half day out with its colourful shows. In addition to the very good Singapore Zoo, the ground-breaking Night Safari is unique draw card that lets you experience the wilds of Africa in the cool of the evening.

Less crowded is the lengthy stretch of the east coast near Changi, which has about five kilometres of modest beaches lined with picnic parks, restaurants, jogging and roller blading tracks, and leisure facilities. To really escape, you can even take a ferry to some of the offshore islands.

Exercise: you’ll be surprised by the number of locals exercising in the cool evenings and despite being very built up, the city is dotted with parks and exercise areas. Well equipped public gyms are found all over the city, including local community centres and suburbs.

Walking and cycling: contrary to impressions of a densely packed island, Singapore has a surprisingly generous amount of undeveloped area, much of which is set aside as nature reserves, and the biggest of these is Bukit Timah Reserve.

Although tricky to get to if you aren’t familiar with Singapore, this wonderful jungle-clad reserve is situated on some low lying hills in the island centre and has some excellent hiking and mountain biking trails.