Visiting Singapore in 3 Days – Day 1

We arrived in Singapore around noon, and just the simple experience of the airport and the journey to the hotel was enough to realize this was a promising trip. The airport is super organized and the employees are extremely nice and polite, and already here was noticeable the cleanliness they’re used to.

The trip from the airport until we arrived to our hotel was amazing because we got a quite complete notion of the city, giant buildings touching the sky, vegetation and beautiful gardens everywhere.
After resting for a bit in the awesome The South Beach Hotel (see) we took a cab and went discovering the city.

1st Day

– The Marina and its gardens 

We started at Gardens By The Bay.

This unique space is a park with over 101 ha of maritime landfill, better put, a place that once was water. The park includes three gardens in front of the shore, the Bay South Garden, the Bay East Garden and the Bay Central Garden.

The complex Gardens by the Bay is part of a government strategy to transform the country from a “city-garden” into a “city in a garden”.

The goal is to increase the population’s quality of life through the introduction of more green spaces in the city (yes, even more).

 The impressive architecture of the Domes of Gardens by The Bay

The Gardens by the Bay contains over half a million plant species, basically it has imported plants from all around the world, being a major part kept in a closed garden, in conditions to assure their survival, once their climate of origin isn’t quite the same as in Singapore.

Bottom line, they bring a bit of several places in the world to the city.

Nowadays, it’s the most visited place in Singapore.

This huge park is constituted by five different spaces: the Flower Dome – the biggest glass greenhouse in the world, with plants and flowers from semiarid regions and from the Mediterranean; the Cloud Forest – a mysterious place that astonishes us with a mountain full of waterfalls; Supertree Grove – emblematic tree-gardens with over 25 to 50 m of height providing shadow during the day, and full of life, colour and music during the night!

A must see is the Lights Show, 15min long, at 9:45 pm; the DragonFly & Kingfisher Lakes – a true wonder of the aquatic life right in the centre of town; and the Heritage Gardens – where we can discover the history and culture of Singapore through plants.

The first two spaces are open from 9am to 9pm and have a cost of $28 (around 18€) and the remaining spaces work from 5am to 2am, for free.

Cloud Forest

After visiting the complex we ended our afternoon watching the Lights Show, an amazing moment, in an evening full of fun, life and colour – have I told you that one of the best sensations of this trip was leaving the cold Porto and feeling the warmth of the Southeast Asia?!

The amazing lights show 

We were getting hungry by then and went delight ourselves with the traditional gastronomy of Singapore (so as saying, a fusion of the Malayan, Chinese and Indian cuisines), for that we chose one of the street food markets, or Hawker Centre – place that groups a series of spaces that sell meals, in the case of Singapore, all properly grouped and placed in spaces with all the hygiene and safety conditions to assure locals and tourists the best service possible – the Satay By The Bay.

The Hawker is next to Gardens By The Bay (you can easily find the directions from Gardens to the market, and if you don’t, just ask someone, nobody will deny you informations), and delights tourists and locals, it was a food feast, I love Asian food a bit more each day!

The ambiance of  Satay By the Bay

We couldn’t miss the classic Satay

But João will talk about the connection between food and Singapore in another article ahead.

– Marina Bay Sands

We ended our day at the emblematic Marina Bay Sands Hotel, yes, the one that marks the aesthetic look of the city for its size and greatness, and of course, for having the most famous pool in the world, or one of the most famous!

The view from the top of  Marina Bay Sands over the city 

We didn’t stay there, but we had to meet that bold architectural work, a postcard of the city, so we allied the useful to pleasure, therefore getting to know the hotel, its views over Singapore and toast to this trip with and excellent cocktail, at the also famous sky bar CÉ LA VI.

An important tip, if you truly want to climb to one of the highest spots in Singapore and have a monumental view over the city, mostly at night when it lights up, don’t fall into the mistake of going to Marina Bay Sands and pay $23 to go up to the observation deck, go to CÉ LA VI (higher spot) which is free and spend that money in a cocktail! Or opt to dine in the hotel’s restaurant that has the same view, and at least you spend the money in a dinner, not only to see the view!

Cocktails at CÉ LA VI

The Marina Bay Sands is an authentic splendour of architecture, observing its greatness is something that stays in your memory, for sure. Once inside prepare yourselves to confusion in its maximum, these three giant towers are full of stores, casinos, restaurants (here you find some of the best restaurants in the city, as well as signature restaurants from some famous chefs) and over 2000 hotel rooms. It’s highlight? The huge Infinity Pool on the top of the three towers, in the shape of a boat, accessible only to the guests.

Well, the day couldn’t have gone better, tired but happy, we returned to the hotel with the certainty that the next day would be a surprising one.

A special toast to a great night in Singapore 

Where to stay 
The South Beach
The Fullerton Hotel

More informations 
– Gardens By The Bay
– Marina Bay Sands
– Cé La Vi

 English Version

 Text: Cíntia Oliveira | Photos: Flavors & Senses

Disclaimer
Flavors & Senses in Singapore with the support of Samsonite and of Singapore Tourism Board (STB) – #YourSingapore.
– During our trip we were accompanied by the tireless Naseem Huseni – STB’s Guide 

This is the 2nd of 5 articles for our Singapore Guide