Okay, saying that Singapore is our least favorite country is a bit harsh; understanding the context of our ranking system is important! Singapore is known for it’s glitz and glamour and for being extremely clean and orderly. If you’ve been following us, you know that our family loves chaos (or maybe chaos loves us) which is why places rich, developed, orderly countries don’t really do it for us. We are on a quest for hands on exploration, learning, connection and contributing to local economies/communities.

That said, Singapore is a great destination with kids; it’s clean, easy to get around, tons to do and easy to get to from almost anywhere in Southeast Asia. The truth is, we needed to do a visa run (i.e. we needed to leave Vietnam and return on a new visa) so instead of driving to a border and turning around, we decided to make a trip out of it.

GETTING THERE:

We flew Vietjet from Vietnam, which is around 1.5 hours and around $100 US roundtrip per person. We’ve spent the past few years racking up our Bonvoy points, so of course we picked a Bonvoy hotel to stay at with points — we picked the JW Marriott South Beach. Given that we are Elite members, we were given an upgrade to a family room as well as Executive Lounge access (where we ate most of our meals).

Since we only had 48 hours (technically it was 40 hours), we wanted to make the most of our time, while not planning too much because, well, we were with kids and when you over plan, it leads to disaster.

Here’s what we did:

DAY 1: Flight, Hotel, Botanical Gardens, Marina Bay Sands, Satay Street

We arrived at Changi Airport at 2PM. We skipped most of the lines because we had 4 kids and it seems in Asia, they are very kid friendly! NOTE: always ask if there’s a shorter lines, point to your kids, then smile. 9/10 times, they always accommodate us.

We then took out Singaporian dollars at the ATM at the airport (1 Singaporian dollar = $.70 US) and took a 20 minute taxi to our hotel. The kids loved that the steering wheel was on the other side. We checked in, grabbed a snack at the lounge and headed to the Gardens by the Bay. Singapore has really good public transportation, but with the 4 kids and the stroller and being short on time, we opted for taxis (though we wish we took public transport - next time!).

The tickets for Gardens by the Bay were expensive for our family of 6 — it was about $118 Singaporian dollars ($82 US). We chose to see the Cloud Forest and the Flower Gardens. Both were incredible to see, but both were very crowded and unfortunately, there happen to be many middle-aged Indian men who were intrigued with our children and kept taking photos of them and touching their heads, which made the kids very uncomfortable. We also checked out the Hawker (food court) and got some Satay before we began. We spent about 2 hours at the Gardens.

Next, we decided to walk and try to find Marina Bay — the famous landmark hotel in Singapore. We walked for about 30 - 45 minutes (slow with kids) and found it (hard to miss), but we had to keep asking how to get there a there were highways and structures in between the Gardens and Marina Bay. We wanted to go to the top to take a picture at the Skypark Observation Deck) but after getting to the basement floor to buy tickets, the price was outrageous (about $140) so we concocted a plan…

We declined the tickets but needed to take the elevator because we had a stroller. As we entered the elevator to go back to the Lobby, there was someone going to the top floor (58th floor), so we stayed in. When the doors opened, 2 of the kids had to go to the bathroom, so we asked the lounge on the top (one floor up from the Observation Deck) if we could use the bathroom. After the bathroom, we turned left and there was an incredible view at the very top level — FOR FREE!!! We took our photos, looked around and made our way back to the elevator. So, there you go — a small hack to take a picture at the top without paying to go to the Skypark Observation Deck (you can watch all this in our YOUTUBE video here).

We went home, rested a bit and got dressed for dinner. We got many recommendations to go to La Pa Sat (Satay Street), which also happens to be in Crazy Rich Asians. The energy was electric and the place was packed but in a great way! There was one Satay stall that had a line of maybe 100 people. We were standing on the side looking at the people when the owner came up to us and asked us what we wanted. Within 2 minutes, they brought us food — we were shocked and elated. Another example of Asia being so kid friendly (at least compared to the USA). We enjoyed the Satay and some other Hawker Stalls and returned home around 11PM, by calling a GRAB (the Uber of SE Asia).

DAY 2: China Town, Merlion Lion, Malls and Night Safari

We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel in the Executive Lounge and then got in a taxi and headed to China Town. Some friends said to skip China Town, but we were determined to go and check out the Temples and streets. We got dropped off at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum, and started by lighting incense in the entrance (and making a small donation), then we went in and explored. Note — if your shoulders aren’t covered, they will provide you with a clean shawl at no charge. After the Temple, we explored the streets, bought some souvenirs and tried some local coffee. We then saw someone selling Durian and we decided to try it — it’s something you must try — though we hated it!

After China Town, we took a taxi to One Fullerton to see the Merlion Lion (note — you can take public transportation but opted for a taxi with the 4 kids). The Merlion Lion is a famous landmark and tourist attraction in Singapore — it’s a mythical creature with a lions head and a body of a fish. We also got overpriced ice cream (in the shape of the Merlion Lion).

From there, we walked to a mall near our hotel because, of all things, our kids had been begging for McDonalds. Singapore is known for its amazing food, so as culture seekers and travel enthusiasts, going to McDonalds is not on our list — but sometimes you just have to do it for the kids! We walked about 20 minutes to mall — which requires going underground to cross the street. The plus is that it’s air conditioned, and the con is that it’s annoying going up and down with strollers.

After that, we went back to the hotel for dinner in the Executive Lounge (yes, we mainly only ate at the Executive Lounge because it was free) and got ready for the night Safari.

We had purchased tickets ahead of time (you can purchase here), and we opted for the 830PM ride. In hindsight, this was a mistake as it was way too late. We suggest the 730PM ride, getting there a few hours before to see the zoo, have dinner, go on the Night Safari (about a 30 minute ride) then see one of the shows after.

DAY 3: We had an uneventful morning (free hotel breakfast in the executive lounge) then headed to the airport to fly back to Vietnam. We had heard that the airport was AMAZING and we planned to get there early. However, our flight was in a different terminal and it wasn’t possible for us to go to the Mall before the flight, so we didn’t really experience it.

Have you travelled to Singapore? What did we miss in the short 48 hours that we were there?

Watch our entire Singapore adventure on our YouTube here to better understand why it ranked low on our list!

Singapore is our LEAST Favorite Country