Or just thanks. Both are normal.
Essentials- Capital
- Singapore
- Currency
- S$ dollar
- Language
- English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil
- Best months
- Feb – Apr
- Visa
- 30–90 days visa-free
- Daily budget
- $95 mid-range
Singapore has a reputation as the expensive stop on a South-East Asia trip, and for accommodation that is entirely fair — a decent room is three or four times a Bangkok equivalent. The food is the opposite. A hawker centre plate is S$4–7 and the standard is extraordinary, because the hawker system was built as public infrastructure and the good stalls have been doing one dish for forty years.
The city is also the cleanest expression of the Malay, Chinese and Indian collision that makes this whole region interesting to eat in. Hainanese chicken rice, Teochew porridge, Tamil banana leaf, Peranakan laksa and Malay nasi lemak are all within a few kilometres of each other, each done to a standard that would carry a restaurant elsewhere.
Three days is enough. Sleep cheap, eat constantly, use the MRT for everything.
When to go
Jan: Mixed time to visit
Feb: Best time to visit
Mar: Best time to visit
Apr: Best time to visit
May: Good time to visit
Jun: Good time to visit
Jul: Good time to visit
Aug: Good time to visit
Sep: Mixed time to visit
Oct: Mixed time to visit
Nov: Avoid time to visit
Dec: Avoid time to visit
Best Good Mixed Avoid
One degree north of the equator, so it is 31°C and humid every single day of the year — there is no cool season to wait for. What varies is rain. February to April is the driest and the most comfortable. November to January is the north-east monsoon with heavy afternoon downpours. September and October can be hazy when there is agricultural burning in the region.
What it costs
| Item | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel room, private, small | $115 / night | $345 |
| Hawker food and drink | $22 / day | $66 |
| MRT and buses | $4 / day | $12 |
| Gardens, museums, one attraction | — | $48 |
| Airport transfer, both ways | — | $8 |
| SIM and sundries | — | $18 |
| Three days | $497 |
Accommodation is 69% of that total and food is 13%, which tells you exactly where to economise. A hostel or a room in Geylang or Lavender rather than Marina Bay cuts the trip cost almost in half. Alcohol is the other trap — a beer is S$12–15 in a bar and S$4 at a hawker centre.
What to eat
Hainanese chicken rice
S$4–7
Poached chicken, fat-cooked rice, chilli and ginger sauces. The national dish and the one people argue about most. Tian Tian and Maxwell get the queues; the stall near your hotel is usually just as good.
Char kway teow
S$4–6
Wok-charred flat noodles with cockles, egg and Chinese chives. Hill Street and Zion Road are the classic stalls.
Laksa
S$4–7
Katong laksa is the local version — coconut-rich, with the noodles cut short so you eat it with a spoon only. Different from Penang assam laksa entirely.
Bak chor mee
S$4–6
Minced pork noodles with vinegar, chilli and crisp pork lard. Tossed dry, not in soup. Singapore’s most underrated hawker dish.
Roti prata
S$1.50–4
Flaky griddled flatbread with fish curry, at 24-hour Indian-Muslim shops. Breakfast or 3am, both correct.
Chilli crab
S$60–90
The one genuinely expensive dish, and worth doing once. Sweet, tomato-chilli gravy with mantou buns to mop it. East Coast Seafood Centre.
Where to base yourself
| Place | Notes | Nights |
|---|---|---|
| Kampong Glam / Lavender | Malay heritage quarter, good cheap rooms, walkable to town and next to some of the best food. | 3 nights |
| Chinatown | Maxwell and Chinatown Complex hawker centres on the doorstep. Central and well-priced. | 3 nights |
| Geylang / Katong | Cheapest decent rooms, Peranakan shophouses and the best laksa. Twenty minutes out on the MRT. | 3 nights |
| Marina Bay | Four times the price for a view you can walk to for free. | Avoid |
A route that works
Arrive, Chinatown Complex
MRT in from Changi, 30 minutes. Head straight for the biggest hawker centre in the country and eat three small things.
Gardens, Kampong Glam, Little India
Gardens by the Bay early before the heat, then Arab Street and Serangoon Road in the afternoon. Banana leaf dinner in Little India.
Katong, East Coast, last plate
Peranakan shophouses and laksa in Katong, chilli crab at East Coast in the evening. MRT back to the airport.
Practical notes
| Visa | Visa-free for most Western passports, 30 to 90 days depending on nationality. An SG Arrival Card must be submitted online within three days before arrival — it is free, mandatory, and the most commonly missed step. | |
|---|---|---|
| Money | Cards and contactless work everywhere including most hawker stalls, though some older stalls remain cash-only. Keep S$20 in small notes. | |
| Transport | Tap in with any contactless bank card or phone on the MRT and buses — no separate travel card needed. The system reaches everywhere you want to go and is cheaper than a single Grab ride. | |
| Hawker centres | Find the stall with the longest queue of office workers and join it. Reserving a table with a packet of tissues is a real and respected custom. Return your tray — it is now legally required and enforced. | |
| Water | Tap water is safe and good. Refill everywhere; do not buy bottled. | |
| Laws | Fines are real and enforced: no eating or drinking on the MRT, no smoking outside designated areas, no chewing gum imports, no jaywalking. Drug offences carry the death penalty and this is not a formality. | |
| SIM | Singtel or StarHub tourist SIM at the airport, around $12 for 100GB. Or skip it — public wifi is widespread. | |
| Tipping | Not expected. Restaurants add 10% service and 9% GST, so the menu price is not the final price. | |
Where your time is better spent
Spend your evening on the free light show from the Marina Bay boardwalk and the Gardens by the Bay Supertree grove rather than paying for a rooftop bar to see the same skyline. Sentosa is worth it only if you are travelling with children, and even then the beaches an hour away in Malaysia are better.
Eat where you would otherwise queue: the internationally famous chicken rice stalls are excellent, and so is the stall two rows over with no line. And rather than the Singapore Sling at Raffles, put those thirty-eight dollars into a chilli crab.
Before you book
Visa rules, fees and prices in this guide were checked in September 2026 and they move. Confirm entry requirements with your own foreign ministry and current fees with the relevant authority before committing money.
Walking the streets of Little India
A walk through Singapore's Little India, where the Indian side of the city's food and culture is easiest to see.
Say It Yourself
Back to the route
Twelve phrases in Singapore English and hawker shorthand
English is the working language, so you need no phrasebook to be understood. What you need is the hawker-centre vocabulary — a compact local shorthand, mostly Hokkien and Malay, that turns a coffee order into four syllables. Use these and you order like a resident rather than a visitor.
Lah is emphasis, not a word. Can? Can.
EssentialsHow you squeeze past in a crowded centre.
EssentialsKopi-o is black, kopi-c is with evaporated milk.
EatingKopi siew dai. The most useful order in the country.
EatingSay it and they will bag it.
EatingPrices are posted. Asking is rare.
MoneyLeave a packet of tissues on it. A real, respected custom.
MoneyHawker stalls are paid per stall, not per table.
MoneyAny contactless card or phone works on the MRT.
Getting aroundPress the bell on buses.
Getting aroundUniversal, friendly, means about thirty seconds.
Getting aroundOne to ten, for price tags
1一one
2二two
3三three
4四four
5五five
6六six
7七seven
8八eight
9九nine
10十ten
Prices are in Singapore dollars and always posted. Older Chinese stalls sometimes chalk numerals in kanji-style characters, which is why the column above is worth a glance.
Singapore Questions
The four I get asked most
Is Singapore worth a stop if it is expensive?
For two or three days, yes, entirely for the food. Sleep somewhere cheap, eat only at hawker centres, and the trip costs less than people fear. A week is too long unless you have a reason.
Which hawker centre is best?
Chinatown Complex has the most stalls and the best range. Maxwell is the most convenient. Old Airport Road is where locals send you. Tiong Bahru is the best-run. All are excellent; the differences are marginal.
Do you need cash in Singapore?
Barely. Contactless works on transport and at most stalls. Carry S$20 for older hawkers and wet markets.
Is it a good first stop in South-East Asia?
It is the gentlest possible introduction — English-speaking, spotless, easy transport, safe drinking water — but it will give you a misleading impression of the region. Better as a last stop, when you can appreciate the contrast.
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