Singapore is the future, arrived early. This gleaming city-state at the tip of the Malay Peninsula is a place of soaring skyscrapers and futuristic gardens, where supertrees light up the night, an infinity pool floats 200 metres above the city, and spotless trains glide you everywhere in minutes. It's clean, green, safe, and astonishingly efficient, a melting pot of Chinese, Malay, Indian and colonial heritage that you can taste in every neighbourhood. After the cheerful chaos of much of Southeast Asia, Singapore feels like stepping into a polished vision of tomorrow.
Here's the honest part for budget travellers: Singapore is the most expensive city in the region, and arriving from Bangkok or Bali, the prices can come as a shock. But its reputation as a budget-buster is only half the story. Two things keep it achievable. First, the food: Singapore's hawker centres serve some of the best meals in Asia for the price of a coffee back home, and eating well here is genuinely cheap. Second, many of the city's most spectacular sights, the Gardens by the Bay light show, the Botanic Gardens, the Marina Bay waterfront, cost nothing at all. Get your accommodation right and lean on those two, and Singapore is far more affordable than its glittering image suggests. We'll show you how.
