Singapore

Singapore is small, safe and extremely organised, which makes it one of the least stressful international trips you can take. Three to four days covers the highlights comfortably.

The Marina Bay waterfront is the modern centre: Gardens by the Bay with its Supertree Grove and cooled conservatories, the ArtScience Museum, the Merlion, and the nightly light-and-water show below Marina Bay Sands. The rooftop SkyPark observation deck has the classic view over the bay.

Singapore's neighbourhoods are the other half of the trip. Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam (the Malay-Muslim quarter around Sultan Mosque, Arab Street and Haji Lane) each have their own food, temples and shophouse streets. The colonial district holds the National Gallery, the Raffles Hotel and St Andrew's Cathedral.

For families, Sentosa island packs in Universal Studios, aquariums, cable cars and beaches. The Singapore Zoo and its Night Safari are genuinely well done. Green space is everywhere — the Botanic Gardens (a UNESCO site) and the Southern Ridges walkways are free.

Eating is done at hawker centres — Maxwell, Lau Pa Sat, Tekka, Old Airport Road — where a plate of Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, char kway teow, satay or nasi padang costs a few dollars. Kampong Glam and Little India have abundant halal options, and many hawker stalls are halal-certified.

Singapore is hot and humid all year with frequent short showers; the wettest stretch is November to January. February to April is marginally drier. There is no real "bad" time, but big events (Grand Prix in September, year-end sales) push prices up.

The MRT reaches almost everything and is cheap; get an EZ-Link or use a contactless card. From Changi Airport — a sight in itself, with the Jewel waterfall — the train or a taxi reaches downtown in about 20–30 minutes.