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Stories from Singapore

Every story, long read and guide in the ULTIMATE Singapore City Guide, in one place.

Culture

Arts & Culture in Singapore

All of Arts & Culture

The National Gallery, the museums and the Esplanade: the ArtScience Museum, Theatres on the Bay and the back story of the city’s art and architecture.

The atrium of the National Gallery Singapore under its glass roofThe back storyThe back storySingapore art, architecture & cultureThe lotus-shaped ArtScience Museum on the edge of Marina BayArts & CultureMuseumsThe ArtScience Museum and moreOne of the spiked domes of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, lit at blue hourArts & CultureTheatreEsplanade – Theatres on the Bay

History

History & heritage

Ancient Temasek, the kingdom of Singapura, the free port of 1819, Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian communities, independence in 1965 and the garden city.

Thian Hock Keng temple in SingaporeHistory & heritageTemasek, the free port of 1819 and the garden city: Singapore’s heritageTemasek, the free port and a nation of many peoplesThe Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay, rising above the gardensThe back storyGardens, bays and temples: seeing Singapore wellVisit the gardens early, the heritage quarters in the late afternoon,…

Our advice

The Rail Corridor at dawn

Walk or cycle a stretch of the Rail Corridor in the early morning, starting at the old Bukit Timah station, and bring water and insect repellent. Singapore’s railway

Areas

Singapore by neighbourhood

From Marina Bay to Bukit Timah, each area has its own guide: Raffles and the museums, the avenues of Orchard and Tanglin, Chinatown’s hawkers, Kampong Glam and Little India.

Marina Bay Sands and the ArtScience Museum at blue hour, reflected in the bayNeighbourhood guideMarina Bay & the Civic DistrictThe bay, Raffles and the museumsThe curving glass and steel canopy of ION OrchardNeighbourhood guideOrchard, Tanglin & NassimShops, garden hotels and quiet avenuesPalawan Beach and its islet on Sentosa, seen from aboveNeighbourhood guideSentosa & the southern waterfrontBeaches, resorts and marinasPainted shophouses on a Chinatown streetNeighbourhood guideChinatown & Tanjong PagarTemples, hawkers and shophousesThe golden dome of Masjid Sultan at the end of a palm-lined street in Kampong GlamNeighbourhood guideKampong GlamMasjid Sultan and Haji Lane

Temples and hawkers

Walk from Thian Hock Keng to the Sri Mariamman Temple, on to Kampong Glam and the Sultan Mosque, and eat at a hawker centre on the way.

  1. Neighbourhood guideLittle IndiaSerangoon Road
  2. Neighbourhood guideDempsey HillDining among the trees
  3. Neighbourhood guideBukit TimahRainforest and the Botanic Gardens

Practical

Plan your trip

The practical things to know before you go: the SG Arrival Card, money, Changi, the MRT and ferries, and Marina Bay in a day.

The departure hall of Changi Airport, with its patterned ceiling and checked floorBefore you goSingapore essentialsThe SG Arrival Card, money and getting aroundThe Rain Vortex falling through the glass dome of Jewel Changi Airport, among treesGetting aroundGetting aroundChangi, the MRT and ferriesThe green cast-iron arches under the roof of Lau Pa SatItineraryMarina Bay in a dayThe bay and the Civic District
  1. Luxury guideLuxury SingaporeThe finest addresses

Day trips

Beyond Singapore

Sentosa, Pulau Ubin, Johor Bahru, Bintan and Batam: beaches and resorts, bicycles and wetlands, over the border by train, and the Barelang bridges.

The suspension bridge and towers on the islet off Palawan Beach, SentosaBeyond SingaporeSentosaBeaches and resortsThe coastal boardwalk at Chek Jawa running out over the seaBeyond SingaporePulau Ubin & Chek JawaBicycles and wetlandsThe Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque in Johor Bahru, lit at nightBeyond SingaporeJohor BahruOver the border by trainThe cable-stayed Barelang Bridge in BatamBeyond SingaporeBintanResorts by the seaBeyond SingaporeBatamThe Barelang bridges

In depth

In depth: Singapore, from Temasek to the garden city

The grand hotels, the Singapore table, the bars, the sights and buying a home.

The towers of the Central Business District lit up at night, reflected in Marina BayOrchard RoadChristmas in SingaporeChristmas on A Great Street, and Gardens by the Bay’s WonderlandThe low roofs of Maxwell Food Centre with the towers of Tanjong Pagar behindIn depth: foodSingapore CuisineChicken rice, chilli crab and the hawker centresMudflats and a pond fringed by mangrove forest at Sungei Buloh Wetland ReserveIn depth: nature & wildlifeWild SingaporeOtters, mangroves and rainforest

Early

Arrive at the Botanic Gardens at 7am, when the city is still cool.

  1. The back storyGrand hotels by the bayBay, Tanglin or Sentosa?
  2. The back storyThe Singapore tableFrom the hawker stall to three stars
  3. The back storyFrom the Singapore Sling to the rooftopsThe bars
  4. FeatureThe Ultimate Scenic Driving GuideBay, bridge, hills and the sea

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