One-day itineraries in Singapore
Here are some one-day itineraries that could be interesting for day trips for people. Combine several of them to cover many parts of Singapore. I'd recommend going according to the order listed, but it doesn't really matter too much.
Routes within Singapore
Singapore is roughly broken down into six areas: the east, northeast/north, heartlands (central area to the right of the reservoir), downtown, south, northwest, and west. You could explore each area over different days.
Free guided tours
If you have a short layover from 5.5 hours to 24 hours, the airport offers free tours that could suit your needs. Check them out below.
Independent touring
I've put in some places you could visit and a suggested itinerary/whirlwind tour. I've tried including places that are more local rather than touristy. If you're short on time however, you could jump straight to the downtown tours.
East tour
Pulau Ubin
Get up bright and early to catch a boat to Pulau Ubin and explore the nature there.
Changi Boardwalk
Finish off the day after returning with a boardwalk.
Lunch - Changi Village Hawker Centre
As for food, grab a breakfast/lunch here at Changi Village Hawker Centre. It's a popular spot for locals and my parents used to have trouble looking for a parking spot.
SUTD
Singapore University of Technology and Design is one of Singapore's newest public universities. If you like touring universities, you can check it out. They have interesting architecture.
NEWater reclamation plant
There is an exhibit on Singapore's technology ome exhibits Book a free guided tour here. (Alternatively, you could also go to Marina Barrage where they have another water-related exhibition, but it is on the dam structure with some history.)
Dinner - East coast park
After finishing up at SUTD and the NEWater reclamation plant, you can continue along the coast down to East Coast Park and enjoy the beach. You can cycle and roller skate there too. As for food, you can head down to East Coast Lagoon Food Village to try some of the eats there. Before it renovated, I used to go there a lot with my family.
Bonus: Changi Airport
Before you leave / right when you enter Singapore, you can check out the airport's mall, they have an indoor waterfall plus nice restaurants. I also have fond memories of the staff canteen here.
There's also a scenic bike path that goes around behind the airport if you are interested in cycling.
North/Northeast Tour
Coney Island
It's a nice little island you can visit in the northeast or cycle in. It used to have Singapore's last wild cow before it died.
Punggol Waterway Park
This is another nice walkway you can walk down on, it's a recently renovated walkway.
Lunch - Waterway Point
Stop at waterway point to enjoy the air conditioning and grab a bite to eat.
Sembawang Park
Check out another park in the north, and admire Malaysia from afar.
Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple
Check out a nearby temple if you like.
Sembawang Hot Springs
Singapore has a hot spring here, and you can rest your legs after a long day.
Dinner - Chong Pang Market and Food Centre
Head down to another famous hawker centre to enjoy some local fare at decent prices.
Heartlands tour
MacRitchie Treetop Walk
This is probably Singapore's wildest hike, that still has a paved path in most sections, that is fairly accessible. Start from the MacRitche Treetop Walk Trailhead at the east side of the reservoir. MacRitchie is fairly big; you could continue to explore it for longer if you so wish, and even walk all the way to down to Beauty World Centre on the other side of the reservoir. If you do choose to walk to the other side of the park, bring some snacks because it will take the better half of the day. Let's call the full route Route 1, and the route where you walk back to the entrance Route 2.
Route 1 (cross to west side): Former Ford Factory
If you do choose to walk to the other side of the park, you could visit this world war 2 museum.
Route 1: Dinner - the Rail Mall
If you cross to the west side of the park, grab a bite at the Rail Mall.
Route 2 (go back to the east side): Lunch - Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery
This is a big buddhist temple that could be a point of interest. You can buy lunch from their cafe until 1230pm (weekdays) or 2pm (weekends)
Route 2: Bishan - Ang Mo Kio Park
This is another park frequented by locals, modelled after floodplains to contain the river inside it.
Downtown tour
Botanic Gardens
A UNESCO world heritage site, it retains some colonial architecture from the British. It also has an orchid park area where you can enter for S$1 (barring inflation).
Orchard Road
If you are interested to shop, you can come here to shop for all the big brands. You can walk from Orchard MRT to Dhoby Ghaut MRT and the stretch is full of stores you can look into and explore.
Lunch - Plaza Singapura
A local mall with many different food options and a food court at the very top.
National Museum of Singapore
Spend the afternoon checking out the museum. There are also many other museums here; you could spend several days just walking around the museums.
If you do not wish to shop or do not wish to go to a museum, you can replace it with Fort Canning Park; it was a British fort back in World War II.
Dinner - Lau Pa Sat
Grab some dinner at one of the most famous hawker centres in Singapore.
Marina Bay
It's beautiful when lit up at night, you can do the loop around the bay.
Downtown tour part 2
Marina Barrage
Nearer to the coast, we have a dam that helps to control the sea levels and water between Singapore and the sea. They have a cool exhibit on how the dam works and also its history.
Gardens by the Bay
It's a renovated area with interesting architecture and plants to check out. A popular tourist spot.
ArtScience Museum
This is a new museum with interesting exhibits combining art and science.
Esplanade
Dubbed the "Durian", it's where Singapore hosts different concerts. Interesting on the outside but nothing much inside if you aren't watching a concert.
Lunch - Albert Centre
Grab a bite at a hawker centre in Bugis.
Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple
This Buddhist temple is interesting beacuse it's right next to a Hindu temple as well. You should check out both while you're on this road.
Sultan Mosque
After that, you can make your way down to the Sultan Mosque and Malay Heritage Centre, where you can learn more about Malay history and culture.
Mustafa Centre
You can check out Little India, the area surrounding Mustafa Centre. Mustafa Centre is also an interesting place to shop too.
Dinner - City Square Mall / Indian restaurants nearby
There's a mall called City Square Mall nearby, or standalone restaurants around the area on the first floor of the shophouses. You can pick any - I'm not sure of the food courts nearby.
Downtown tour part 3
The downtown area has a lot of nice spots so there's a part 3. But basically it's a bunch of museums and notable places I didn't mention above that you could mix and match:
- Museums: National Gallery, Asian Civilisations Museum
- Points of interest: Cathedral of the Good Sheperd
- Food: Haji Lane (at night), CHIJMES
- Shopping: Bugis Street, Arab Street
- Schools: Singapore Management University, but you will likely pass by the buildings while exploring the area around Bugis.
- Notable buildings where you can take the lift up and look around: Pinnacle@Duxton (a nice-looking public housing project but you need to pay to get to the top with the view), SkyTerrace@Dawson (a nice-looking public housing project with free views from the top), various hotels inside Tanjong Pagar
South tour
Lee Kong Chian National History Museum
A nice little museum that's not as full of tourists as the other more popular ones.
National University of Singapore (NUS)
You can check out the rest of NUS while you're at the museum.
West Coast Park
This park is not as nice as East Coast Park, but a nice place to do people watching.
Haw Par Villa
An exhibit on Buddhist hell, to warn children about the perils of sinning. Pretty interesting to me. It was created by some rich locals here.
Lunch - Pasir Panjang Food Centre
A quaint little hawker centre along the highway with decent prices.
Option 1 - Southern Ridges
I like this lookout where you can see the sea. The sunset from here is really amazing, too. You can enter from any point on Google Maps, even from HortPark. You can walk from here all the way down to VivoCity. It's possible to do both this and Labrador Nature Reserve together, but I'd recommend this instead of Labrador Nature Reserve if you can only pick one.
Option 2 - Labrador Nature Reserve
A small park with some historic buildings and a small hill you can walk up.
Sentosa
You can walk from VivoCity down to Sentosa and enjoy the beaches, or take a train. This can be a full day thing too if you like to explore more.
Dinner - Seah Im Food Centre
Ignore Vivo City if you want local food that's cheaper - check out Seah Im Food Centre instead, on your way back from Sentosa/Southern Ridges.
Northwest
There are mainly several large parks here that will take a lot of time to explore.
Bukit Timah Railway Station
You can check out this old railway station that was turned into a park. The old trains and the controllers are still around.
Kranji War Memorial
We have the graves of notable people here, such as Yusof Bin Ishak who was Singapore's first president. It is also a tribute to the people who served and died in World War II.
Lunch - Lot One
A shopping mall that locals frequent. There aren't much choices for food here; you could explore around to see if there are any restaurants you like. Alternatively, buy some snacks so that you can move on to the next part of the itinerary.
Option 1 - Singapore Zoo, River Safari, Night Safari, Bird Paradise
We have a cluster of zoos and animal exhibits here, you can check them out with a zoo pass. The restaurants are nice but a bit expensive, so you could consider bringing your own snacks or food while you rest.
Option 2 - Kranji Marshes
Alternatively, you can opt to check out the nature here. You should probably pack snacks as well.
Dinner - Senja Hawker Centre
Another highly-rated hawker centre in the area.
West
Choa Chu Kang Cemetery
This is an interesting cemetery where people used to be allowed to bury their dead and set up bigger memorials.
Little Guilin
A small little park with a nice lake and a large rock.
Science Centre
A place where there are exhibits on science that could be fun for kids. There is also Snow City nearby where you can experience snow in Singapore.
Jurong Lake Gardens
A larger garden with Chinese- and Japanese-themed parks and nice lakes.
Lunch - Taman Jurong Food Centre
A hawker centre near the gardens.
Discovery Centre
Similar to the science centre, there are exhibits on Singapore's history, with a focus on the military and World War II.
Nanyang Technological University
There's some interesting architecture here and a small museum on the school's history. Notable architecture includes Yunnan Gardens and The Hive.
Tuas Lamp Post
If you like, you can consider going all the way to the farthest end of Singapore where we have factories and manufacturing and check out Singapore's industrial areas. I recommend cycling if you were to do this, it's a 11 kilometer walk to the end and I'm not sure if there are public transport options here.
Nearby islands
Southern Islands
You could go to the smaller southern islands beyond Sentosa via a yacht tour or ferry. A trip like this could be interesting for the right people. You can typically easily buy a ticket directly at Marina South Pier, but it could be worth it to buy it in advance. You could also book a tour via Klook.
Semakau Island
This is where Singapore stores incinerated waste, it's our offshore landfill. However, it's hard to visit - you have to go as a part of a school or an organisation. There are occasional public tours on eventbrite or similar platforms that you can book, such as this one below.
Other things to do
There are a few things I didn't mention above, but you could simply click around and explore what looks interesting to you on any Maps application you have. Most reservoirs are accessible by the public and you can have a nice walk there, too. We also have many other universities I didn't mention here, such as the Singapore University of Social Sciences, our many different Polytechnics, and many private universities. Technically, you could also take the elevator up in public housing, since the corridors are open to the public, and check out the view from the top floor.
Go to Malaysia/Indonesia
If you are bored of Singapore, it's a quick trip out to Johor Bahru (by land) or to Batam (by boat).
Johor Bahru
You can go via the Woodlands checkpoint to nearby places for food, escape room, massage and the works. Once in Malaysia, you can just take a Grab to wherever you need to be, or figure out the local bus system. There are also buses that take you there directly from different places in Singapore. Tasixi is a traditional dimsum place where they come to you with plates of dimsum.
Batam
Here, people like to buy the kueh lapis (layered butter cake) back. It is famous for the seafood as well. I also enjoy tempeh so if given the chance, I would buy it from here too.
Resources
Wikitravel's resources on Singapore is pretty well fleshed out. Read it. Seriously.
For a quick glance at ideas, Klook has some itineraries you could follow. (I get a commission on this link).
This wikipedia page has a good summary of Singapore's cuisine for things you may wish to try out.
Contributors to Wikimedia projects