Best short-haul holiday destinations: Singapore

The bottom line Singapore is eight hours and 20 minutes from Sydney (6309 kilometres) and seven hours and 55 minutes from Melbourne with a two-hour time difference (AEST) between Sydney and Melbourne.

Why go Still consider Singapore a place in which to merely pause on the way to somewhere else (or somewhere more interesting)? It’s time to catch up. Invented as a nation only 60 years or so ago, this city state has reinvented itself as a model green capital and one with a keener eye on its past than in its knock-it-all-down days. All in all, it’s a destination in its own right.

The beautifully surreal Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay.Credit: iStock

Duration of stay Four to five days.

See + do Once the home of the great though not-so-exciting indoors, characterised by air-conditioned shopping malls, Singapore has since fully embraced, for those who can tolerate its heat and humidity for much of the year, its open-air allures.

The obvious starting point in this context is the spectacular Gardens by the Bay (gardensbythebay.com.sg) which has almost single-plantedly redefined what a major public park can be. But even before its opening in 2012, the city state boasted its UNESCO World Heritage-listed, 19th century Singapore Botanic Gardens (nparks.gov.sg). The general outdoor section of the gardens, which includes the world’s largest orchid display, open at a climatically forgiving 5am, and is a popular destination for local and expat fitness enthusiasts.

A model green capital … Singapore Botanic Gardens.Credit: Getty Images

Eat + drink While there are nearly five dozen starred restaurants in the Singapore Michelin Guide these days, the majority of them, such as the three-starred Zen (restaurantzen.com), Les Amis (lesamis.com.sg) and Odette (odetterestaurant.com), are of the style and quality you’d expect in Sydney and Melbourne.

What continues to differentiate Singapore from nearly everywhere else are its hawker stands. They remain an integral and affordable feature of the vibrant local food scene (visitsingapore.com). Some even make it to the Guide itself.

The Maxwell Road Hawker Food Centre is well known for its affordable, tasty and huge variety of local hawker food.Credit: iStock

Hawker hotspots, such as the Old Airport Road Food Centre offer a more authentic experience than the more touristy counterparts such as the (still excellent) Maxwell Food Centre. Even the top shopping centres have recognised the appeal of hawker-style with the food court in the basement of ION Orchard (ionorchard.com) offering authentic and affordable South-East Asian cuisine.

Elsewhere, and for something completely different, head to aromatic Satay Street, an al fresco food fair opposite the historic Lau Pa Sat (laupasat.sg) hawker centre and home to nearly a dozen hawker carts and their sellers. It’s open daily from 7pm along a section of Boon Tat Street closed to vehicular traffic.

Fire and smoke at the night markets in Singapore’s Satay StreetCredit: iStock

Stay A few hotels, such as Raffles (raffles.com) vividly recall what remains of Singapore’s colonial past but, at the opposite end of the historical timeline, are the likes of Pan Pacific Orchard (panpacific.com) which represent both the city state’s bold green present and its even bolder greener future. This new 347-room hotel is one of a number of high-rise gardens that bring the best of the ground level to sky level.

Multiple terraces and pools bring the outside in to the Pan Pacific Orchard.

The latest product of WOHA, the Singapore-Australia green hotel specialists, Pan Pacific Orchard is divided into four nature-zones: Forest, Garden, Cloud and Beach. Massive open-air, cut-out voids promote air and light. Splurge on a beach terrace room with swim-out access to the sand-surrounded pool, quite the novelty at a high-rise hotel. As its name hints, the famed Orchard Road shopping strip (visitsingapore.com), still Singapore’s hotbed of retail therapy, is a short walk from the hotel.

A hotbed of retail therapy … ION Orchard shopping mall in Orchard Road.Credit: iStock

Detour The island of Singapore’s even smaller islands total some 64 in number and remain little explored by international visitors. The most accessible is Pulau Ubin (visitsingapore.com), where the free butterfly farm is worth the trip in its own right. For the more intrepid, it’s possible to take a day, or even overnight coach journey across the border to Malacca (malaysia.travel), the historic Malaysian city about 240 kilometres across the border from Singapore.

Essentials Singapore Airlines operates multiple daily flights from Australian capitals, including Sydney and Melbourne, to Singapore. The best time to visit tropical Singapore is between March and August when rainfall and humidity are lower. Australians entering Singapore require a valid passport and remember to complete and submit your SG Arrival Card. This can be done up to three days (including the date of arrival) before your visit. See singaporeair.com; visitsingapore.com