6 Days in Singapore and Beyond
If you land at Changi expecting to hunt for a taxi, stop. The MRT runs straight from Changi Airport station into the city for about SGD 1.50-2.20 tapped on a contactless bank card through SimplyGo, no EZ-Link card required, and it takes roughly 35 minutes to City Hall with one change at Tanah Merah. Six days is enough to eat properly, walk four real neighbourhoods, cross into two other countries, and still have a slow last day rather than a rushed one. Only crossing one border? The 4-day version fits that; want the full seven, our Singapore itinerary covers the in-city version instead.
Book these before you go:
- Johor Bahru day trip : the straightforward way to handle day four
- Bintan or Batam ferry crossing : book ahead in peak holiday weeks
- Your Singapore hotel : six nights justifies a base near both the Causeway route and the ferry terminals
| Day | Focus | Distance/time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinatown Complex hawker crawl, Kampong Glam after dark | in city |
| 2 | Katong, Tiong Bahru, Little India after dark | in city |
| 3 | Lau Pa Sat, Old Airport Road | in city |
| 4 | Johor Bahru, Malaysia | Causeway crossing, ~1hr each way plus immigration |
| 5 | Bintan or Batam, Indonesia | ferry, 45min-2hrs each way |
| 6 | Jewel Changi wind-down, departure | in city |
Day 1: Chinatown hawker crawl, then Kampong Glam after dark
Get to a hawker centre before anything else. Chinatown Complex has over 700 stalls, more than 220 of them serving food, and is home to Liao Fan Hawker Chan, the stall that turned a Michelin star into a plate of soya chicken rice costing a few dollars. Maxwell Food Centre nearby has Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bib Gourmand-listed, if that queue is too much.
Afternoon in Chinatown proper: Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, free entry, and the shophouse streets around Pagoda Street. Evening in 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 for Peranakan shophouses in colours no design brief would sign off on, and the actual birthplace of Katong laksa, order it here. Midday in Tiong Bahru: 1930s art-deco blocks, secondhand bookshops, a bakery queue that’s earned its reputation.
Save Little India for evening, when Tekka Centre and the spice shops around Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple get louder and more lit up than the daytime version of the same streets.
Day 3: Lau Pa Sat and Old Airport Road
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, get to Old Airport Road Food Centre instead, no queue theatre, just Singaporeans eating where they actually eat.
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; JB runs on ringgit, so bring cash or expect 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.
Is the RTS Link running yet? No. It’s targeted to open by the end of 2026, with some reports pointing to early 2027, so don’t plan around it existing on this trip. Use the bus or the KTM shuttle instead, and budget more time for immigration than the short physical distance suggests.
Day 5: Ferry to Bintan or Batam, Indonesia
Ferries leave Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal for Bintan, roughly 70 minutes to the resort side, up to two hours further to Tanjung Pinang, or 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. Passport and immigration required, same as Johor Bahru, different country entirely.
Day 6: Jewel Changi, One Last Hawker Meal, Departure
After two border crossings in three days, the sixth day should be slower, not another full itinerary. Sleep in, then head to Jewel Changi even if your flight isn’t until the evening: it’s free to enter, no boarding pass required, and the HSBC Rain Vortex, the tallest indoor waterfall on the planet, runs a light and sound show most nights.
Is Jewel Changi worth a half-day this late in the trip? Yes, it’s a genuine destination, not just an airport mall, and treating it as your last stop rather than a rushed dash to the gate is a better use of a wind-down day than squeezing in one more neighbourhood.
Eat one last hawker meal before you go, Old Airport Road Food Centre or whichever stall from earlier in the week you’re still thinking about, and head through security with at least three hours to spare before an international flight.
Getting around without renting a car
Don’t rent a car. Tap a contactless bank card or your phone wallet directly at the gantry through SimplyGo, no top-up or registration needed, though foreign-issued cards carry a SGD 0.60/day admin fee. Grab is the ride-hail app for anything door to door, not Uber, which sold its Southeast Asia business and left in 2018.
The fine print that actually bites
Littering starts at SGD 300, eating or drinking anything, including water, on the MRT can cost SGD 500, and vaping is fully banned with fines up to SGD 10,000. The chewing gum law bans sale and import, not the act of chewing it, nobody’s arresting a tourist for a stick of gum in their bag. Tap water is safe straight from the tap, and tipping isn’t expected anywhere, though sit-down restaurants often add 9% GST plus a 10% service charge regardless. Carry small bills for hawker stalls and the ferry terminals, both are cash-first pockets in a city that otherwise wants you to tap and walk away.