Top 10 Singapore

TravelHunter’s instant guide to cosmopolitan, clean and green Singapore. A multicultural city with western amenities and a contemporary cut that makes it both attractive and easy for you to get around. Simply irresistible.

Dig into Singapore’s mix of culture, architectural masterpieces, art meccas, exotic oasis and lively neighborhoods. Try some unique dining experiences to intensify your stay and collect souvenirs that will relive your journey.

SIGH-INDUCING ARCHITECTURE

Innovation is a key word in Singapore, and downtown is an exhibition of contemporary architecture. The world’s most expensive and advanced hotel and casino, Marina Bay Sands, will make even jetsetters open their eyes. The construction cost is 30 billion Danish kroner, and it is therefore no surprise that you have to pay an entrance fee to visit Sands SkyPark Observation Deck on 57th floor which sails like a ship on the top of the hotel’s three towers 200 feet above the ground. marinabaysands.com

DOWNTOWN DELICIOUSNESS

You will find other downtown delicious architecture on the ground at Marina Bay Sands, i.e. the lotus formed ArtScience Museum on. 6 Bayfront Avenue with new exhibitions every third month, the nearby Louis Vuitton Island Maison – a concept store with Travel Store, Book Store and Art Gallery, and don’t miss the fascinating art fountain Rain Oculus by Ned Kahn outside The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands where you should get some TWG tea. 10 Bayfront Avenue, marinabaysands.com/shopping

CITY CENTER & OFF-PISTE SHOPPING

Go to ION Orchard shopping center and head for stores like The Planet Traveller which has a huge selection of travel books and accessories, and Indian Benares who sell bags, clutches, iPad covers and purses from Nappa Dori, designed by Gautam Sinha, who with her beautiful vintage photographs merges traditional Indian craftsmanship with modern aesthetics. nappadori.com. Tang Plaza, ionorchard.com

Besides the flagship stores and huge local shopping centers like Robinsons on Orchard Road, it pays off to get lost in the lively neighbourhoods Chinatown, Little India and look for handknitted pashmina shawls in Little India for approx. 60 SGD.Get off at Bugis MRT and head for Little Arab (Kampong Glam) and the miniature fashionista mecca Haji Lane. try a unique and colourful tunic in Utopia.

In the fashionable off-the-beaten-track Demsey Hill, you will find shops and restaurants in the former British barracks from the colonial period. The delicacy store Jones the Grocer is an obvious place to grab a coffee or a quick lunch and has a good choice of tea selection, and if you’re lucky, it is on sale. 8D Dempsey Rd, demseyhill.com

Buy your Chinese arts, craft, spices or sambals and jade jewelry in beautiful mint shades in Chinatown Point (Mall) – a bargain-hunter’s paradise, 133 New Bridge Road, chinatownpoint.com.sg

FOODIE DATES

You stomach never get disappointed in the newly renovated Food Court Lau Pa Sat Festival Market where you can pamper your foodie-heart with delicious local dishes such as chicken rice, fried Hokkien mee (noodles) or oyster omelette or other dishes from around the world for approx. 10-12 SGD, a Tiger draft beer included. The ‘now’ neighbourhood Telok Ayer around Amoy Street also offers a variety of food browsing, eg. a Food Court, Korean BBQ and the Danish owned GÆST whose specialty is Pork Sandwich on homemade bread.

In CORNER HOUSE, chef Jason Tan has conceptualised a fresh seasonal yu sheng (raw fish salad) featuring French-smoked hamachi, raw abalone, and flounder tossed with Japanese daikon, mandarins, edible flowers and gold flecks. 1 Cluny Road, Singapore Botanic Gardens, cornerhouse.com.sg

Are you looking for gastro haunt, then make a reservation at Indochine Wine Bar & Restaurant in one of the Supertrees in Gardens by the Bay and spice up your dinner with the music and light show Garden Rhapsody at 19.45, 20.45 eller 21.30 pm. 18 Marina Gardens Drive, indochine.com.sg

If you say “What can you recommend?” in a seafood restaurant, the waiter will answer either Chilli Crab or Fish Head Curry. In Jumbo Seafood at Clarke Quay, locals stand in line to eat the finger-licking Chilli Crab, consisting of whole crabs in a sweet tomato-chili sauce, which is quite a messy affair to eat. jumboseafood.com.sg. If you prefer the other signature dish and ever-so satisfying Fish Head Curry, go for the restaurant The Banana Leaf Apolo in Little India. If you are very brave or had to many cocktails, you will eat the fish’s eye. 54 Racecourse Road

Chef Andrew ensures tender Rib Eyes in SKIRT, located in the only two years old W Hotel Sentosa Cove at Sentosa Island. Start your dinner with a drink in the Lighthouse Bar and enjoy the ‘Resort Feel’ and modern decor of the hotel. If you arrive on a Wednesday, there is Ladies Night with free champagne after the purchase of the first glass. 21 Ocean Way, wsingaporesentosacove.com

Squirrelled away from lively Clarke Quay, you will find laid-back Robertson Walk with a Mediterranean Town square, filled with Spanish, Japanese and Italian restaurants facing the waterfront of Singapore River where you can enjoy romantic moments or get wasted in the English pub Harries while eating Fish and Chips. Open 11am-11pm. 11 Unity Street, robersonwalk.com

For a quick lunch, try the deli-café Five Foot Way, located at NCS Hub, Techpoint, Apple Computer Building, SingTel and Hewlett Packard, Clubhouse. fivefootway.com.sg

Or learn to cook from some of Singapore’s best chefs at Shermay’s Cooking School, open daily 10am-8.30pm. Cooking with tasting (2-4 hrs) 89-159 SGD per person. shermay.com

UNDERCOVER ART

Another vibrant art destination is the former military British barracks, Gilman Barracks, where you will find more than 10 galleries in five buildings. Admire famous works by artists such as Zeng Fanzhi (ShangART Gallery), Yayoi Kusama (Ota Fine Arts) and Agus Suwage (Equator Arts Projects) and then head for drinks or seafood i The Naked Finn on Lock Road. Open from 12 pm, 9 Lock Road, gillmanbaracks.com

RAINFOREST GEMS

The Cloud Forest Dome in the self sustainable Gardens by the Bay contains a mountain covered with rain forest vegetation – completed with paths in many floors and an artificial waterfall which welcome you at the entrance. From the aerial walkway, amid the remarkable Supertrees, you can view the city. 18 Marina Gardens, gardensbythebay.com.sg

In Singapore Zoo, the orangutans are dashing over your head in the world’s first and only Rainforest Zoo, where animals roam freely in open and natural habitats. Don’t miss the Zoo’s newest inhabitants, Kai Kai and Jia Jia, the giant pandas. Choose among Wildlife Breakfast in the Zoo, River Safari or Night Zoo, because you will not be able to explore them all, at least not awake. 80 Mandai Lake Rd, zoo.com.sg

COCKTAIL BROWSING      

Get into the joyous spirit and enjoy cocktails with the crowds at the world’s highest rooftop bar, 1-Altitude Gallery & Bar, where locals and expats meet at 282 meters altitude in the evening and enjoy the fascinating 360-degree views of Singapore. One Raffles Place Building. 1-altitude.com

The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel is the legendary place to drink the lifestyle cocktail, Singapore Sling. The Chinese bartender, who in 1915 for the first time served the pink gincocktail, made Singapore Sling legendary, and every day 2000-5000 cocktails are served in Raffles Hotel. raffles.com

Engage in sophisticated art-de-vivre at Sofitel HI-SO Rooftop Bar, which serves refreshing cocktails and mocktails on the L-shaped roof terrace with views of Singapore’s business district and the golden-tiled pool. Don’t miss HI-SO Ladies Night every Wednesday from 18-21 and the Ruinart champagne and Gentlemen’s Night Out on Mondays with whiskeys from 18-21. 35 Robinson Road, Sofitel.com

BOAT BUSINESS

A boat trip along Singapore River in a bumboat is worth it, especially in the evening when you can enjoy views of the skyline, the illuminated city and the channel region and The Fullerton Bay Hotel. Be smart and combine the trip with the laser show from Fullerton Bay Hotel at 20, 21:30 and 23:00 pm. Get on the boat from Boat Quay and Clarke Quay 9 am-23 pm

TEMPLE RAIDER

In the colorful Hindu temple The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum in Chinatown, you can get multi-experience and see the monks’ prayers at noon, count the golden Buddhas in the Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion and even see Buddha’s tooth, which reportedly was found in a Stupa in Myanmar in 1980. Be unselfish for a minute and buy some food in the temple’s small shop for the Food Offerings, knowing that the food is prepared in a food court and offered for free to the locals. 288 South Bridge Rd, btrts.org.sg

SECRET STAYS

If you want to combine city life in Singapore with sun, sand and water, Bintan Island, a small island in Indonesia, is only 48 km southeast of Singapore and the perfect beach oasis. The island is reached at a 45-minute boat trip by catamaran from Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. Remeber Visa and Indonesia Rupees. welcometobintan.com

TravelHunter.dk was invited by Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore Airlines and Swissotel Merchant Court