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From art and culture to adventure, AT there’s lots to enjoy in the city. Sarah Reid YOUR reveals ten unmissable experiences LEISURE

Clockwise from CLEAN, GREEN AND PACKED SHOP UNTIL YOU DROP Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. far left: Haji Lane; stalls line the street dishing up WITH THINGS TO DO, ON ORCHARD ROAD For independent boutiques, head Maxwell Road Hawker chicken, beef and prawn-threaded Centre; Chinatown; offers plenty of reasons to extend Futuristic mall-lined Orchard Road to Tiong Bahru and Kampong ION Orchard sticks served with a rich peanut a business trip. Staying on in the is Singapore’s original shopping Glam’s Haji Lane. shopping mall sauce. Great for groups, simply city-state has been made easier destination, and arguably still its grab a plastic table and place with Singapore Airlines’ Stopover best. Recent additions to the strip DINE UNDER THE STARS your order. (For more on the city’s Premium Package, which includes include Uniqlo’s largest South AT SATAY STREET dining scene see page 40.) accommodation, airport transfers East Asian store last month, with Eating at a hawker centre is and admission to more than Singapore’s much-anticipated a quintessential Singapore TOAST HAPPY HOUR 20 of Singapore’s top attractions. first Apple store reportedly set for experience. If you can’t face the IN CHINATOWN Members of the Boarding Pass a November unveiling. Not just lunchtime queues at Maxwell Alcohol is taxed heavily in Privileges programme, meanwhile, a shopping destination, Orchard Food Centre in Chinatown (if you Singapore, but if you know can access discounts on everything Road also houses its fair share of can, the Tian Tian Chicken Rice is where – and when – to drink, from top restaurants to luxury the city’s best restaurants, from worth the wait), head to the CBD social evenings out needn’t cost hotels by showing their boarding fancy food courts to Michelin- for an accessible open-air dinner. a fortune. Chinatown is home pass (visit singaporeair.com/en_uk/ starred French dining at Les Amis From 7pm every evening, the street to the city’s most vibrant small us/plan-travel to find out more). (lesamis.com.sg). adjacent to Lau Pa Sat hawker bar scene, with plenty of great Here are ten great ways to spend Outside Orchard Road, there’s centre closes to traffic and fills happy hour deals to be found in ▲

MARKLIN ANG/DARREN SOH your spare time in the city. designer shopping galore at the with the scent of sizzling satay as its converted-shophouse bars,

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Start your day the traditional way by popping into Killiney Kopitiam (killiney-kopitiam.com) off Orchard Road for a “kopi-c” (strong black coffee with condensed milk) and kaya (coconut jam) toast, or tuck into ricotta hotcakes and a perfectly brewed flat white at a more modern hotspot like Curious Palette (64 Prinsep Street). ADMIRE THE CITY’S ARCHITECTURE Singapore has always been known for its distinctive architecture, from its grand colonial hotels and colourful Chinese shophouses to more modern developments such as the spiky domes of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (2002). It wasn’t until the 2010 opening of the striking Marina Bay Sands, however, that the city’s skyline became one of the world’s most Facing page: Sentosa is also home to Yip Yew Chong that adorn the alleys Resorts World SAMPLE THE THRIVING iconic. Now home to Gardens manmade white-sand beaches, of 1930s housing estate-turned- Sentosa Ocean CAFÉ SCENE by the Bay, the lotus-shaped Art suite, Mega Zip and plenty of bars, and an 18-hole golf hipster ’hood Tiong Bahru. 4D Adventureland As you may already have guessed, Science Museum, the spiral-like course – all close to luxury hotels on Sentosa Island Singaporeans are crazy about food, Helix Bridge and, soon, Marina One Above: National including Capella, W and the TOUR THE CITY’S Gallery Singapore and in recent years, coffee and cafés – a mixed-use complex surrounding recently revamped Sofitel Singapore TOP MUSEUMS Below: Little – from traditional kopitiams (coffee more than 6,000 sqm of lush Sentosa Resort and Spa. The National Gallery Singapore shops) to Melbourne-style brunch greenery and water features – ▲ isn’t the only new player on the spots – have become just as trendy. Marina Bay is quite a sight. Admire DIP INTO SOUTH EAST city’s arts scene, with several of ASIA’S ART SCENE its top museums having recently South East Asian art has been enjoyed a facelift. Earlier this year, enjoying growing exposure and the Chinatown Heritage Centre recognition over the past few years. (chinatownheritagecentre.com.sg), If you only have time to visit one which allows visitors to experience of the city’s many galleries, make it how Singapore’s early Chinese the new National Gallery Singapore migrants would have lived their from the S$14 (£8) craft cocktails INDULGE YOUR INNER (nationalgallery.sg), which opened lives, reopened with new exhibits. served daily from 6pm to 8pm at (OR REAL) CHILD ON in November last year. The most anticipated vintage-styled Jigger and Pony SENTOSA ISLAND Occupying two beautiful heritage reopening, however, was that of (jiggerandpony.com) to the S$5 Whether you prefer hitting thrill buildings – the former City Hall the Asian Civilisations Museum (£3) drink deals to be had at quirky rides or golf balls, the all-age and Old Supreme Court – this (acm.org.sg), which houses the Gem Bar (gemsingapore.com) all amusement park that is Sentosa enormous space displays the region’s most comprehensive evening on Mondays. Island (sentosa.com) will fulfil the world’s largest collection of South collection of pan-Asian treasures. For something more local, head whole family’s day-off fantasies. East Asian art spanning works While enhancements are still to the Chinatown Complex. Thanks Little ones will love new attraction from Singapore greats including ongoing, following the opening to lower overheads, the owners of KidZania, where they get to test- Cheong Soo Pieng and regional of two new wings last November, craft beer stalls such as the Good drive their dream jobs, while bigger luminaries such as the Philippines’ most of the museum’s exhibits Beer Company, Smith Street Taps kids could spend days working Imelda Cajipe-Endaya. – such as the booty of the Tang and On Tap in this hawker centre their way through the rides at Public art is big in Singapore, Shipwreck, a ninth-century cargo can afford to serve quality brews for Universal Studios, surfing artificial too, from major works such as ship – are already open. Nearby, the more affordable prices than brick- waves at Wave House Sentosa, Sol LeWitt’s Arcs and Circles in MINT Museum of Toys (emint.com) and-mortar bars nearby. (For more or zooming along the ziplines at Marina Bay Sands to the humble offers the perfect retreat from the

NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE GALLERY NATIONAL on the city’s bar scene see page 44.) Mega Adventure. murals by local street artist Singapore heat.

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In the city centre, don’t miss the snow-white St Andrew’s Cathedral, a resplendent example of neo-Gothic architecture. JOIN IN ONE OF THE CITY’S FUN FESTIVALS With its diverse multicultural population and vibrant culinary and arts scenes, Singapore is always celebrating something. Join in the fun by scheduling a trip that coincides with calendar highlights such as Chinese New Year, which culminates in Chingay, the mother-of-all street parades typically held in February; the Singapore Food Festival in July; the Mid-Autumn Festival in August or September, which sees Chinatown adorned with colourful lanterns; and September’s Thimithi Festival, when you can watch barefoot walk across red-hot coals to demonstrate their devotion to the Goddess . n For more ideas on what to see in the city, visit yoursingapore.com it from Merlion Park, when the cityscape is illuminated by Wonder Full, a 13-minute light and sound show held daily from 8pm. SOAK UP COLOURFUL LOCAL CULTURE ON A TEMPLE TOUR Singapore’s rich cultural makeup is perhaps best exemplified by its places of worship. Kick off your temple tour in Chinatown, which isn’t just known for its incense- perfumed Chinese, Buddhist and Taoist temples but also for housing Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple, the colourful Sri . In Little India, the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple is one of Singapore’s most atmospheric, while just south of here in Kampong Glam, the gold-domed Sultan Mosque looks like it was plucked from the pages of The Arabian Nights.

Above: Kampong Glam Right: Chingay Parade

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