Awesome Singapore, Away From The Main Attractions

In the last few days, I’ve been reminiscing about our trip to Singapore in 2019. We had such an amazing time and fit as much in as we could in a short time. We could have done with another month to get into the nitty-gritty of it. 2 weeks on Sentosa alone would be great! Aside from the main attractions, Singapore is just fascinating. Every road or bridge has another story to tell. You can walk around for weeks and weeks and never get bored of seeing all the different things. The melting pot of different cultures makes it just an eclectic place to explore.

We stayed at the wonderful Furama Riverfront hotel. It’s an amazing hotel with a great pool area and awesome friendly staff. On our first night stay, they upgraded our room to a sensational family room. The room was decorated like an aquarium with a games console and bunk beds… It even had a small treasure chest and treasure hunt! Brilliant touch! The staff at the hotel were really friendly and brilliant for advice. They go above and beyond advising which busses to use and which routes to take for a walk.

For our first brief stay, we had approximately 24 hours from landing to taking off for Malaysia again. Not enough time to explore far but enough time to head out of the hotel and walk along the beautiful Singapore River. Despite it being a busy, bustling, modern city, it feels calm, clean and serene all the time.

Robertson Bridge area

Chewing gum is illegal here. It’s one of those things not seen as an issue anywhere else in the world but is a part of the reason why it’s such a clean city. It is a good idea to get yourself familiarised with all these local laws before travelling to make sure you don’t end up in trouble and spoil your trip!

Heading out of our hotel, we walked along the river a short way past trendy bars and restaurants. Be prepared to dodge grown men in suits on electric scooters (this bit never failed to make me smile). We love just taking in the atmosphere, and Singapore is abundant with the atmosphere. One of the attractions of Singapore to me is the atmosphere.

The humidity is something else, if you’ve never been to Southeast Asia before, this will take you a little bit to get used to, it hits you like a brick wall when you get out of the air-conditioned taxi! We had enough time for some food and drinks and found uni-cornettos at the 7-Eleven which made everyone’s day!

The appeal of Singapore River at night

After our Malaysia trip, we had 3 nights at the Furama again. Time to get out and see a bit more, we had big plans, and lots of big Singapore attractions to see, but we made some great memories just wandering and finding quirky little places and I only wish we had stayed longer and found more of these little places and eaten at some of the hawker stalls… It’s a good reason to go again!

Once we arrived we knew we needed to make the most of it and get out there, we dropped our bags at the hotel at about 4 pm. We freshened up quickly and headed off out along the river, heading towards the gardens by the bay. We walked 17,000 steps before 9 pm, which I think to the kids and their little legs was at least double! Not one moan or groan from them though the sights were too pretty to stop and think about our aching legs!

The city takes on a different vibe after dark. The bars and restaurants along the river are bustling with business people having a drink and a catch-up after work. It feels very cool, especially as you reach Clarke Quay, that’s the place to be! Each bridge and tunnel is lit up, everywhere feels safe and unlike in the UK after dark, it’s still warm!

Orchard Road

The next day we headed off bright and early over to one of the big Singapore attractions, Orchard Road to do some shopping. The amazing concierge told us which bus we needed and which stop we needed to wait at and also that we needed the correct change to get on the bus. We didn’t have any change and thought maybe this was not necessary.

Wrong! We got on the bus, I got the kids to sit down while Jay went to pay, as we had no change the bus driver just carried on driving and muttering while we were trying to find some change in the purse to pay. As we did, a lady in a suit stood up and paid the fare for us! An amazing act of kindness that made our day. She wouldn’t take any money from us despite offering either. So after a rocky start and a lesson learned we arrived at Orchard Road for a spot of shopping.

As we got off the bus at Central Mall, a quick toilet stop made me realise just how “Extra” Singapore is! A toilet block behind the 7-Eleven is so pretty that I took photos! Next, after the excitement of the toilets, we stopped for a small bite to eat to fuel the day.

Marche Movenpick 313@Somerset

My favourite food attraction in Singapore

A small kiosk in the mall looked perfect, coffees pastries and sandwiches, were just what we needed. I assumed it was kind of like a Singaporean version of Greggs… Nope! We ordered and the lady serving us advised us that there was more seating down the stairs as the tables next to the kiosk were all 2 seaters. She gestured to the stairs and we headed that way.

Nothing special about this place so far, but on our way down the steps, we spotted it. A shelf above with moving sheep models and some mannequins is a bit random, but we carry on expecting a couple of tables. At the bottom of the steps a HUGE room with crepe stands, farmers’ market stalls, fresh fruit juice stalls, loads of tables and a kids’ play area met us. But the extraordinary thing about this is it had an Alpine theme! Completely not what I expected to ever see! One of my favourite Singapore attractions nonetheless!

I’m not sure that I’d expect to find this anywhere other than the Alps, to be honest, and even then this is a bit much! Such a gem, one of those things I didn’t know about. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it written about elsewhere, I’m not even sure if it is still there now! If it is, I highly recommend heading down the steps! Such a memorable way to start my birthday Singapore Style!

The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

Another place that’s not strictly a tourist attraction is the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. This place is unreal! Just walking around it was cool, there were shops on the outside floating on the river! When we visited we stopped outside Louis Vuitton and watched a guy take a lot of selfies using a tripod outside the store before returning his LV shopping bag props!

Very recently an Apple store has been built on the water too. It looks amazing, a sphere-shaped store floating on the Singapore River! One of the main attractions of Singapore overlooks the shoppes, Marina Bay Sands, so you can kill 2 birds so to speak.

Inside the mall, all the designer shops are there and celebrity restaurants plus a food hall, Hamleys, and a 7-Eleven. There is also a huge area where they do dances and project videos onto the ground. The casino is on the other side of the Mall too, I highly recommend a walk-through and around here. People-watching is my favourite and I think it summarises the glamour that has become synonymous with Singapore.

We only scratched the surface, we didn’t go to Little India or Chinatown this time and I regret not eating at the Hawker stalls. We know from experience in our Malaysian travels that they have the best food, but we were on the tourist route for such a short time. Our little walks and adventures make up some great memories, even just using the MRT was a great experience. I loved using this in 2002 and the kids did this time too! It’s just so clean, timely and efficient!

The best of the hidden Singapore attractions

If you ever get the opportunity to visit this wonderful destination make sure you give yourself enough time to just take it all in. It’s all a part of the Singapore attraction. Yes, go and have a Singapore sling at Raffles but also go and have a bubble tea and sit and enjoy it by the river watching the world go by (mostly on electric scooters).

Yes, go to Sentosa and spend a day or 3 at theme parks but also just have a day wandering around Chinatown and Little India. Have a meal at Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen restaurant at Marina Bay Sands shoppes, but also go eat at the hawker stands.

Singapore is just such a mix, I cannot wait until we can travel freely again. I will be back like a shot, for longer than 3 nights this time and even then I don’t think I’ll ever be there long enough! Even the airport alone warrants half a day at least exploring, and now The Jewel has opened there too it’ll just add to it.

We spent 6 hours in the airport on the way home due to a dodgy-timed flight, but we didn’t get bored. We found new things like rooftop bars, play areas, interactive game screens, and loads of places to sit, relax and charge our batteries (body and mobile phone).

Our favourite unplanned and unexpected attractions in Singapore

• Walk along the river at night
• People watch at the very nice marina bay sands shoppes
• Public loos on Orchard Road
• Random alpine-themed hidden cafés
• Just travelling on public transport is a memory you’ll keep!

Have you ever been? What were your favourite unexpected Singapore attractions that you came across?

Between our 2 stops in Singapore, we had a wonderful week in Penang, you can read about that here!

Have a great weekend all!

Becky x