One Day in Singapore: What To Do On A Singapore Stopover

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Got a long layover or a stopover in Singapore?

Well you couldn’t have picked a better city for it – there’s SO much you can do to fill one day in Singapore!

From waterfalls to street art to gardens, here are my top recommendations for what to do to have a fun-filled Singapore stopover —

 

Singapore Changi Airport (Jewel)

Changi is one of the best airports in the world, and fortunately you have time to actually enjoy it before rushing off to your next flight.

Not only is Changi really nice, clean, and enjoyable to spend time in, it also offers dozens of attractions across all its terminals (many of which are kid-friendly) to help travelers kill time.

You can have a look at this list of attractions at Changi Airport and stop to check out anything of interest in the terminal that you’re landing in (e.g. there’s a butterfly garden in T3!).

For the sake of this blog post being accessible to all travelers on a Singapore stopover, we’re going to focus on attractions in the Jewel terminal, which everyone (even people who aren’t flying) can enjoy. You don’t need to show a passport and boarding pass to access Jewel; all you need to do is go through immigration when leaving whatever terminal you landed in, and follow signs for Jewel.

Changi Airport’s Jewel terminal offers a dozen or so things to see and do beyond restaurants and shops, including:

• Bouncing Net
• Canopy Park/Bridge
• Changi Experience Studio
• Discovery Slides
• Foggy Bowls
• Hedge Maze
• Mirror Maze
• Petal Garden
• Rain Vortex
• Shiseido Forest Valley
• Topiary Walk
• Walking Net

Depending on how much time you have on your Singapore stopover or layover and whether you have kids in tow, I recommend the following Changi Airport attractions (in order of priority):

• Rain Vortex
• Forest Valley
• Canopy Park/Bridge

Rain Vortex

If there’s one thing you should do in Jewel Terminal, it’s the Rain Vortex.

You’ve likely seen photos of a waterfall in the middle of Singapore Airport. This is the Rain Vortex… and it’s magnificent!

The Jewel Rain Vortex is the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, spanning 7 stories or 40 meters. It looks different depending on what angle you view it from and what the lighting conditions are, so you can have a completely different experience of it each time you visit.

At night, there’s a Light & Music Showcase at the Rain Vortex. Catch the 8pm or 9pm show daily, or the 10pm show on Friday-Sunday. There’s plenty of seating (essentially wooden bleachers) around it from which to sit and enjoy the show and the falls.

NOTE: The waterfall runs from 11am-10pm Monday-Thursday and 10am-10pm on Friday-Sunday, so be sure to time your visit accordingly!

Forest Valley

Surrounding the Rain Vortex is a whole lot of greenery. This is the Shiseido Forest Valley.

With various entry points from level 1 through 4, you can walk around the Rain Vortex through this indoor garden. The Forest Valley boasts 900+ trees/palms and 60,000+ shrubs (i.e. there’s a whole lot of green in this part of the terminal). It’s relaxing just to wander the walking “trails” or sit amongst the plants. After all, at what other airport can you experience something like this?

NOTE: No wheeled bags are allowed in the Shiseido Forest Valley, so be sure to store your baggage on level 1 as noted above!

Canopy Bridge

Ascend to level 5 of Jewel to walk across the Canopy Bridge, sitting 23 meters over the ground. It’s meant to simulate walking amongst the clouds, with a glass bottom in parts as well as fog present at both ends of the bridge. From up here, you can take in the view of the waterfall and forest from this unique vantage point.

The Canopy Bridge is open daily from 10am-9pm and costs SGD 13.90 per adult (~ US$11 or AU$16) and SGD 11.90 per child for admission. Your ticket also grants you entry to Discovery Slides, Foggy Bowls, Petal Garden, and the Topiary Walk.

NOTE: No wheeled bags are allowed in Canopy Park, so be sure to store your baggage on level 1.

Kampong Glam

From Changi airport, head into the city to grab coffee and lunch in Kampong Glam, Singapore’s trendy Muslim Quarter. Here you’ll find elaborate mosques juxtaposed with vibrant street art, and a smattering of hip bars, cafes, and boutiques.

Arab Street and Haji Lane are the main streets of interest running through Kampong Glam. You can’t go wrong by walking them both and exploring any side streets that catch your fancy.

I recommend grabbing coffee from Earlybird and going for a stroll towards Sultan Mosque. If ogling this ornate building from the outside isn’t enough, you can pop in for a look inside the mosque during visiting hours (Sat-Thurs 10-12 and 2-4).

Next, head down Arab Street and keep your eyes peeled for a sweeping archway on the left side of the street. This marks the start of Muscat Street, home to many vibrant murals painted on the sides of buildings. It’s a very popular photo op, so expect to wait around to get your shots.

Also on Arab Street: sooooo many gorgeous carpet stores! Highly impractical if you’re on a Singapore stopover, because you can’t exactly fly around the world with a carpet in tow (perhaps you could have it shipped home?)… but the carpets do make for excellent eye candy as you walk around Kampong Glam.

Running parallel to Arab Street is Haji Lane, a pedestrian-only laneway lined with unique shops and interesting cafes, many of which have colorful facades. Among the ones that caught my interest were What The Pug (a pug cafe!), HYGGE (a very cute gift shop), and Rumi The Poet’s Cup (cafe where you can play board games by the hour).

Haji Lane is a great place to grab lunch. There’s a good number of sweets outlets on this strip as well (think: chocolate, ice cream, acai, bubble tea, and confectionary).

Gardens by the Bay

Full disclosure: I personally have not yet visited Gardens by the Bay, despite it being on my bucket list for a very long time! However, living in Australia, I’ll inevitably be transiting through Singapore again in the future, so I know I’ll see it eventually :)

Singapore brands itself as “a city in a garden”, not a city with lots of gardens… an important distinction, I think, as it shows just how much Singapore reveres its greenery. The parks and gardens definitely give main character energy, while the city is but a mere supporting character.

In other words, Singapore takes nature very seriously and strives to keep incorporating greenery into its urban environment. Perhaps the most glaring example of this is the famous Gardens by the Bay, a world-class garden complex on the waterfront of Singapore.

Covering 250+ acres across 3 waterfront gardens, Gardens by the Bay is expansive, impressive, and more than a little overwhelming when it comes to deciding what to see during your stopover in Singapore.

I recommend you tackle this attraction in 3 steps:

1. Start with Supertree Grove, which is free to wander around. This is where you’ll find the majority of those iconic tall trees, some of which reach a height of 50 meters! At night, the Garden Rhapsody light show takes place here at 7:45pm and 8:45pm, where you can see the trees all lit up.

2. See the gardens from above via either the Supertree Observatory or the OCBC Skyway. Both are treetop walkways that cost 14 SGD, and seem to be very similar:

• The Supertree Observatory walkway runs around one Supertree, is a bit higher than OCBC, and has a small observation deck.
• The OCBC Skyway runs around multiple Supertrees and has a clearer view from the walkway, despite being a little lower.

Based on photos alone, I’ll probably opt for the OCBC Skyway when I visit, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either option.

CLICK TO BOOK TICKETS TO GARDENS BY THE BAY

3. If you have the time/desire, visit at least one of the ticketed gardens:

• Floral Fantasy – 4 sections of colorful floral arrangements hanging from the ceiling (15,000+ flowers, to be more precise!)
• Cloud Forest – contains a mountain, 35-meter waterfall, and aerial walkways set amongst 72,000+ plant species
• Flower Dome – named the largest glass greenhouse in the Guinness Book of World Records, and displays plants from a variety of regions around the world

Based on photos, Cloud Forest is the one I’d visit if I could only do one of the ticketed gardens. At the moment, it’s not available as a standalone ticket option and needs to be booked with either the Supertree Obervatory (34 SGD), or with Flower Dome + the Monet exhibition ($59).

Marina Bay Sands

Finish up your one day in Singapore with sunset and a fabulous view over the city at the famous Marina Bay Sands (you know, the hotel with an epic infinity pool over the Singapore skyline?).

Unfortunately only hotel guests can enjoy the infinity pool, but anyone can visit the SkyPark observation deck or the Ce la Vi rooftop bar at Marina Bay Sands.

• The Ce La Vi rooftop bar and restaurant is adjacent to the infinity pool and boasts pretty much the same view (if not better!). The SkyBar is the outdoor portion of the venue and wraps around the rooftop – this is where you want to be for sunset. It opens daily at 4pm and costs 35 SGD to enter (which you can redeem on food/drinks). You can’t book ahead, it’s first-come first-served – so get there early!
• The SkyPark observation deck is located slightly below the infinity pool and Ce La Vi, and has a spacious deck overlooking Gardens by the Bay and the Singapore skyline. Tickets cost 32 SGD.

If you’re trying to decide between Ce La Vi vs SkyPark observation deck, Ce La Vi is probably better bang for your buck since you get food/drink with your admission, while SkyPark might be better for photo ops since there’s plenty of room to spread out and shoot from various angles.

CLICK TO BOOK TICKETS TO MARINA BAY SANDS OBSERVATION DECK