Visiting SINGAPORE in 2025? Don’t make THESE Mistakes | Travel Guide

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Should you prebook Gardens by the bay? How best to visit the Marina Bay Sands Observation Deck, how to save in Singapore, where is best to stay in Singapore, Singapore attraction savings, food costs, public transport in Singapore and the best options for getting around, booking the Night Safari, Best month to visit Singapore and MUCH more!

👉* *Full PDF GUIDE with links for visited attractions, hotel and notable places:*👇👇👇
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rjlQ8ePhwUasHsNnw6u7ac8thW3Vx8vl/view?usp=drive_link

*OUR HOTEL & ALTERNATIVES* 👇👇👇

👉* Where we stayed. Great little hotel room in a very central location: https://www.booking.com/hotel/sg/st-signature-bugis-middle-singapore.en.html?aid=1864334&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&label=SingTips

👉* Marina Bay Sands, spoil yourself, rated Superb, THE hotel in Singapore: https://www.booking.com/hotel/sg/marina-bay-sands.en.html?aid=1864334&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&label=SingTips

👉* Alternative hotel near ours, good location, apartment vibes with infinity pool: https://www.booking.com/hotel/sg/naumi.en.html?aid=1864334&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&label=SingTips

*ATTRACTIONS FEATURED* 👇👇👇

👉* The 2 to 7 Attraction Explorer Pass we used to save a third per person: https://gyg.me/g5JQQ5Tf

👉* The All Inclusive Pass if you want to visit as many attractions as possible: https://gyg.me/5BHeF62z

👉 Gardens by the Bay Closure Dates: https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/plan-your-visit/opening-hours.html#gbb-accordion-e7303c601e-item-c89a48f565

👉* Marina Bay Sands Observation Deck before 5pm open ticket: https://gyg.me/VoqSpiWD

👉 Marina Bay Observation Deck after 5pm specific time slot: https://www.marinabaysands.com/attractions/sands-skypark.html

👉 The Ce La Vi rooftop Bar: https://www.celavi.com/en/singapore/faq/

👉* The Michelin Food Hawker Tour through Chinatown: https://gyg.me/5bGUU2IK

👉* Universal Studios Singapore: https://gyg.me/5Hds4F0a

👉* Reusable discount for E Sim data plans from Airalo (anywhere in the world): https://airalo.pxf.io/c/2373656/1268485/15608
Use code SUITCASE15 & get 15% off (new customers)
Use code SUITCASE10 & get 10% off (existing customers)

👉* *Full PDF GUIDE with links more visited attractions, hotel and notable places:*👇👇👇
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rjlQ8ePhwUasHsNnw6u7ac8thW3Vx8vl/view?usp=drive_link

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00:00 Singapore Dos and Don’ts
00:36 Gardens by the Bay Guide
3:05 Public Transport in Singapore
4:27 Using Card in Singapore
5:54 Marina Bay Sands Observation Deck
7:00 Hotels in Singapore
8:09 When best to visit Singapore
9:20 Night Safari Tips
10:40 Singapore on a Budget
12:19 What else to visit?

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#singapore #singaporemistakes #singaporetravelguide

Why you shouldn’t book the Gardens by the Bay 
Trees in advance, how to effectively visit the top of Marina Bay Sands for free, why you 
should skip the Tourist Transport Card, how to save at least save 30% on attraction 
tickets and loads more insights for visiting the impressive Lion City. Here’s what 
I wish knew before visiting Singapore… Firstly, because I’m so inclined, I made this 
simple page for all attractions we visited, to help anyone short on time. Feel free to 
pause before I cut away which will be… now. Every first time trip to Singapore , has 
to include a walk through the impressive Gardens by the Bay so let’s start with 
a few things I wish I’d known going in… There are actually 6 main attractions 
within Gardens by the Bay and before visiting I wasn’t sure which to choose from. So 
I first wanted to share what each of them are, and which might be more skippable than others… Gardens by the Bay itself is fully free to 
explore. You can walk underneath the SuperTrees, and around the gardens for a good 
hour if you wanted. The night show, Garden Rhapsody is also free and 
something I’d definitely recommend. We paid for the Skyway ticket which are 
the bridges between the trees and is a great single ticket option for only $14 SGD. 
We only waited about 10 minutes to line up, but queues will likely be longer 
the closer you get to the evening. The second option, The Observatory, is the 
highest tree in the Grove and has both an outdoor and indoor viewing platform. The views 
here will be slightly different to the Skyway, giving a more top down perspective on 
the nearby trees, but you’ll probably be satisfied visiting just 
one of these two, as we did… One thing to keep in mind, is that rain or 
lightning, will close all of the Skyway and the outside platform to the Observatory. So I’d advise 
against pre booking the Skyway specifically for this reason, and on the day you are visiting, just 
keep an eye on the sky. More on the weather later. The next best attractions 
are just a short walk away: The Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. Just from 
a pricing point of view, it’s around 10 more Singaporean Dollars for the combined ticket for 
both so it’s probably worth double dipping here. The Cloud Forest for us was definitely the better 
of the two though, being the most impressive in terms of scale and presentation. The Flower 
Dome was more a traditional Botanical Garden so although enjoyable, wasn’t as unique 
but still worth it as a combo ticket. The Floral Fantasy was just fine for what it 
was. But, for $20 SGD, unless you’re really into flowers, or Insta poses, it’s the easiest 
one to skip if you’re paying full price. Later in this video, I’ll cover how to save a third on 
most attraction tickets, so stick around for that… Finally, its worth mentioning that each of 
these attractions will close at least once a month so I’ll link the up to date info 
in the description below. I’ve also made a downloadable Singapore PDF guide that will 
have all links talked about in this video, plus some bonus info, in written 
form, so hopefully that all helps. Public transport in Singapore is both 
excellent and at incredibly low prices. The trains were well connected, clean and 
regular. For the buses, even during rush hour, they weren’t packed, again were clean, frequent 
and proper traffic jams seemed so little, at least on the routes we took, 
you never got that “oh god, when are we going to move” vibe you can 
often get on buses. And all this is very affordable. Taking a train from the airport 
was about an hour and only cost $2.5 SGD. My main takeaway in regards to transport though, 
is to ignore getting the EZ Link Card or Singapore Tourist Pass Cards that you’ll see being promoted. 
We just used our contactless cards by way of our phones on a pay as you go basis and it was 
as simple as tapping what you already have. Since most journeys were only 1.50 
SGD, we were there for 8 days and used transport daily for every journey, 
and still only spent $26 SGD per person. For comparison, the Tourist Pass 
is $34 SGD for just 3 days and requires you to visit a specific 
ticket office to collect the card, and then you can get a refundable deposit back 
later, but it all seems like an unnecessary faff. So for all bus and train journeys, you just tap 
to enter and tap to exit for the correct fare. And just briefly on this subject, card 
is accepted everywhere in Singapore, with the only exception being Hawker centres where 
you’ll need cash. So if you do want to get local cash before arriving, just keep that in mind 
in terms of the amount you’ll actually require. Next I want to share how you can essentially visit the Marina Bay Hotel Observation deck 
for free but, before we get to that… I wanted to touch upon something that I 
don’t usually talk about on this channel, but I’ve seen countless times how therapy 
has been immensely helpful to the people in my life. And if you’ve ever thought 
about speaking with a therapist, there is an online platform that alleviates some of the 
barriers to finding the right person for you. This is a paid partnership with BetterHelp 
and what I really like is how accessible the service is. If you’re nervous about 
speaking to someone, like the old cliche, in a room, lying down on a couch, instead, 
you can more easily schedule a phone call, a video call or even just a live 
text chat to dip your toe in. Previously when looking for a therapist, I’ve felt 
restricted by my own geography but with BetterHelp being online, you can obviously cast your net 
much further. And if you’re travelling like we are at the moment, or you’re frequently away with 
work, this might better fit around your schedule. It’s easy to sign up and get matched with 
a therapist today. There’s a link in the description or via the QR code on screen 
now. It’s Betterhelp.com/SuitcaseMonkey Clicking that link gets you 10% 
off your first month so you can connect with a therapist and see if it helps you. Next, visiting the Marina Bay Skypark 
Observation Deck, the most iconic and central viewing platform in Singapore. My first 
tip is if you’re planning on visiting after 5pm, for sunset, you will need to pre book 
a specific time slot beforehand and it’s easiest to just book direct 
for this, which I’ll link below. If you are visiting in the morning 
up to around mid afternoon, you can easily just buy on the day, 
or use the explorer pass like we did, as a walk up – again, more on that later. 
It’s only after 5pm you’d need to prebook. Lastly, there is one hack of sorts to get up 
here for free. The Ce La Vie SkyBar allows both walk up and reservations and has a $30 SGD 
entry ticket, but that cost is redeemable off food and drinks. So instead of paying $32 SGD 
for just the view, you could pay $30 and get a drink and seat included. Unfortunately, the 
dress code specifically mentions no singlets so that was me out. But for those of you who 
epitomise “casual chic” you’ll probably be fine. Accommodation can easily be your 
biggest expense in Singapore and if you want somewhere central with a good rating, you’re looking at least $100 USD per night 
and that’s sometimes if you’re lucky. In terms of general areas to 
stay, most of our time spent, was around here, so this would 
all be considered central. For us, having that central location, a well 
reviewed hotel, whilst keeping the price in check, meant staying in this tiny room but 
it still ticked all our boxes. They do have larger rooms available, but since 
we only slept here, it was a fair trade for what was important for us. I’ve again linked 
where we stayed and some alternatives below. It was a brand new hotel so was really clean, 
and being situated in Bugis, which is a good area in general, the location was perfect. 
Not only walking distance to Kampong Glam, but also with great transport links to the 
airport, Orchard Road, Chinatown, all being a single train away. They also had 2 balconies which 
were really nice to relax with a morning coffee. If you Google “when to best visit Singapore”, you’ll find little consistency with the answers 
and that’s because largely, it is a year round destination. And that is a seamless segue into 
every Englishman’s favourite topic – the weather. Statistically, it rains the most from November to 
January, which is when we were there. So maybe we were off peak? I guess, just keep that in mind 
when I’m talking about wait times in the video. But, looking back, inclement weather probably only impacted our plans for maybe 
5 hours over the whole week. In Singapore, there’s almost always the 
chance of rain, to the extent we stopped even looking at the forecast. Mostly because 
it was inaccurate: The predicted rain mostly just didn’t materialise. Maybe it would rain 
for a few hours and then it was gone but it usually felt pretty refreshing afterwards. 
A grey cold English drizzle this was not. Except for one exception where it 
was just too crazy to be outside, the country is built for this rain. 
Walkways are largely covered and there’s an abundance of malls and 
indoor attractions for a reason. Maybe just think twice about the second 
half of September when the Grand Prix is in town but outside of the normal obvious 
peaks in travel prices, it’s pretty open. So I wouldn’t worry about it too much 
and definitely don’t panic when you see this the day before your arrival. 
I might’ve panicked just a tad. The Night Safari is one of the most 
popular Singaporean attractions, especially with children, and makes 
for a unique, enjoyable evening. We only visited here, but next door, 
they do also have the Singapore Zoo itself and River Wonders, a zoo/aquarium 
with a boat ride which seems fun enough, so you could spend all day here if you wanted. For the Night Safari, there’s 
3 things to look forward to. A 40 minute tram ride which is the main attraction, 4 walking trails which take around 1 to 2 hours 
to complete in all, and a 25 minute live show. Something I read multiple times before arriving 
and then saw with my own eyes is how to best avoid the tram queue. When the park opens, everyone just 
heads straight there so for us, this was a half an hour wait. But if the lines are long, you can 
just do 1 or 2 of the walking trails first, which will then loop you back to the tram entrance, and 
by that point, you can just walk on with no wait. It’s suggested you pre book your slot for the 
Night Show. Just before and after the entrance, you’ll see a QR code which lets you make 
that free reservation. Although to be honest, without children, the show was 
just ok. It was a bit too much, “oh look at his little face” for me, but 
it might just be that I’m dead inside. Next, a few cost saving tips. 
It’s easy to let the spending run away with you in Singapore so here’s 
a few simple ways to keep that in check. If you are planning on visiting 
a bunch of the main attractions, definitely consider getting the city pass. Again, I’ll leave a link in the description for the 
one we used, but long story short, we saved a third of what it would’ve cost when visiting 
7 attractions so it’s almost a no brainer. There were 2 attractions we needed to 
pre book once we had the pass and that was the Michelin Food Hawker tour which was 
excellent and was suggested a couple of weeks before. And the Night Safari which was about 
a week before so keep that in mind. But all the other attractions were just walk up and 
your digital tickets are scanned on entry. There’s either the Explorer Pass where you can 
choose how many attractions you want to visit, from 2 up to 7. They can all then 
be visited over a 60 day period, allowing flexibility if you fear commitment. Otherwise, you can just get the all inclusive 
pass. This comes with the added bonus of including Universal Studios and is for back to back days. 
This is obviously best if you want to squeeze lots out of Singapore, and comparatively, you’d 
likely save you a small fortune in the process. Relatively we found food to be less expensive 
here than we assumed for such a city. You could eat at a Mall food court for as little as 
$6.50 SGD and still have a good meal. And then a good restaurant main course dish would 
start around $15 SGD and then the skies the limit. But overall, I don’t think we had 
a single bad dish during our time here. In our previous Singapore vlog, we showed 
what a perfect 3 day itinerary might look like. Since we were here for a week 
though, there are a few things that didn’t quite make the cut, but still 
might be good options for some of you. We really enjoyed our few hours walking 
around the free Botanical Gardens; the country’s first UNESCO site and 60 
acres of land in all. In a city that doesn’t have that many open spaces, 
this is a really nice change of pace. The Hop on/hop off bus is a good way to 
see parts of the city you might normally miss and that was what actually took us to 
the Botanical Gardens in the first place. Little India gives a different flavour to the rest of the city and we enjoyed an 
hour wandering around its streets. The ArtScience Museum is more famous for what 
it looks like on the outside, but inside, there are a bunch of exhibitions. We only had 
the time to visit the one included in our pass, but it was a good 30 minutes, again, 
better with children I’d say, but, maybe not worth the full price, 
without the pass discount. One hawker centre I didn’t cover in the 
previous video but really enjoyed was the Newton Food Centre. The main reason 
is that I am a massive fan of the movie, Crazy Rich Asians and this is actually the first 
location their friends take them to after landing at the airport. So that alone was reason enough 
to visit for me, but it’s also a nice open space with some cover if it rains so I enjoyed the 
fresh air experience. And of course, the food. Again I’ll share all the notable links and places 
featured here in the description below, along with a written PDF travel guide which I know some of 
you have found useful from previous videos. 🙂 To watch what we actually got up to whilst in 
Singapore, do check out part 1 to this video, otherwise I’ll throw up something else 
I think you’ll enjoy next. Let me know any thoughts or questions and as ever, 
thanks for watching, Suitcase Monkey.