Ah Singapore – a wonderfully organised and surprisingly green city with some delicious street food and captivating neighbourhoods to explore along the way.

Right, so this isn’t based on just one trip as I’ve done and enjoyed some of these activities on multiple layovers. However, this is what I would describe as my perfect day in Singapore if you were to take all the highlights from various stopovers and put them together into one epic itinerary.

Start Early Because Jet Lag

First stop: Gardens by the Bay. If you’re on the midnight Air NZ flight you’ll arrive at Singapore at the bright and early 7am ready to start the day. What I recommend doing every time is dropping your bags off at your hotel and then heading back in using the incredible public transport to explore the bay. The gardens are the perfect way to stretch your legs after a long flight and get some fresh air before the humidity and heat really kick in.

Do the OCBC Skyway between the trees first. It’s definitely worth going up to get a brilliant view of the city and take in the surroundings.

After enjoying your lovely stroll and taking way too many photos, the Marina Bay Mall is a perfect pit stop for some much needed aircon and to window shop at all the fancy shops that no one can afford. The one thing you can afford is coffee – a must if you ask me. % Arabica is personally my favourite, with an iced coffee being essential in the heat. I would recommend the dark latte.

Before leaving this area of Singapore, the other place to check out is the ArtScience Museum. It’s engaging and interactive along with some incredible exhibitions. Future World: Where Art Meets Science and Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses – something for us fashion girlies (winning!).

Afternoon Wandering

Arab Street is probably going to be your favourite bit. All these old colourful buildings with a distinctive character and charm that add another dimension to Singapore. You’ll spend ages just walking around looking at stuff and taking photos of random doors and windows.

Do the touristy thing at the National Museum. You’ll actually learn heaps about Singapore’s history which really helps you understand more deeply what made Singapore, Singapore – along with it being a well designed museum that makes the history rich and captivating even if your attention span is getting smaller by the minute.

Evening Vibes

Go back to Gardens by the Bay for the Garden Rhapsody light show. It happens twice a night with loads of people sitting on the grass watching it like some outdoor cinema. Free as well which is a bonus.

After the show, find this bar called Employees Only which is a speakeasy style place that makes delicious gin cocktails and has an even better vibe – little bit more pricey as food is super cheap but coffee and alcohol is definitely more expensive than it is in NZ.

Afterwards to fill up and end the night, hit up Satay Street at Lau Pa Sat for dinner. This Hawker Stall has heaps of stalls. You’ve got to get satay obviously, but also try some noodles or have some char siu roast pork too. All good, all cheap, all very Singapore.

Honestly Though

Singapore’s pretty easy to do in a day if you don’t overthink it. Everything’s close, the train system actually works, and there’s enough variety to keep it engaging.

Expect to do a lot of steps and to find it hot and sweaty, but between doing some indoor activities and grabbing Pocari Sweat at the 7/11, you’ll hopefully love the best layover city as much as I do!