Singapore tips please

[Hollowvictory]

Hi 8f we were thinking of going to Singapore and combined with either bintan island or langkawi, how long should we stay in Singapore? We have 2 weeks in total, would be August.
Definitely want to do gardens at the bay, raffles, universal studios. What else should be on the list? Would like to stay a couple of nights at marina Bay sands but could not afford to stay there whole time, so perhaps in return from langkawi a couple more nights Singapore?
So:
X nights Singapore
X nights langkawi or bintan or similar (we have been to langkawi before)
2 nights Singapore on way home marina bay sands
Will have 12 year old girls with us
They like the company of other kids so a hotel catering for this age group in langkawi or bintan would be great
Tia

For Singapore I would add:
night safari at the zoo
botanical gardens
little India and Chinatown
Asian Civilisations museum
I have stayed at the holiday inn on Orchard Road - good location near the metro and price is reasonable (for Singapore!)

We lived in Singapore for a year. I went back on my own and stayed at the Swisshotel at Clarke Quay which I can highly recommend. Right on the river. You can walk up to Great World City along the river in one direction, and to Marina Bay Sands in the other direction. The river is lined with cool cafes and restaurants. Walking will leave you dripping with sweat mind you, but in the evenings it's a really pretty area. Also not at all far from Orchard Road. If you're into the cinema go Gold Class at Great World City (a shopping mall).

Prive at Keppel Bay is a really lovely spot for brunch, looking over the harbour. Also East Coast Parkway is nice for a stroll.

We (me, dh and dd - who turned 17y whilst there) got back from Singapore this morning! It was fabulous. We were there for 6 nights, with 2 nights stop over in Abu Dhabi not he way there.

If you're going to go to Universal you could consider staying on Sentosa Island. It's where we stayed (at Sofitel resort) and it worked really well for us. There's a free bus round the island and includes a stop at resorts World where Universal is. There was also free shuttle to mainland - it only takes 10 minutes or so, or your Sentosa hotel normally gives you free passes for the Monorail to mainland too. We also found the taxis good value - we sed taxis a fair bit to get into mainland Singapore, more than any other holiday, simply as they were very reasonable.

We went to Universal for the day - it's cheaper to get tickets in advance if I remember rightly, and if you pay using MasterCard. We were going on a Friday, so peak time as is weekends, so bought Express tickets. The park is smaller than the US parks but still a full days worth and some proper queues were very long on the Friday.

What did we do:

• beaches on Sentosa for evening drink (else in resort)
• Universal Studios
• Night Safari
• Singapore Sling at Long Bar, Raffles - Raffles itself is currently closed for renovations til the summer, the bar is open though
• Marina Bay Sands SkyPark
• Gardens by the Bay - there a light/sounds show in the evening
• Botanic Gardens one evening for a walk
• Little India - we too hot and humid there for me as so busy and crowded and no shade
• Chinatown - preferred here though the large food complex is currently closed ; the Chinatown Heritage centre was good here and the temple was lovely to visit too
• Orchard Road - lots and lots of malls inc lots of high end shops; good food court below the big shop there
• Resorts World Sentosa - lots of eateries etc including a Hawker centre; looks less authentic due to where it is but the stalls are the real thing; the hawkers have stalls here as well as elsewhere in Singapore
• Crane Dance on Sentosa (8pm iirr)
• Afternoon Tea at The Courtyard, Fullerton Hotel

We had the only Planet guide and followed some fo the walks in there.

It really is hot and humid. We are used to it to an extent as we've been to Florida in the summer a number of times, but it really was properly hot and sticky. Plan for natural fibre clothes and air conditioned stop offs during the day.

Aragog, your holiday sounds amazing!
Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but I'm also interested in going to Singapore with my daughter.
Did you feel that 6 days was enough, or would you need longer to see more things?

Fantastic info thanks all x

I would second the Swissotel Clarke Quay. We were there last year with a 15 and 19yo and it was a great location, my only minor gripe was not enough loungers by the fairly small pool area. Try some of the more local hawker centres/food courts. Gluttons Corner down by the river is good fun and an easy option but the ones without tourists are a great way to people watch and eat great, incredibly cheap food. We have some local friends there and met for lunch a few times at one of the beach restaurants on Sentosa which was lovely, you can also walk across to Sentosa from the mainland now rather than having to use the Monorail if it's not too hot. I also spend three nights in Singapore just myself and 11yo DD a few years back and had a great time, we went on a river cruise and did the Singapore eye. We stayed at the other Swissotel near Raffles that time which was nice but I preferred the Clarke Quay location. The pool area was much bigger though and there was a nice pool side bar for happy hour cocktails/mocktails

6 says was fine yes. We could have stayed longer and seen more, but couldn't fit in any longer this holiday. We saw all the main sights I thing, and had a wonderful time. Most people seem to stay for shorter periods of time. With 6 days we had time for pool mornings, etc.

You do need to factor in that the humidity will slow you down. We walked much slower though still walked a fair bit (def slower though as my Apple Watch hardly registered much exercise points despite walking lots!) and we had to take regularly air con stops at cafes and malls, just to cool down. And we are used to hot holidays but it was quite intense at times. The forecasts claim it's only 34/35c but the humidity gives a feels like of around 10/11 degrees hotter. Evenings are cooler but still very sticky.