Overnight in Singapore - Anything to do?
Feb 13th, 2008, 11:21 AM
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Overnight in Singapore - Anything to do?
I will be arriving in Singapore at 12:20 am with my connecting flight not until 9:35am. I have never been to Singapore so I was hoping to go into the city, find a place to eat/drink and just check it out. Any ideas? Is this even possible considering the time I will be there? Thank you in advance for your reply.
Feb 13th, 2008, 11:30 AM
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You can certainly go into the city if you'd like. It takes maybe 20 minutes from the airport via taxi, or even less via the MRT. Of course, you'll be there in the middle of the night, so there isn't a lot to do. You could find a bar to eat and drink, perhaps down by the boat quay.
Is your baggage checked through to your final destination? If you are flying in/out on one of the budget airlines, you can't check baggage through and will have to be back in time to check your baggage into the next flight - 2 hours in advance.
Is your baggage checked through to your final destination? If you are flying in/out on one of the budget airlines, you can't check baggage through and will have to be back in time to check your baggage into the next flight - 2 hours in advance.
Feb 13th, 2008, 12:34 PM
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I am not sure if my baggage gets checked all the way thru or not. I am flying United to Singapore (via Hong Kong) and then Singapore airlines to Bali. United and Singapore Airlines are both part of Star Alliance, but I am not certain.
Feb 13th, 2008, 01:50 PM
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Craig is right... so think about whether you want to check your baaggage through. If you don't you have to pick it up in SIngapore, and you won't be able to check it in for your flight until about 2.5 hours before your flight to Bali.
Feb 13th, 2008, 04:05 PM
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Here's my suggestion -
When you check in for your United flight, check your luggage all the way to Bali and get your boarding passes for your connecting Singapore Air flights.
This will enable you to leave Changi Airport in Singapore and get back into the departures area without having to check in again.
If you leave Changi without your connecting flight boarding pass, you'll have to check in when you return to the airport, and as Kathie mentioned, you can only do this a few hours before the flight.
If you're tired and don't want to leave the airport, you might consider getting some sleep at the Transit Hotel. They rent rooms in six hour blocks. It's best to book in advance as the hotel fills up, but it's sometimes possible to get a room on the spot.
Not many places in Singapore are open all night. There are clubs of course, and the huge Mustafa shopping center in Little India is open 24 hours, but those are the only places I can think of.
When you check in for your United flight, check your luggage all the way to Bali and get your boarding passes for your connecting Singapore Air flights.
This will enable you to leave Changi Airport in Singapore and get back into the departures area without having to check in again.
If you leave Changi without your connecting flight boarding pass, you'll have to check in when you return to the airport, and as Kathie mentioned, you can only do this a few hours before the flight.
If you're tired and don't want to leave the airport, you might consider getting some sleep at the Transit Hotel. They rent rooms in six hour blocks. It's best to book in advance as the hotel fills up, but it's sometimes possible to get a room on the spot.
Not many places in Singapore are open all night. There are clubs of course, and the huge Mustafa shopping center in Little India is open 24 hours, but those are the only places I can think of.
Feb 13th, 2008, 05:59 PM
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There's lots of 24 hour eating places. You can check out the scene at Geylang where there's lots of eating places which close pretty late. There's a famous frog leg porridge around there, don't know the closing time though. Do note it's in the red light area.
Otherwise there's lots of places where you can have a prata and teh tarik.
Feb 15th, 2008, 02:39 AM
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I agree that you won’t find a lot to do in terms of sights at that hour, but you can observe the natives at their national pastime: eating!! Hopefully you can participate as well….
Most of the “hawker” stalls, which MLoke is referring to, don’t close until about 3 am, some a bit later, esp in Geylang. I am hopeful that if you land on time, and get through Immigration quickly, you will be able to be hitting one of these places by 1:30 or 2 am, which won’t give you a lot of time, but will give you a “taste” so to speak. These are open-air stalls selling all kinds of Malay, Chinese and Indian food, and the specialty of Singapore: Peranakan
or Straights Chinese cuisine, a fantastic mix of them all. You can order a bunch of stuff from different stalls and then bring it to whatever table you want. The food is friggin’ terrific, and very cheap (and of course safe, its Singapore, drink the water right out of the tap…) Singaporeans love to go out for a curry or fried noodle snack late in the evening, so places are open late. You might see if this Fodors site here gives any info on hawker stalls (click on “Destinations”), also try the website for the tourist authority at www.visitsingapore.com. Guidebooks usually have a few reccos. If you take a taxi into town, by all means ask your driver to take you to HIS favourite place, don’t waste any time faffing around with the guidebook reccos. Ask the Immigration people, the people in baggage claim, Singaporeans <i>love</i> to talk about food! (And please if you get a good recco, post here, all stalls have business cards!!)
One problem you will have is that the subway will not be running from the airport into town after about midnight, so you will have to take a taxi or a bus (can’t help with the buses, but they are cheap and convenient once you figure out the system, take a look at http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/ and http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/busguide/guide.asp and if you are going to be there on a Friday, Sat or eve of a public holiday, there is a NightRider bus operated by SMRT that plys the main bar and restaurant areas, see http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/transpor...der/index1.htm). Taxis are cheap, however, (there will be surcharge after midnight from the airport). However, even with that to get to downtown will cost like S$25 and to get to Geylang which is even closer, would be a bit more than half of that fare, IMO.
Also, the bigger hotels have at least one restaurant that is open 24 hours, so you can always find a place to hang out there, you might try the ones along Orchard Road which may be livelier later in the evening. The Marriott has an outdoor café at the corner of Scotts and Orchard, not sure that they are open that late, but you may try it.
Yes, Geylang is a bit of a red light district (and its actually the transvestites that you really notice IMO), but still IMO completely safe so I would not have any worries. Have the taxi take you to Geylang Road, where there are little alleys, called “Lors” each with a number, running north and south off Geylang, there are hawker stalls and outdoor restaurants all along Geylang and down the Lors (and the brothels too, but they are almost all on the <i>even</i> numbered Lors running north off Geylang). I like the Beef Kway Teow Place at Lor 9 (called simply Beef Kway Teow), and at Lor 11 is the Fo You Yuan Vegetarian that is very good. Really, just walk along and try what looks good, it’s hard to get a bad meal, and you won’t spend a lot of money.
There is a major hawker centre at Newton Circus just north of Orchard Road. This has a reputation as being touristy, and they may try to tell you seats are reserved for certain stalls, that is crap, just ignore them. I would avoid buying seafood by the catty/pound as they will try to sell you too much, IMO, but otherwise this is a good place, it is more expensive than other hawker places (I have to say I was in Singapore this weekend, and took a completely non-scientific poll of my Singaporean friends during Sunday lunch as to their favourite hawker stall places, and, surprisingly, Newton Circus was quite popular! So its touristy rep may be undeserved.)
You can also find the hawker stalls open in many other places, you could try Glutton’s Bay which is down along the waterfront Esplanade. This is a collection of some of the best outlets in the city. This location which would give you a good view of the city skyscrapers and bits of the colonial areas that are lit at night if you wanted to walk around. (Again, completely safe.) The Ritz-Carlton is nearby if you want to take a taxi from the airport instead and walk over to Glutton’s Bay. You could also have a drink at the bar in the hotel before or after if you need a little air con.
Some things to try would be Char Kway Teow or Beef Kway Teow (fried flat noodles, the latter with beef), popiah (soft vegetarian spring rolls), roti john (spicy omlette sandwich), murtabak (a doughy crepe filled with spicy lamb), chilli crab, black pepper crab, anything in sambal (I had quails eggs in sambal this weekend in Singapore, fantastic), oyster omlette, fried baby squid in honey, Laksa, carrot cake (not at all what you think) and top it off with an ice kacang or just some fresh mango.
If you want to have a drink rather than eat, there is a nice bar at Opiume which is part of the Indochine Waterfront restaurant on the Singapore River that is open late (most bars open until about 2 am on weekdays and 3 am on weekdays), you can sit outdoors along the river, see http://www.indochine.com.sg/. They serve some finger food too. The Fullerton Hotel is across the river and does have a nice bar, however, there is no view from either inside or outside on their terrace, its more of a courtyard. http://www.fullertonhotel.com/
There is a pretty active street of bars at Mohamed Sultan Road, which is in-between Orchard Road and the downtown area. It should be active until about 2-3 am.
Most of the “hawker” stalls, which MLoke is referring to, don’t close until about 3 am, some a bit later, esp in Geylang. I am hopeful that if you land on time, and get through Immigration quickly, you will be able to be hitting one of these places by 1:30 or 2 am, which won’t give you a lot of time, but will give you a “taste” so to speak. These are open-air stalls selling all kinds of Malay, Chinese and Indian food, and the specialty of Singapore: Peranakan
or Straights Chinese cuisine, a fantastic mix of them all. You can order a bunch of stuff from different stalls and then bring it to whatever table you want. The food is friggin’ terrific, and very cheap (and of course safe, its Singapore, drink the water right out of the tap…) Singaporeans love to go out for a curry or fried noodle snack late in the evening, so places are open late. You might see if this Fodors site here gives any info on hawker stalls (click on “Destinations”), also try the website for the tourist authority at www.visitsingapore.com. Guidebooks usually have a few reccos. If you take a taxi into town, by all means ask your driver to take you to HIS favourite place, don’t waste any time faffing around with the guidebook reccos. Ask the Immigration people, the people in baggage claim, Singaporeans <i>love</i> to talk about food! (And please if you get a good recco, post here, all stalls have business cards!!)
One problem you will have is that the subway will not be running from the airport into town after about midnight, so you will have to take a taxi or a bus (can’t help with the buses, but they are cheap and convenient once you figure out the system, take a look at http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/ and http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/busguide/guide.asp and if you are going to be there on a Friday, Sat or eve of a public holiday, there is a NightRider bus operated by SMRT that plys the main bar and restaurant areas, see http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/transpor...der/index1.htm). Taxis are cheap, however, (there will be surcharge after midnight from the airport). However, even with that to get to downtown will cost like S$25 and to get to Geylang which is even closer, would be a bit more than half of that fare, IMO.
Also, the bigger hotels have at least one restaurant that is open 24 hours, so you can always find a place to hang out there, you might try the ones along Orchard Road which may be livelier later in the evening. The Marriott has an outdoor café at the corner of Scotts and Orchard, not sure that they are open that late, but you may try it.
Yes, Geylang is a bit of a red light district (and its actually the transvestites that you really notice IMO), but still IMO completely safe so I would not have any worries. Have the taxi take you to Geylang Road, where there are little alleys, called “Lors” each with a number, running north and south off Geylang, there are hawker stalls and outdoor restaurants all along Geylang and down the Lors (and the brothels too, but they are almost all on the <i>even</i> numbered Lors running north off Geylang). I like the Beef Kway Teow Place at Lor 9 (called simply Beef Kway Teow), and at Lor 11 is the Fo You Yuan Vegetarian that is very good. Really, just walk along and try what looks good, it’s hard to get a bad meal, and you won’t spend a lot of money.
There is a major hawker centre at Newton Circus just north of Orchard Road. This has a reputation as being touristy, and they may try to tell you seats are reserved for certain stalls, that is crap, just ignore them. I would avoid buying seafood by the catty/pound as they will try to sell you too much, IMO, but otherwise this is a good place, it is more expensive than other hawker places (I have to say I was in Singapore this weekend, and took a completely non-scientific poll of my Singaporean friends during Sunday lunch as to their favourite hawker stall places, and, surprisingly, Newton Circus was quite popular! So its touristy rep may be undeserved.)
You can also find the hawker stalls open in many other places, you could try Glutton’s Bay which is down along the waterfront Esplanade. This is a collection of some of the best outlets in the city. This location which would give you a good view of the city skyscrapers and bits of the colonial areas that are lit at night if you wanted to walk around. (Again, completely safe.) The Ritz-Carlton is nearby if you want to take a taxi from the airport instead and walk over to Glutton’s Bay. You could also have a drink at the bar in the hotel before or after if you need a little air con.
Some things to try would be Char Kway Teow or Beef Kway Teow (fried flat noodles, the latter with beef), popiah (soft vegetarian spring rolls), roti john (spicy omlette sandwich), murtabak (a doughy crepe filled with spicy lamb), chilli crab, black pepper crab, anything in sambal (I had quails eggs in sambal this weekend in Singapore, fantastic), oyster omlette, fried baby squid in honey, Laksa, carrot cake (not at all what you think) and top it off with an ice kacang or just some fresh mango.
If you want to have a drink rather than eat, there is a nice bar at Opiume which is part of the Indochine Waterfront restaurant on the Singapore River that is open late (most bars open until about 2 am on weekdays and 3 am on weekdays), you can sit outdoors along the river, see http://www.indochine.com.sg/. They serve some finger food too. The Fullerton Hotel is across the river and does have a nice bar, however, there is no view from either inside or outside on their terrace, its more of a courtyard. http://www.fullertonhotel.com/
There is a pretty active street of bars at Mohamed Sultan Road, which is in-between Orchard Road and the downtown area. It should be active until about 2-3 am.
