Singapore travel guide

Top places to visit in Singapore

Singapore is a very small city-state, an island nation with very large attractions and achievements. Strategically situated on the tip of the Malaysian peninsula between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, Singapore has made itself the busiest port in the world.

The colonial hub of the city, today’s Civic District, is still the heart of administration, as it was in Raffles’s time. The clamour of Chinatown and the hum of business in the Central Business District around Raffles Place have not diminished. The Muslim area of Kampong Glam, and the predominantly Hindu Little India, retain their ethnic feel. Chic Orchard Road is one of Asia’s premier shopping areas.

Singapore packs in quite a bit given its tiny size. Once you’ve covered the city centre, venture out to the suburbs, where residential boundaries have been pushed even further as former farming land and fishing villages have been replaced with suburban towns linked by highways. Here in the outer areas you’ll find tiny pockets of Singapore where time has stood still. Parks and beaches provide opportunity to unwind, and there are nature reserves to explore and local flora and fauna to discover. To the south of the island, the isle of Sentosa is a resort and recreation area. 

The main island of Singapore, together with over 63 surrounding islets, covers about 699 sq km (270 sq miles) – four times smaller than Luxembourg or Rhode Island, the smallest state in the United States. Yet about half of this land consists of forest reserves, marshes and other green areas.

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