We’ve spent over a year in Australia, and are looking ahead to our next cruising destinations. Yet, we still have a lot of ground to travel in Australia to set ourselves up for that next jump. Once we got to Townsville, we decided to take a trip out of the country to reset our visas. We looked at flights from Townsville and chose to spend a week in Singapore.
Singapore Visa Run
This is not our first time making a visa run, leaving a country for a short time to extend our stay. To extend our Australian visa, we left our boat in the Townsville marina, as we did for last year’s visit to North America, and hopped a plane for Singapore.
Why We Chose Singapore
We explored all the international places we could fly to from Townsville. All options take several hours and two flights (from Townsville and then Brisbane). Even flying to Auckland was a 6 hour journey, plus we’ve already been there and it’s winter. We’ve had enough of winter. Singapore was close, warm, and a new destination. So we booked it.
About Singapore
What an exceptional country! It’s only 60 years young, multi-cultural, affluent, and safe. Singapore invites visitors to indulge: in sumptuous international cuisine, sky high cocktail bars, and haute couture fashion. The country of 6 million people is known for its wealth and opulence, innovative modern buildings, and designer shopping malls. Many travellers do a one or two day layover, but we enjoyed a week in Singapore.
We got lucky with the weather. It’s usually very hot, in the mid 30s C, but we had bouts of rain that kept the temperature lower, in the 20s. This made for good conditions to walk the streets, admiring the colorful buildings and happy people.
Highlights of a Week in Singapore
Singapore is known for its stunning streetscapes and modern high rise buildings. We were blown away by the modern architecture, beautiful parks, and amazing vistas. In our week in Singapore, we explored as much as we could, and sampled a lot of delicious food.
Singapore also has a lot of amazing parks and gardens, and over the top futuristic sights. We loved all of it!
Dining
You can’t talk about Singapore without talking about the food, especially the hawker markets. We went to as many as we could and it still wasn’t enough!
One of the great things about eating in Singapore is the range of options. It’s no wonder there’s a Michelin app for this country: the food stalls and restaurants are diverse and delicious. Go hungry!
Since we can get all sorts of pub fare in Australia, we focused on Asian food while dining in Singapore. You can get everything at every price point: French, Italian, Irish pubs, on top of all the yummy Japanese, Chinese, Malayian. Singapore truly offers it all.
Top Sights
A week is considered a lot of time for Singapore, and we took in as many of the top sights as we could.
This included the Gardens by the Bay and the supertrees.
We also visited the wild Marina Bay Sands, walked around the huge mall and went upstairs on two different towers for the far-reaching views.
On another day, we took the cable car to Sentosa, an island featuring amusement parks and beachside hotels. Singapore is a world of luxury and entertainment.
Neighborhoods
chinatown
We did a free walking tour of three neighborhoods, including Chinatown, a busy sector with hawker markets, shops, and tons of restaurants. We returned to Chinatown many times in our week in Singapore.
As well as excellent shopping and food markets, Chinatown has an astounding array of murals. Some research reveals, many are by the artist Yip Yew Chong. His fun and lively murals bring stories about Chinatown and its history to the public on the streets of Singapore.
kampong glam
Another great neighborhood to explore, is Kampong Glam, the Muslim quarter. With mosques and colorful streets, fun shops and bars, it’s a nightlife centre and also fun to photograph.
As you can see, we loved our week in Singapore. The food, the culture, the futuristic buildings were all great fun. After we leave Australia, we’re heading that direction so hope to explore more, and eat a lot more yummy food.
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“The Best Travel Guide book is the one you write”
And you guys are doing it. Love reading your logs. Do detailed.
Thank you, Fred. As long as we keep enjoying it, we’ll keep doing it!
Great article. I did not know much about Singapore. Love Gardens by the Bay. It is unique.
Spending a week in Singapore while doing a visa run sounds ideal. I’ve had about a week there, but working much of the time. So many more things to see based on your post.
Singapore sounds absolutely fascinating! I haven’t been there yet, but it’s high on my travel list — the mix of futuristic architecture, lush parks, and diverse food scene is so appealing. I love how you captured the city’s energy and culture, especially through its famous hawker markets. Your week in Singapore sounds like an unforgettable experience!
Singapore is one of my all time favorite cities! There are honestly so many unique things to do in Singapore but I love the gardens by the bay light show, universal studios and just walking around the different neighborhoods
I’ve always wanted to visit Singapore! I think spending a week there would give us enough time to see and eat our way through it.
A week was great, Kitti. We did a lot but also had time to relax a bit.