Singapore is one of Asia’s most visited cities, and for good reason, but with so many neighborhoods, attractions, and hawker markets competing for your attention, knowing where to spend your time matters. This guide walks through the neighborhoods and areas we explored firsthand, with honest takes on what’s worth prioritizing and what you can skip without regret.
We covered a lot of ground in Singapore, and we captured the whole thing on video, you’ll find it embedded at the bottom of this post if you want to see these places in action.
Marina Bay & Supertree Grove
Marina Bay is probably where you’ll end up first, and it earns its reputation. Made famous by Crazy Rich Asians, it’s unabashedly grand with luxury malls, the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel with its ship-shaped rooftop pool, and the otherworldly Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay. The hotel itself is a quiet architectural nod to Singapore’s origins as a city built on shipping and trade.
We arrived at the Supertree Grove at night, not quite knowing what we were walking into. A crowd was already settling in among the towering vertical gardens, and when we asked someone what was going on, they said the music was about to start. We sat down, and what followed was a full light-and-sound show using the trees themselves as the display. It was cool in the best, most unexpected way.
Everyone should go at least once. Check the show schedule in advance and time your visit so you don’t miss it.
Merlion & Waterfront Promenade
The Merlion, Singapore’s half-lion, half-fish national symbol, stands 8.5 meters tall on the waterfront, across the bay from Marina Bay Sands. It’s a classic photo stop, and the promenade around it is pleasant enough for a stroll and a coffee.
From the Merlion, the Jubilee Bridge crosses over to the Marina Square area, where you’ll find a cluster of theaters, including one open-air venue with the Marina Bay skyline serving as its backdrop. We didn’t catch a show, but if that’s your kind of thing, it’s worth looking into.
Tiong Bahru
Tiong Bahru is the neighborhood we’d put at the top of anyone’s list. One of Singapore’s oldest, it’s a residential enclave built largely in the 1930s… curved Art Deco facades, shaded streets, and a genuine sense of a neighborhood that people actually live in and love. Indie cafés and bookshops have moved in alongside the longstanding provision shops and local restaurants without displacing what was already there, which is rarer than it sounds.
The Tiong Bahru Market is reason enough to visit on its own. Head upstairs for the hawker stalls, the prepared food is all up there, and give yourself time to make a proper choice because there’s a lot worth eating. We covered a full meal for two for around $10 USD, and it was good enough that we came back a second time.
We liked Tiong Bahru so much, we ended up spending the better part of two afternoons wandering the neighborhood.
Kampong Glam
Kampong Glam is Singapore’s Muslim quarter, and Arab Street is its beating heart. It’s colorful, busy, layered with trinket shops, textile vendors, and food stalls serving everything from Turkish kebabs to Chinese noodles to surprisingly good Western options. It has the energy of a place that knows it’s vibrant and leans into it.
At the far end of Arab Street at North Bridge Road stands the Sultan Mosque, built in 1824, its golden dome enormous against the sky. We couldn’t go inside the day we visited, because an event was underway, but tours are available, and it’s the kind of place worth planning around.
Go early. When we arrived late-morning it was already packed, and the heat doesn’t help.
A couple of hours is enough for Kampong Glam, not counting a mosque tour.
Little India
The Tekka Centre Hawker Market in Little India gave us one of the best lunches we had in Singapore, full stop. We watched our garlic naan go from a ball of dough to a stretched, ghee-brushed, garlic-pressed masterpiece before it went into the oven. Combined with chicken masala and a few other dishes, the whole meal for two came to around $12 USD.
One important note: the hawkers at Tekka Centre, and all other hawker centers in Singapore, take cash only. So, be sure to have Singapore dollars on hand before you go.
Take your time walking the stalls before you order, as there’s a lot to look at and the options are genuinely varied. Beyond the market, Little India’s streets are worth wandering for their own sake. Gold jewelry shops line the blocks, selling elaborate pieces that make window shopping feel like a museum visit. If you’re actually in the market for gold, this is the place to buy it.
Chinatown
Chinatown is vibrant and dense and very much worth a few hours. The Maxwell Food Centre is another excellent hawker market; We had soup dumplings, shumai, and noodles for under $20 USD for two; and the streets around it are lined with souvenir shops, restaurants, and bars that reportedly come alive at night. We heard good things about the wine bars in particular, though we didn’t make it out ourselves.
Two temples anchor the neighborhood culturally. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is a beautifully ornate Buddhist temple that, despite the name, is more striking than strange. The Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple, and it commands the kind of attention that comes with age and layers of meaning.
Clarke Quay
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express near Clarke Quay and would happily recommend it. The expansive breakfast buffet ran from 6:30 to 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning, which we may have taken advantage of more than once in the same day. It was also very centrally located for visiting all the neighborhoods and sites that Singapore has to offer. Clarke Quay itself is a restaurant and shopping strip along the Singapore River, and it’s aimed squarely at tourists, which means the prices reflect that. It’s not a must-see, but it’s pleasant for a sunset drink on a riverside patio. Several operators also run boat tours from Clarke Quay down into Marina Bay, which would give you a genuinely different perspective on the light show, seeing it from the water would be something else entirely.
Dempsey Hill
Dempsey Hill caught us off guard in the best way. The area was originally a British army barracks (the buildings date to 1867) later converted to a hospital that operated until 1940. The bones of that history are still visible in the low colonial structures, but what surrounds them now is something closer to a high-end, design-forward village buried in lush tropical green. The trees here feel ancient and enormous, draped in ferns and bromeliads, and the whole place feels slightly apart from the rest of the city.
The brewery is up on the hill, and drinking among those trees felt genuinely special. There are art galleries, interesting modern furniture shops, and a gourmet chocolate shop where, if you’re lucky, you’ll encounter the same young woman who spent twenty minutes walking us through every sample in the case with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely believes good chocolate is important. Kathy told her she just wanted to eat chocolate, and that was apparently the right thing to say.
Dover Street Market is worth a look even if high-end fashion isn’t your thing. It’s laid out more like an art installation than a boutique, which means you can actually wander freely without feeling like you’re being watched. We certainly weren’t tempted to buy anything (the $2,000 plastic sandals I picked up for a look were returned to the shelf immediately), but it was a genuinely interesting 30 minutes.
Dempsey Hill works well as a relaxed afternoon or evening, plan around a meal and give yourself time to wander.
Singapore Botanic Gardens
The Singapore Botanic Gardens sit just a short drive or a twenty-minute walk from Dempsey Hill, and together the two make a natural pairing; both are set in that same lush, forested pocket of the city that feels different from everywhere else.
The Botanic Gardens are Singapore’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, including 82 hectares of green hills, well-marked paths, a swan lake with a notable turtle population, and the National Orchid Garden.
The orchid garden is the one section that charges admission (SGD $15) and it’s worth every cent. The variety is staggering, the displays are beautiful, and there are unique hybrid orchids named after kings, emperors, and diplomats that give the whole thing an unexpected historical dimension.
Don’t skip the greenhouse tucked toward the back of the orchid garden. It’s air-conditioned, which is reason enough to find it in Singapore’s heat, and it houses cloud-forest orchids that turned out to be some of the most beautiful in the entire park. You’ll cool down and leave genuinely amazed.
Orchard Road
Orchard Road is a 2.2-kilometer shopping corridor that functions as both retail destination and cultural institution. The Takashimaya department store, the ION mall, and the Paragon are the anchors, each enormous and meticulously air-conditioned. We came to understand Singapore’s mall culture pretty quickly: when it’s 32°C and humid outside, the malls become public living rooms, places to eat, people-watch, have a coffee, and simply be comfortable.
When you’re at ION, find the ION Sky observation lounge. You have to ask for directions, as it’s down a side hallway, easy to miss, but the elevator takes you up around seventy floors and delivers you to a panoramic view of the city that stretches out to the coast and the cargo ships waiting on the horizon. It’s free. There’s also a bar if you want to stay awhile.
Also at ION: R-Slice by Roberta’s, a Singapore outpost of the Brooklyn pizza institution. We stumbled in without knowing what it was and had some of the best sourdough pizza we’ve eaten anywhere. Roberta’s is now on the list for our next trip to New York.
Singapore rewards the kind of traveler who slows down enough to eat well, wander the residential neighborhoods, and let the unexpected moments… a chocolate guide, a light show, a greenhouse full of cloud orchids… become the memories.
Ready to see Singapore in action? Watch our full neighborhood walkthrough to get a feel for each area before you go. The video covers everything in this post and gives you a ground-level look at what it actually feels like to be there.
Have you spent time in any of these Singapore neighborhoods? Anything we missed that you’d add to the list? Drop your questions or recommendations in the comments, we read and reply to every one.
