rahulm

I have a flight that arrives into Singapore at 8:30 AM and my connecting flight is at 5:50 PM, giving me a day in Singapore. I'm sure this is not enough to see ALL of it, but I was hoping to do the following:

- Meet a friend for lunch (maybe). Can you suggest good vegetarian places?
- See 1 sight that is fun and gives me a feel for Singapore. While I love museums, I think I'll save them for another day. Shopping is not my thing (at least malls are not). To give some perspective, when I had a day in Hong Kong, I went up the peak and took a lot of pictures. Another time I went and walked around the markets in Kowloon (again took lots of pictures).
- I want to try kopitaim and yong tofu (tau foo?) just for kicks. I'm vegetarian (eggs ok) so can you suggest where I get this stuff?

Anything else you suggest I can do?

- How much time should I plan to be in Singapore given my flight times?
How do I get to the city and back to the airport? Are there airport trains or something? How long does it take?
Thanks.

Cicerone

Rahulum, you posted another thread today, just a few minutes before you posted this one, which says you have a flight into Singapore which arrives at 1 am and departs at 7:30 am, see http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...-at-changi.cfm. The post above gives completely different times for you layover. Before any of us spend time giving advice, can you clarify as to which is correct?

rahulm

Cicerone: One is on my way to India and the other is on my way out of India.

I've benefited A LOT from this forum and wouldn't dream of trolling and wasting peoples time here.

rhkkmk

The hipo tourist bus is a very good , reasonable way to see the town. If you can leave your luggage at the air port , take a taxi to Suntec where the line operates out of. They have 2 routes that if you don't get off, each takes an hour. The red , heritage one shows you more. The yellow on show you the shopping area. They also have a boat ride that takes 1/2 hr ,but you do get a good feel for the city from the water. The schedule of all the routes are pretty well coordinated, so you don't waste a lot time waitng for the next ride. Little India has alot of good vegetarian places.

Kathie

Personally, I wouldn't spend my time on the tourist bus, I'd choose a place to visit. If it were me, I might choose the botanical gardens (make sure to visit the orchid garden). Or I might wander Little India, or visit the Jurong Bird Park just to walk in the aviary.

You'll fing good food everywhere. Little India is a good choice, or one of the many hawker centers. You'll have no difficulty finding vegetarian food.

Enjoy!

rahulm

Thanks Kathie and Bob for your suggestions.

I'll create a simple itinerary and post here to get your suggestions on the timings/places.

StanKase

Personally I tink you can visit the botantical gardens and walk through little India. i will leave it to others to suggest a good veggie restaurant but I am sure you will find several good ones right around Little india. If you can check your bags through then you can take a taxi likely by 9:30 to the gardens ($25USD, but ask before you get in) and spend 2 hours there and cab it to a restaurant by 12:30. We did not spend more than 90 minutes in Little India so you can start at 2:30 and be ready to leave for the airport before 4 ($20-$24)arriving by 4:30. If you have boarding passes amd no luggage to check you should be fine.

partyon

rahulm, by any chance are you flying Singapore AIrlines? If so, SQ offers a free tour of Singapore if you have a 5 plus hour layover. The drawback is that you'll only see Singapore from the bus.

A few suggestions:-

Have a plan B in place just incase the weather isn't cooperating. I would suggest a visit to one of the museums which are all indoors and an easy MRT ride from the airport if it's raining.

A visit to Little India/the Arab district would be my suggestion if the weather is good for strolling around outdoors.

If you want to see one sight that is unique to Singapore, my pick would be to see the Merlion, one of the symbols of the state. Another good choice would be the Orchid garden.

rahulm

Thanks, everyone. I just heard back from my friend who lives in Singapore. The current plan is to first go to his place (30 mins by train from the airport), wash up a bit and he promised he'll take me out to see some sights in Singapore and to good Singaporean restaurants that serve vegetarian fare.

This is tad unlike how I travel (need to have a by the minute itinerary) but I figure it'll be nice to let him show me around and also for him and I to catch up.