Singapore for couples: know before you go (2026)

Why Singapore for two

Singapore covers 280 square miles (730 km²) and runs on the MRT: the towers of Marina Bay, the shophouses of Chinatown, the temples of Little India, the mosque of Kampong Glam and the beaches of Sentosa are thirty minutes from one another. A couple changes worlds at every stop, and eats for $4.50 a plate in hawker centres whose culture is on UNESCO's heritage list.

Three things make it easy for two: the city is very safe, even late at night; covered walkways and arcades link stations to malls, so a downpour spoils nothing; and everyone speaks English. One constraint: 86°F (30°C) or more and over 80% humidity all year, which splits the day in two, outdoors in the morning and evening, in air conditioning in the afternoon.

When to go

A few events change the crowds and the prices. Chinese New Year (late January or February) lights up Chinatown and closes many shops for two days; Deepavali (October or November) hangs garlands over Little India; National Day on August 9 brings fireworks over the bay; the Christmas lights on Orchard Road run from mid-November to early January. The Formula 1 Grand Prix, raced at night around Marina Bay in September or October, closes streets for weeks and doubles or triples room rates: check its date before you book.

Heat sets the schedule: outdoors from 7 to 11 am, indoors (museum, mall, restaurant) from noon to 4 pm, then outside again for sunset. Storms break most often between 2 and 5 pm and last about an hour.

Paperwork: passport, SG Arrival Card, health

Before the flight: the SG Arrival Card

The SG Arrival Card is a free online arrival declaration, required for every visitor. You fill it in on the official ICA website or in the MyICA app, no earlier than three days before arrival (arrival day included): passport, flight, hotel address and a health declaration. Keep the confirmation on your phone, and beware of websites that charge for it: it costs nothing.

On arrival

At immigration, kiosks read your passport and fingerprints. Your airline checks your onward ticket out of Singapore at check-in: keep it on your phone. No vaccination is required when arriving from the US or the UK.

Medication and customs

Singapore controls medicines that are routine at home: codeine, some sleeping pills and anxiety drugs, and melatonin, the jet lag supplement, which needs a prescription here. Bring them in the original box with the prescription, or leave them at home. Tobacco must be declared and taxed, with no duty-free allowance; e-cigarettes are banned (see "Rules and customs").

Getting there

By air, the only way from North America or the UK

One airport serves long-haul flights: Changi (SIN), 12 miles (20 km) east of downtown. Depending on the flight, the plane lands at dawn or in the late afternoon; rooms are ready at 3 pm, so if you arrive at dawn, book the night before or ask the hotel for an early check-in.

A one-day layover

With six to ten hours between flights, Singapore works as a city break: the MRT reaches Marina Bay in 40 minutes, luggage storage sits in every terminal, and immigration only asks for the SG Arrival Card. Plan to be back at Changi three hours before departure. With six hours, Jewel and its gardens are enough; with eight, the Merlion, the bay and lunch at Maxwell Food Centre fit.

Continuing on

Singapore opens onto Southeast Asia: Kuala Lumpur is an hour by air, Phuket two hours, Bali 2h45. Bintan, an island of beaches and resorts, is an hour by ferry from the Tanah Merah terminal: one or two nights there extend a trip for two.

Practical things to know before you leave

Phone

Roaming on a US or UK plan costs extra or is capped: install an eSIM before you leave or buy a visitor SIM at the arrivals counters, $12 to $28 for a week. The network covers the MRT and the streets; Google Maps gives MRT and bus times, and the Grab app replaces the taxi.

Money and tipping

• Cards work almost everywhere: hotels, malls, restaurants and the MRT accept Visa and Mastercard, tap to pay. Hawker centres, though, remain cash or local QR payment: carry 2, 5 and 10 Singapore dollar notes.
• Withdraw Singapore dollars at bank ATMs rather than airport exchange counters, and check your card's foreign transaction fees before you leave: they apply to every ride and purchase.
• No tipping, anywhere: not at restaurants, not in taxis, not at hotels. This is the biggest change for Americans. A restaurant bill adds 10% service and 9% tax: a price followed by "++" means "plus service and tax".
• Purchases of at least $79 in one store qualify for a refund of the 9% tax: have the form filled in at the shop, and show the goods and your passport at the Changi kiosks before check-in.

Jet lag

Singapore is 12 hours ahead of New York in summer (13 in winter), 15 to 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles, and 7 to 8 ahead of London; the clocks never change. The shift is about half a day: on arrival, stay outside in the daylight, do not go to bed before 9 pm, and keep the first evening for a bowl of noodles and a walk along the bay. You will wake at 4 or 5 am for two or three mornings: that is the hour of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, open from 5 am, nearly empty and still cool.

Plugs, water and what to wear

• Type G plugs, as in the UK (three rectangular pins), and 230 volts: Americans need an adapter, and phone and laptop chargers take 100 to 240 volts, but hair dryers and curling irons do not; most hotels lend a dryer.
• Tap water is safe everywhere: refill a bottle at the fountains in parks and malls.
• Air conditioning keeps the MRT, cinemas and restaurants at 68 to 72°F (20 to 22°C): carry a light jacket or scarf.
• Cotton or linen clothes, closed shoes that dry fast, an umbrella, SPF 50 sunscreen and mosquito repellent; for temples and the mosque, something to cover shoulders and knees.

What to book, and how far ahead

In Singapore, what sells ahead fits in a few lines: nights during the big festivals, Michelin-starred dinners, rooftop bars and evening slots at Marina Bay. Hawker centres take no reservations.

From the airport to your hotel

© OpenStreetMap contributors

At Changi, the MRT station sits under Terminals 2 and 3 and connects to Terminals 1 and 4 by walkways and free shuttles; depending on the hour, you change trains at Tanah Merah. The MRT runs from about 5:30 am to midnight: after a late flight, a taxi or a car booked on the Grab app is the way in.

Taxis queue at the official stand outside each terminal. An airport surcharge is added to the meter, higher on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, and rides cost 50% more between midnight and 6 am. No tipping. A Grab car shows its price before you set off, which spares you any argument after a long flight.

Two other airports lie within 37 miles (60 km), but neither serves long-haul flights: Seletar, to the northeast, handles private jets and a few regional flights; Senai, at Johor Bahru in Malaysia, means crossing the border by causeway or road, one to two hours at rush hour. Do not book a flight into either.

Between planes, Jewel Changi Airport, linked to Terminals 1, 2 and 3, holds one of the tallest indoor waterfalls in the world, the Rain Vortex (130 feet / 40 m), in a garden under a glass dome. Entry to the mall is free; only the hanging gardens on the top floor charge admission.

Getting around

The MRT first

The MRT (six lines) and buses cover the whole island; trains run every two to five minutes. The easiest way to pay: tap a contactless card (Visa, Mastercard) or a phone on the fare gate, going in and out. Each ride is charged separately, and your bank may add a foreign fee every time: an EZ-Link card, sold at station counters and loaded once, avoids that.

Downtown is built for walking in the shade: covered walkways, underground passages between stations and malls, arcades along the streets. A 15-minute walk in the sun at 11 am weighs more than an hour on the MRT: break up walks with an air-conditioned passage.

Hours, crowds, habits

• Trains run from about 5:30 am to midnight; after that, taxi or Grab, with a 50% surcharge from midnight to 6 am.
• Cars are packed from 7:30 to 9:30 am and 5:30 to 7:30 pm: avoid them with luggage.
• Do not eat or drink on the MRT or buses, water included: the fine can reach $390.
• Priority seats on the MRT are for the elderly, pregnant women and people with reduced mobility.

Budget for two

The hotel is more than two thirds of the budget on a comfortable trip. The rest is à la carte: a hawker meal costs less than a coffee at home, a bar cocktail more than a hawker dinner for two. The table prices four nights for two, before flights.

Hotel rates are often shown before service and tax: add about 20%.

Benchmark prices

What to taste

In Singapore you eat by dish rather than by address, and several cuisines share the same table: Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan (a blend of the first two) sit side by side in one hawker centre. You pick the dish at the stall, and dinner is three or four plates for two.

At the table

• Hainanese chicken rice

  Poached chicken, rice cooked in the broth, a ginger and chili sauce: the national dish, $3.40 to $5.60 at Maxwell Food Centre or Tiong Bahru Market.

• Laksa

  Rice noodles in a coconut milk broth with chili and dried shrimp; the Katong version is eaten with a spoon alone, the noodles being cut short.

• Chili crab

  A whole crab in a tomato and chili sauce, with fried buns (mantou) to mop it up: a finger-and-napkin meal, sold by weight, $101 to $168 for two.

• Satay

  Beef, chicken or mutton skewers grilled over charcoal, with peanut sauce; every evening, Boon Tat Street, near Lau Pa Sat, closes to traffic and fills with grills.

• Kaya toast

  Grilled bread spread with coconut jam and butter, with two soft-boiled eggs in soy sauce and pepper: the city breakfast, at Ya Kun, Killiney Kopitiam or Toast Box.

• Roti prata

  A flaky, crisp flatbread served with curry; murtabak, its meat-stuffed version, has been served at Zam Zam in Kampong Glam since 1908.

• Bak kut teh

  Pork ribs simmered in a broth of pepper and garlic, with rice and Chinese tea: the dish of late breakfasts and rainy evenings.

• Chendol

  Shaved ice with coconut milk, palm sugar syrup and pandan noodles: the dessert you share at noon, for $2.30.

In the glass

• Kopi and teh

  Coffee or tea with condensed milk, ordered in code: kopi (condensed milk), kopi O (black, sweet), kopi C (evaporated milk), kosong (no sugar), siew dai (less sweet).

• The Singapore Sling

  The cocktail born at the Raffles bar around 1915: gin, cherry liqueur and pineapple; the Long Bar serves it for about $32, with peanuts whose shells you throw on the floor.

• Beer

  Tiger, a light, ice-cold lager, $4.50 to $6.80 at a hawker centre, twice that in a bar.

• Juices

  Pressed sugarcane juice, lime (calamansi), bandung with rose syrup and milk: ice-cold drinks for $1.70 to $2.80.

• Milo dinosaur

  Iced Milo topped with a layer of chocolate malt powder: a classic every drink stall in a hawker centre serves.

Rules and customs

Singapore is clean because it works at it: fines are posted everywhere and apply to visitors and residents alike. Nothing to worry about if you follow the rules, but better to know them before you land.

At a hawker centre

You save a table by leaving a packet of tissues on it, and you never take a table so marked. You order at the stall, pay in cash and return your tray to the collection point. Each stall displays a hygiene grade from A to D, A being the best.

A few words

English works everywhere, with the accent and turns of Singlish: lah at the end of a sentence, can for "okay", makan for "eat", shiok for "delicious, great". Hindu temples and the mosque are visited barefoot, shoulders and knees covered; a scarf is often lent at the door.

Safety

Singapore is one of the safest cities in the world: people walk home at midnight. The real risks are the heat, mosquitoes and the laws.

• Heat: drink before you are thirsty, stay out of the sun between 11 am and 4 pm, and stop at the first dizziness; jet lag tires and dehydrates.
• Mosquitoes: dengue circulates all year, with no specific treatment. Use repellent on your skin in the morning and at dusk, especially in gardens and on Sentosa.
• Storms: at the first lightning alert, leave the beach, the park and rooftop terraces, which may close.
• Touts at Boat Quay and Clarke Quay put a menu in your hands: ask for the total price before you sit down, especially for crab sold by weight.
• Pickpocketing is rare; still keep your bag in front of you in the crowds of Orchard Road, in Chinatown at Chinese New Year and on the MRT at rush hour.
• Geylang, the red-light district east of Kampong Glam, has nothing for a couple at night: touts and hostess bars.

Mistakes to avoid

• Booking a hotel more than ten minutes' walk from a station: at 91°F (33°C) and 85% humidity, that is a shower before dinner.
• Filling the day with outdoor sights after 11 am: break it up with a museum, a mall or a nap at the hotel.
• Forgetting a light jacket: the MRT, cinemas and restaurants are set to 68°F (20°C).
• Packing chewing gum, an e-cigarette or melatonin without a prescription: the airport is the first checkpoint.
• Ordering crab without asking its price by weight: the bill can top $168 for two.
• Booking without checking the dates of the Grand Prix and Chinese New Year: the night then costs double or triple.
• Waiting for a taxi at 6 pm in a storm: the MRT, linked to the malls, is the safe bet.