5 Days in Singapore and Beyond
Five days is enough time to eat your way through Singapore’s best hawker centres, walk four distinct neighbourhoods properly, and still cross an international border twice. That last part is the whole point of a Singapore trip that isn’t just a checklist of Marina Bay photos: this city is the best stopover base in the region, and it sits within day-trip range of two other countries. Only crossing one border? Drop to the 4-day version ; want a wind-down day after, the 6-day adds one.
Book these before you go:
- Johor Bahru day trip : a straightforward way to do day four without self-navigating the Causeway
- Bintan or Batam ferry crossing : book ahead in peak holiday weeks, fares climb with demand
- Your Singapore hotel : Chinatown or Bugis keeps you close to both ferry terminals and the Causeway route
| Day | Focus | Distance/time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinatown hawker crawl, Kampong Glam after dark | in city |
| 2 | Katong, Tiong Bahru, Little India after dark | in city |
| 3 | Lau Pa Sat by night, Old Airport Road by day | in city |
| 4 | Johor Bahru, Malaysia | Causeway crossing, ~1hr each way plus immigration |
| 5 | Bintan or Batam, Indonesia | ferry, 45min-2hrs each way |
Day 1: Chinatown hawker crawl, Kampong Glam after dark
Start at Chinatown Complex, over 700 stalls and 220-plus of them serving food, home to Liao Fan Hawker Chan, the stall that turned soya chicken rice into a Michelin-starred dish for a few dollars a plate. If the queue’s too long, Maxwell Food Centre nearby has Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bib Gourmand-listed and arguably the better value of the two. Spend the afternoon in Chinatown proper, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Sri Mariamman Temple, the shophouse blocks around Pagoda Street. Evening belongs to Kampong Glam: Sultan Mosque at dusk, Haji Lane’s independent boutiques, dinner around Arab Street.
Day 2: Katong, Tiong Bahru, Little India after dark
Morning in Katong and Joo Chiat, Peranakan shophouses in colours no design brief would sign off on, and the actual birthplace of Katong laksa, order it here. Midday, Tiong Bahru: 1930s art-deco blocks, secondhand bookshops, a bakery queue that’s earned its reputation. Evening, Little India, genuinely a different neighbourhood after dark when Tekka Centre and the spice shops around Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple light up.
Day 3: Lau Pa Sat by night, Old Airport Road by day
Lau Pa Sat is a Victorian cast-iron market that turns into a satay street after dark, when the road outside closes to traffic. For lunch, skip the tourist version and get to Old Airport Road Food Centre instead, no queue theatre, just Singaporeans eating where they actually eat. If you want a look at the skyline everyone photographs, it’s a short walk from here, twenty minutes gets you the postcard shot without needing to build a day around it.
Day 4: Cross the Causeway into Johor Bahru, Malaysia
This is a different country. Singapore split from Malaysia in 1965 and runs its own currency, the Singapore dollar, JB runs on ringgit, so bring some cash or expect to pay a currency conversion fee on cards. Get there by bus or the KTM shuttle train across the Causeway, bring your passport either way, it’s an actual border with its own immigration queue, budget more time for that than the short physical distance suggests. Singapore and Malaysia have been building the RTS Link, a five-minute cross-border train meant to replace the queue chaos at the Causeway, but as of mid-2026 it’s still in testing with a target of opening by year’s end, don’t plan this trip around it existing yet. Spend the day in JB, eat, wander the markets, and be back in Singapore for the night, most visitors find one day plenty rather than an overnight.
Day 5: Ferry to Bintan or Batam, Indonesia
Another border, another passport stamp. Ferries leave from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal for Bintan, roughly 70 minutes to the resort side, up to two hours if you’re headed further to Tanjung Pinang, or from HarbourFront for Batam, 45-60 minutes. Return fares run roughly SGD 58-76 for Batam and SGD 78-92 for Bintan, plus a fuel surcharge most operators now add.
Is a second border crossing on the same trip actually worth it? Yes, and it’s the trip that proves Singapore works better as a hub than as a single destination. You can be snorkelling or lounging on a beach in a different country by mid-morning and back in your Singapore hotel by dinner.
Getting around: tap a contactless bank card or your phone through SimplyGo at MRT gantries, no need for an EZ-Link card unless you want one as a souvenir, foreign-issued cards carry a SGD 0.60/day admin fee. Use Grab for anything door to door, not Uber, it sold its Southeast Asia business and left in 2018.
One thing to know: hawker seats get “choped”, reserved with a tissue packet or umbrella left on the table. Not litter, not up for grabs, respect it.