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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   3305 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 20, 2026

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I expect to be going on a trip (on the order of two weeks) to Singapore fairly soon. Since it will be my first time there, any recommendations for things to see or avoid?

If you enjoy history, I can recommend the Asian Civilisations Museum. One of the better ones I've visited, specifically it is orders of magnitude better than every single anthropological/historical museum I've visited in Japan. The National Museum is more about Singapore itself, but I also found it well done. If anything, the museums are air-conditioned, which will make them very much appealing once you're exploring the streets. The city also has a nice selection of different styles of temples, I decided to visit all the major ones just as a mission to see many different parts of the city on foot.

If you like Asian food, I've had some of the best Chinese and Indian food of my life in Singapore, both street food and fancy restaurants. Selecting restaurants beforehand is probably worth it.

When I asked Singaporean people what they like to do, they suggested going to one of the mega-malls, with the cable cars to Sentosa Island and (of course) to Marina Bay. The two former I flat out hated, they are not worth doing, unless you really have time to kill or need photos for Instagram - they look much better in photos than in real life. No matter what, absolutely do not go swimming at the beach at Sentosa, that must be just about the worst touristic beach in Asia. Marina Bay (the towers, the gardens, the indoor jungle, the supertrees at night, and the area around it) are more or less obligatory for tourism in Singapore, but just like the main Botanical Gardens and the Zoo I found all that just extremely... mid. Unless you like park design and architecture, it won't even fill a full day.

Two weeks is a lot of time for a "young" city like Singapore. I would strongly recommend long excursions into Malaysia instead of staying in the city, and I regret not leaving for trips sooner.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll make sure to check out the museums (and the food was ranking high on the todo list anyway, open to concrete (anti-)recommendations there too). Do you know if there's anything interesting to do with the more recent history of the city, specifically including the Japanese occupation?

As I said in my parallel response to problem_redditor, the two-week period is not entirely under my control, but I can probably fit in a short detour to Malaysia somewhere.

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