The best things to see and do in Singapore. Photo / Bna Ignacio, Unsplash
Why you should go
We’ve long known Singapore is a lean, green metropolis; a no-go zone for chewers of gum and a mecca of hawker food-meets-hipster neighbourhoods. It’s emerged out of the pandemic with more kapow than ever. Orchard Rd is still your go-to for shopping and emerging ‘burbs such as Tiong Bahru offer a cool mix of old and new. The youngsters head here for the food, shops and gentrified aesthetics – and you should do the same.
Top spots
Gardens by the Bay is by far the most recognisable landmark in Singapore; a futuristic nature park covering more than 100 hectares and home to over 1.5 million plants. You’ll know it for its enormous sprouting towers, known as Supertree Grove.
Jump in a cab 30 minutes north and you’ll reach Bird Paradise, a newly opened bird park and one of the world’s largest. From penguin coves to an Amazon-style rainforest, wetlands and the Australian Outback, prepare to meet more than 400 feathered species.
Singapore is regarded as expensive, but you’ll get a decent pampering at OD wellness, especially if you go off-peak (a hot stone massage starts from NZ$85).
Then there’s Pan Pacific Orchard, the city’s latest architectural wonder. Comprising four differently themed interiors – Forest, Beach, Garden and Cloud, the hotel is also a pioneer of sustainable tourism, with renewable solar panel technology and an inbuilt system that transforms food waste into cleaning water.
Best eats
Singapore cuisine is eclectic. Head to a hawker centre such Tiong Bahru Food Centre for cheap street food or go a little kooky and try Synthesis - Asian-fusion food in a speakeasy-style cubby hole, hidden behind a traditional Chinese medicine shopfront. There’s also Coach Play Singapore Shophouse, where the global fashion house shares premises with its very own Coach cafe. Enjoy artisanal coffee, NYC-style bites and a dessert bar from 6pm.
For more things to do, visit visitsingapore.com/en
Make the most of a land that’s mystified for millennia.