Time of Year: January
Must Bring: Clothing for humid equatorial weather. Packets of wet wipes/tissues (for the Hawker Centers). Swimsuit. Sunscreen. Cute dinner outfits. Download Grab (Singapores’ Uber).
Accommodations: Both times I have traveled to Singapore I’ve found amazing and affordable Airbnbs. My favorite location to live is near Club St, naturally.
Access my Singapore Eskimoves Map Pack Here
Singapore has shot to the top of my favorite places in South-East Asia. I initially traveled to Singapore to use it as a launching pad to travel to Bali, which I think a lot of people do. I managed to add on time to the end of my trip to explore more of Singapore. There’s no place in the world like it in my opinion.
It’s an easy place to travel to with safety being of little to no concern and it is one of the cleanest places I have ever encountered. Once, I watched an older man hock a loogie and walk over to a trash can before he spat it out. For someone who lives in NYC and is constantly leaping over god knows what this small action gave me real life heart eyes. Everything is state of the art. Some would even say extra. The museums, parks, hotels and restaurants go the extra mile to be gorgeous. The hawker centers, however, care less about the bells and whistles and more about giving you the most delicious food for as low as $3, without compromising quality. Singapore once was a fusion of the best things from the surrounding Asian countries and has grown to make it its own. The melting pot of the East. And as melting pots require a lot of heat, be prepared to sweat! Here’s my list!
B.A.LOCAL with ESKIMOVES
Maxwell Food Centre – right around the corner from Club St. where we stayed making it the centre we frequented most often. People say that this is the least touristy centre and prices reflect that. We had full dinners with (numerous) drinks for less than $15 and the quality and taste were better than some dinners we paid hundreds for. My wallet shed a tear on that one. Here are my favorite stalls.
Zhen Zhen Porridge– Seriously, I am becoming a congee connoisseur and this spot has earned the Best Congee Eskimoves Award. A title with huge merit, clearly. Comes with some fixins on top that make it extra special. I order the chicken with an egg. Eat with white pepper and add a few of the killer red peppers. Ate here almost everyday for breakfast since it opens right when the jetlag wakes you up, 7am! $3-$5 @ Maxwell
Tong Xin Ju Special Shangai Tim Sum – Order a plate of dumplings fried and boiled and top with hot sauce. These pockets of flavor are made fresh throughout the day. $3-$6 @ Maxwell
Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken – Probably the most famous stall at Maxwell. Michelin starred chicken and rice. And that’s exactly what it is… chicken and rice! The sauces are really great but if the line is too long for you to wait, indulge in the one of the two spots mentioned above or choose another of the numerous chicken and rice locations. @ Maxwell
Chinatown Complex Food Centre – Tons of Mala spicy stalls and obviously, Chinese food.
Chang Jiang G1 Claypot Frog Porridge – The first stall I make a point of going to when in Singapore. Frog legs, they taste like chicken (I swear), cooked in a claypot drenched in a sweet ginger or chile brown sauce. It’s so flavorful and the meat is absurdly tender, falls right off the bone. Order with a bowl of rice so none of that mouthwatering sauce goes to waste. @ Chinatown Centre
Newton Food Centre – The seafood centre! Come here for Chili and/or black pepper crab, stingray covered in Sambal and cockels (tiny clams). There were tons of stalls to pick from so I would just take a walk around and look at peoples’ orders and see what looks best to you. Make sure to get sweet buns if you order chili crab for the sauce.
Long Beach King Seafood Restaurant – If you want the seafood experience in a restaurant rather than a hawker centre I would go here. Known for their chili and black pepper crab. The black pepper crab was unbelievable. It’s on the pricier side.
Tiong Bahru Market – Located in what several people told me is the “hipster” part of town. I came to this market for Jian Bo Shui Kueh. Rice cakes covered in fermented radish (I think) and chili paste. Have only encountered these in Singapore and they’re the perfect snack.
The Coconut Club – Located at the top of Club st. A popular restaurant with great vibes. Said to have the best Nasi Lemak!
National Kitchen by Violet Oon – Incredible Peranakan Cuisine! Outside of the Hawker stalls, this is the best dining experience I had in Singapore. Make a reservation in advance and if possible for the location located in the National Gallery (they have several). I had dishes here that I’ve never seen on any menu before and each one was incredible. Try everything!! You can’t go wrong.
Beauty In the Pot – Hot Pot spot with amazing soup broth, you won’t want to leave a drop. Reservation recommended! Get one collagen and one spicy broth. There’s a trend that says collagen bone broth is amazing for your skin. Hence, “beauty in the pot”. Yeah you better believe I’m slurping down that beauty broth. After you’ve ordered your base and ingredients, go crazy at the make-your-own dipping sauce station. Place is open until 6am so if jetlag or a wild karaoke gets you hungry at an odd hour in the night – go here!
Ce La Vi – Located at the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Entering Marina Bay area immediately bumps prices way up for, well, anything. But the views from the top are world class and gets you those harbor views. Go at night for dinner here and ask to sit outside. The food is good and seeing the lights from the infinite boats/container ships in the bay is pretty incredible.
Potato Head – Fun rooftop for drinks and burgers
The Joint – A whiskey bar with cozy vibes and a big Japanese whiskey selection
Employees Only – A dim lit bar to get drunk at that also has great food. Randomly ordered a kale salad that hit my fresh greens craving that I occasionally get when traveling. The chicken crackling was the perfect bar snack.
Skinny’s Lounge – Fun bar with a secret Karoake room. The ceiling is decorated with drawings of penises on napkins so that’s pretty, pretty, pretty cool…
B.A.TOURIST with ESKIMOVES
Merlion – See Singapore’s iconic mascot, a half-lion, half-fish!
ArtScience Museum – Museum had some amazing exhibits on while we were visiting. See if there’s something that peaks your interest during your trip!
Cloud Forest – A massive greenhouse that exhibits different plants and flowers from around the world in a man made cloud. Houses an impressive indoor waterfall. Insta opp…
Gardens By The Bay – Check out Singapores’ Supertrees grove and walk the skywalk above the trees. I’m a little scared of heights and def had some sweaty palms on the skywalk but it was a beautiful view and cool to get so close to the supertrees. Come for the light show at 7:45 and 8:45 every night.
Singapore Botanic Gardens – Huge pretty park. Nice place to run in the morning if your jetlag wakes you up and you’re into that sort of thing.
MacRitchie Reservoir and Treetop Walk – Go on a hike on a suspension bridge over the treetops. It’s about a 3-hour hike (getting to the bridge and making your way out after included) so I’d go earlier to avoid the afternoon sun. It was such a cool and unique experience. We saw monkeys, monitor lizards, snakes and wild hogs! Bring mosquito repellent, sunblock, water and don’t take food out in front of the monkeys. The Treetop course is closed on Mondays.
Sentosa– An island resort that has a long list of attractions including universal studios, aquarium, golf course, beach clubs, etc.. just pick what you want to do!
Tanjong Beach Club – One of my favorite days in Singapore. It is a vacation after all, so a chill day at Tanjong was just what the doctor ordered. Bottle of rose, good food, swim, sun and the tan folks back home will be asking you about for weeks when your vaca is over. Make sure to bring sunscreen!!
National Gallery Singapore -Pretty museum with cool rotating exhibits. If you buy tickets at ArtScience you can use them here as well!
Sungei Buloh Wetland Centre – This is about a 45 minute drive from the city center. If you are in the mood to see some more animals in their natural habitat this was pretty crazy. Even spotted a creepy Croc!
This is amazing thank you for sharing your experiences with us you’re amazing xx
Now I definitely wanna visit Singapore in the future, it all looks amazing, the food, the views, everything. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Love to follow your trip. Exciting, beautyful and enjoying.. Love it, live it, breath it. Im melting to see that you travel as a couple. It’s cool, and keep it like that even in the everday… Well sorry.
I love to read about the clean streets in Singapore. We could use more place like that. My dream was, if I had too many money, to teach the really poor ppl, ind our whole world, to clean, reuse their garage at their living area. The smell would dissapear and they could get a clean living space. Theach them to have homes with small gardens, where they could grow a little garden. Show them ideas how the life could get, also as a poor, without any education and no money…
Well your travel list looks exciting. Think I will use it, if im takling a trip, in the future. Singapore is on my list, like Phillipine and Mexico. And then my Italy.
And, your amasing and thanks for sharing is all. Love it, live it and feel it. Hugs.
All that food! Everything looks so delicious!
Would you recommend focusing on several aspect of Singapore when visiting … say food and shopping or food plus tourist sites or can you do it all (time permitting)?
Another great post!
I would prioritize food and tourist sites!
Thanks Esther! Much appreciated.
Love your first picture. It’s a cool way you both a sitting and standing. Sooo full of emotions
I love this blog and all the posts! Its so cool seeing all these places and learning what there is to visit and eat at each one. Cant wait to see more! (kinda hoping you do an Italy and Greece one, as I will be visiting those two places this summer and these posts seem really helpful to people planning a trip there. As it will be my first time visiting these two countries, I could use all the advice and tips haha) Im glad you get to travel so much and have lots of fun doing it! 🙂
I love you’re photo 😍❤
thanks for this variety of recommendations, Esther! this post was one of the most detailed and diverse ones and I loved that, especially since I’ve been thinking of spending a gap year in Singapore. so i have quite a few things to look forward to if I can make it happen!
I was also wondering, do you plan on doing a post on Bali? 🙂
That’s so cool! I would love to do a 6-month stint in Singapore. I’m not planning on doing a Bali post quite yet. Need to go back once more to do another round of exploring to give you guys something meaningful <3
I’m doing some research right now but I get really overwhelmed since I’ve never been abroad for a long period of time before, but I want to go out of my comfort zone and I think it is a great way to do so! Since you’ve lived in Hong Kong for 6 months as well, do you have any pieces of advice? Or really anything that could be helpful?
I’ll be patiently waiting for a Bali post then, and I’m looking forward to your next posts (especially the one about NYC 😋)
One of my biggest dreams is to visit Singapore one day. Thank you Esther so so so much for this great guide, especially your recommendations on restaurants as it usually is the most pricey part of every tour.
Love all those stunning views captured in your beautiful photos
I loveee that you managed to visit so many non-tourist spots here in Singapore, especially the hawker centres! I’ve never even heard of some of these places having lived here for all 22 years of my life. When you visit next, you should check out Kampong Glam, Little India and Chinatown – heritage districts in Singapore for 3 of the major races. You can find amazing food at these places and learn more about the respective cultures!
Thank you again for such a detailed blog. So glad you and Matt loved your time here ❤️
P.S. The photo of you in the ArtScience Museum is my absolute favourite! The picture for this blog is really amazing too 😍
Just wanted to say thank you for sharing about our little red dot~!
Nice! I liked that you guys went to all the museums and nature reserves instead of the usual touristy spots. If you head this way again, you might like to try some of our islands too, like Pulau Ubin and Coney Island. And Amoy Street Food Centre (not too far away from Maxwell) has some awesome congee too, if that’s your thing.
I’m planning on visiting Singapore for the summer holidays and I think this is going to be really useful! Next time you visit Singapore, Do visit some Indian restaurants and tell us opinion on them….haha.
Thank you for this! I can’t wait to visit all these places you mentioned and eat all the delicacies above!
This has so many amazing things to do and places to go eat! So so helpful if one day I go to Singapore. Thank you so much Esther!!
The problem with karaoke rooms in bars is that when I get drunk enough (how ‘drunk’ that is wildly varies depending on a number of circumstances), I will not let anyone else have the microphone. At all. Ever. Unless they pry it from my fingers, which has definitely happened. One of the things on a bucket list I wrote way back, when bucket lists were all the craze, was to karaoke around the world, though. So that means Skinny’s Lounge is now on a list of must-visit places to get drunk and karaoke at. ALSO, all I want to do right now is take that Treetop Walk hike, but it’s 11pm and I’m in Hawaii so that’s not gonna happen anytime soon. A sadder thought than I expected it to be.
I think your blog is going to ruin me someday. Thanks to that well-written compte-rendu I added Singapore to my “place-I-want-to-visit-list” :’)
That is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing them for us to enjoy. The restaurant reviews are awesome. Not sure if I could do frog legs though. Although I have eaten fried tarantula before. I am definitely adding Singapore to my list of places to consider at vacation times. I love your blog seriously. Thanks!
Who is your favorite people to travel with and do you miss your family when they’re not with you? I know it’s a question not a comment but i’m curious.
I love traveling with my husband, friends and family – just depends on the kind of trip you’re doing!
Glad that you aimed for many of the non- touristy food places. Next time try bak ku teh (if you haven’t already!) This post and it’s pictures made an already proud Singaporean even more so! 🙂
Its ! Autocorrect I swear
1. Co dokładniej studiowałaś? Pracujesz w zawodzie? Myślę o Uniwersytecie, który podałaś w zakładce.
2. Kiedyś pisałaś na Instagramie o Polsce. Polecam ci ten post:
https://www.featherandthewind.com/blog/before-going-to-poland
1. What exactly did you study? Do you work in the profession? I am thinking about the University which you gave in the tab.
2. Once you wrote about Poland on Instagram. I recommend this post to you:
https://www.featherandthewind.com/blog/before-going-to-poland
This initiative allows us to get to know our favorite bloggers better. I would like to nominate you to your Favorite Tag. Have fun with us and pass on:
1. Favorite movie.
2. Favorite book.
3. Favorite actor.
4. Favorite actress.
5. Favorite TV series.
6. Favorite color.
7. Favorite country.
8. Favorite animal.
9. Favorite food.
10. Favorite song.
Thank you in advance and wish you a good day, angel. <3
Amazing Post! I will admit that I never thought of going to Singapore before this post. It is definitely a place that I would enjoy. I love food and great sights. I always try to visit nature or a museum when I travel. It seems Singapore has it all. I never knew it was a one stop shop place I needed to go. Lol. Thank you for this post and the great pics and info. You have already visited Japan which is one of my top 3. Ireland and Greece round out my international top 3. It seems whenever I get a chance to do more traveling I will have to read your posts before I finalize my destinations. So I am very much looking forward to more of these posts. Thanks
Hi Esther, love the posts and pictures are awesome. I seem to remember you being in Croatia at some point on IG? Myself and my husband are going to be driving around Croatia in May and have a week to play with. No schedule or route planned yet. Any chance of a Croatia post or some suggestions for definite must sees? Xx
I think I will! There are so many variations of ways to do Croatia but I will share my experience 😊
I’ll try to do this! There are so many different ways to do Croatia it was tough to comb through all the different options and choose what we wanted to do <3
Thank you for sharing this!
How do you feel about eating the frog porridge? Haha I used to be obsessed with the frog legs in Asia, but definitely was more frown upon eating it in North America lol
Great recommendations!
This is honestly so helpful for my planning. I’m going to Singapore in May and I am so excited to go and visit all these amazing spots! I’m a bit scared of heights as well but I already booked a ride on the singapore flyer because I feel like seeing the city at night from above must be absolutely breath taking!
I can’t wait to visit this amazing place and thank you for all the inspiration!
All the love from Switzerland
Thank you, Melanie! Hope you have a great time in Singapore. It’s honestly one of my favorite places in the world!