Our favourite Singapore places
As many people keep asking us for recommendations of places to visit in Singapore, Mel & I decided to put up a little list over here, that we can conveniently share with family & friends. If you are travelling with kids, I’ve also written a blog post on restaurants that we enjoyed going to with our baby and our then 3.5 year old son.
Our favourite restaurants / food:
Chicken Rice
Black Pepper Crab
Pandan Cake (Bengawan Solo)
Kaya Toast (Ya Kun Kaya Toast or Toast Box)
Dim Sum: Din Tai Fung (we love the one at Centrepoint, it’s never been crowded for dinner) or Crystal Jade at Takashimaya (book a table in advance!)
Lau Pa Sat food court: we used to go here in the evening for satay and BBQ stingray, though our friends say it’s become too touristy and the food is not the best anymore.
The Dempsey area has quite a few nice places to have dinner or brunch on a weekend. It’s very close to Orchard Road and the city centre, but also surrounded by loads of forest and greens.
We love eating at food courts (most shopping malls have one) as it’s easy, cheap and everyone can eat what they feel like.
Our kids love sushi and sushi trains. We’ve tried Genki Sushi and Sushi Ro - the sushi is good but it’s more for the whole experience that we go there.
Kueh Tutu: at the Food Republic in Vivocity, there’s a Kueh Tutu stall in the far back next to the drinks / dessert stand. It’s one of the desserts we all love as a family.
Bars & cafés:
Level 33 Bar with an amazing view over the Marina Bay area
Clarke Quay area
Arabica has different outlets with good (but also expensive) coffee.
Shopping:
Haji Lane for its little stores
Orchard Road has all the big shopping centres where you can find anything and everything. ION would definitely have the most variety, from luxury brands to more affordable clothes and shoes on the lower levels.
My favourite book shop is Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City on Orchard Road, I could spend hours there!
Family-friendly activities:
Gardens by the Bay: it’s a lovely area to visit and there is a huge water playground that our son really enjoyed (bring swim clothes or a change of clothes)
Sentosa: the island offers loads of activities for the kids! We visited the aquarium (though I remember that our son did not really enjoy the dark lights at 9 months, so it might either be an activity with older kids or just be prepared to walk through a bit faster depending on your child), went down to the beach and took the cable car back. Our kids are too small for Universal studios, but I can imagine taking them there in a couple of years.
Botanical Gardens: we love to stroll through the gardens, the kids can run around, there are playground and family-friendly cafés, and the National Orchid Garden hosts a huge variety of colourful orchids.
Walking along the Bay area from the Merlion to the Singapore Flyer: I love any kinds of areas where the kids can walk around on their own and I don’t need to worry any moments that they might jump into the street or so. This is one of my favourite areas because I love the view onto the Business District with its tall buildings, but also the colonial structure of the Fullerton Hotel and the Merlion. If you cross the Jubilee Bridge in the evening, the city lights are also amazing.
The Jewel at Changi Airport: there’s loads of activities for all ages at the Jewel - plus our kids always love watching airplanes take off and land. You can also easily visit the Jewel before heading to the airport to catch your flight as it’s directly connected to Changi Airport. The only downside is that you need to pay for quite a few activities. We went to the Discovery Walk on the top and there were a couple of slides but they had minimum height requirements for kids (110cm if I remember correctly) that our son did not meet at that point.
ArtScience Museum: we went to teamlab exhibition which included loads of light shows and activities for kids (and adults ;) slides, balls, drawing, etc.). Our 3-year-old really enjoyed it and I’d definitely recommend it for kids 3 years and older.
Splash Tribe on Palawan Beach: our kids loved this place! It’s a family beach club with slides for the little ones and there’s a big pool where even our 2-year-old could play on his own. There’s a small cover charge to get in (something like S$10 per person) but you need to consume a minimum of $50 or $100 depending on what space you reserve. As the booking is for a 4h slot, we felt that it was quite a reasonable investment for that period of time.
Keppel Centre for Art Education at the National Gallery: our kids loved this space! They can paint, build stuff, run around and explore. It’s one of these places I’d take the kids if I spending a day alone with them and wanted an easy fun activity for them. We only managed to explore two rooms as they close around lunch time for cleaning, but the boys really enjoyed it.
If you are travelling with kids, you might want to have a look at some of my previous posts:
Flying long haul with little kids