Welcome to Singapore
Smart, sharp and just a little sexy, Singapore is Southeast Asia's new 'It kid', subverting staid old stereotypes with ambitious architecture, dynamic museums, celebrity chefs and hip boutiques. Spike it with smoky temples, gut-rumble-inducing food markets and pockets of steamy jungle, and you might find that Asia's former wallflower is a much more intriguing bloom than you gave it credit for.
Merlion, Marina Bay GAVIN HELLIER/GETTY IMAGES
SingaporeTop Sights
Singapores latest buzz-inducing asset is a $1 billion super park that makes horticulture hot. Explore its futuristic bio-domes and Supertrees, traverse its panoramic Skyway, and keep an eye out for Marc Quinn's floating infant.
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Singapore Top Sights
Singapore Zoo is one of the world's most inviting, enlightened animal sanctuaries, and a family-friendly must. Breakfast with orang-utans, sneak up to sleepy sloths and purr over rare white tigers.
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Singapore Top Sights
Singapore's Garden of Eden is the perfect antidote to the city's rat-race tendencies. Obscenely lush and verdant, its 74 hectares are home to rare orchids, a swan-studded lake and a romantic, ginger-centric restaurant.
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Singapore Top Sights
Get up close and personal with a different kind of nightlife at this award-winning wildlife park, filled with an intriguing cast of free-roaming and free-flying creatures, great and small.
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Singapore Top Sights
Evocative, interactive exhibitions and striking old-meets-new architecture define Singapore's showcase museum. If you're after a gripping crash course in Singaporean history and culture, put this on your hit list.
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Singapore Top Sights
Home to the planet's tallest duelling roller coasters, Universal Studios cranks up the adrenalin with seven themed areas pimped with enough rides, razzle-dazzle spectaculars and movie-set kitsch to thrill the most hardened of inner children.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE, RESORTS WORLD SENTOSA
Singapore Top Sights
Travel east to west across Asia at this engrossing ode to the continent's tapestry of cultures and traditions. It's like a glittering cultural attic, filled with ancient pottery and sculptures, mystical weaponry and dazzling jewels.
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Singapore Top Sights
Monkey-peppered jungle, sculptural forest walkways and arresting views over city and sea this multipark trail offers one of Singapore's most beautiful and accessible natural getaways.
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Singapore Top Sights
Immerse yourself in the struggles, scandals and hard-core grit of Chinatown's roller-coaster past at this unsung museum. You'll find it on a lantern-festooned street once better known for opium dens and coolie traders.
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SingaporeLocal Life
Insider tips to help you find the real Singapore
Once you've checked off the major sights, dig a little deeper and discover a more intimate side to the city the side the locals know.
Authentic hawker centres
Hotspot bars and restaurants
The opium dens may have gone, but Chinatown's stubborn spirit kicks on with its in-your-face market stalls, congee-slurping uncles and dragon-littered temples. Whether plonked on a plastic kopitiam (coffee-shop) stool or offering incense to the divine, prepare to savour enticing Chinatown.
Hip shops and cafes
Heritage architecture
Not only famous for its art deco and mid-20th-century domestic architecture, this low-rise, laid-back neighbourhood is pulling in the trendsetters and hipsters with its ever-expanding booty of clued-in cafes, trendy bars and restaurants, and quirky shops, not to mention its top-notch bookstores.