7 Days in Singapore and Beyond
Land at Changi and the MRT gets you into the city for about SGD 1.50-2.20 tapped through SimplyGo, no ticket machine queue required, in roughly 35 minutes to City Hall. Seven days is enough to use that head start properly: this plan treats Singapore as a hub, not just a city, three days of hawker centres and neighbourhoods, two border crossings into Malaysia and Indonesia, a bumboat day out to Pulau Ubin, then a slow Jewel Changi morning before you fly. Want one border instead of two? The 6-day version drops Pulau Ubin and keeps the rest; want zero borders at all, our in-city Singapore itinerary fills the same week with Mandai and Sentosa instead.
Book these before you go:
- Johor Bahru day trip : skips the DIY bus-and-immigration research for day four
- Bintan or Batam ferry crossing : fares climb fast in peak holiday weeks, book ahead
- Your Singapore hotel : seven nights justifies a base with easy access to both 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 | Pulau Ubin | bumboat ~10min each way, cash only |
| 7 | Jewel Changi wind-down, departure | in city |
Day 1: Chinatown hawker crawl, Kampong Glam after dark
Chinatown Complex is the real starting point, not a side trip: more than 700 stalls, over 220 of them serving food, and the address of Liao Fan Hawker Chan, the stall that turned soya chicken rice into the cheapest Michelin-starred meal going. If the queue’s unreasonable, Maxwell Food Centre a few minutes away has Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bib Gourmand-rated and honestly the smarter order for most people. Spend the afternoon walking Chinatown proper: Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (free entry), Sri Mariamman Temple, the shophouse row on Pagoda Street, and skip the souvenir stalls between them. By evening, Kampong Glam earns the change of mood: Sultan Mosque lit up at dusk, Haji Lane’s independent shops, dinner around Arab Street.
Day 2: Katong, Tiong Bahru, Little India after dark
Morning goes to Katong and Joo Chiat for Peranakan shophouses painted in colours a design committee would reject, and the actual birthplace of Katong laksa, so order it here rather than at a Marina Bay food court. Midday, Tiong Bahru: 1930s art-deco blocks, secondhand bookshops, a bakery queue people already know to join before it opens. Save Little India for after dark. It’s a genuinely different neighbourhood once Tekka Centre and the spice shops around Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple switch the lights on.
Day 3: Lau Pa Sat and Old Airport Road
Lau Pa Sat is a Victorian cast-iron market that turns into an open-air satay street once the surrounding road closes to traffic each evening, worth timing dinner around. Skip the tourist-priced lunch spots near Marina Bay and get to Old Airport Road Food Centre instead: no queue theatre, just Singaporeans eating where they actually eat. The skyline photo everyone takes is a twenty-minute walk from here if you want it; you don’t need to build a whole day around it.
Day 4: Cross the Causeway into Johor Bahru, Malaysia
This is a different country, full stop. Singapore split from Malaysia in 1965 and keeps its own currency, the Singapore dollar; JB runs on ringgit, so carry cash or expect a card conversion fee. Get across the Causeway by bus or the KTM shuttle train, bring your passport either way, it’s a real border with its own immigration queue and worth more time than the short physical distance suggests.
Is the RTS Link open yet? No. The five-minute cross-border train meant to replace the Causeway queue is targeted to open by the end of 2026, though some reports point to early 2027, so don’t build this trip around it existing yet. Use the bus or KTM shuttle instead and pad your immigration time.
Day 5: Ferry to Bintan or Batam, Indonesia
Another border, another passport stamp. Ferries from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal reach Bintan in roughly 70 minutes to the resort side, up to two hours further to Tanjung Pinang, or leave HarbourFront for Batam in 45 to 60 minutes. Return fares run about SGD 58-76 for Batam and SGD 78-92 for Bintan, plus a fuel surcharge most operators now add on top. Passport and immigration required, same drill as Johor Bahru, entirely different country.
Day 6: Pulau Ubin, the island development skipped
Pulau Ubin sits off the northeast coast and looks like Singapore did before Singapore became Singapore: kampong houses, dirt tracks, no malls, no MRT within reach. Get there by bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal, about ten minutes each way, SGD 4 per person, cash only; the boat leaves once 12 passengers are aboard, running roughly 6am to 7pm, so fewer passengers or an off-hours crossing costs more per head.
Is giving up a day of hawker crawling for a half-developed island actually worth it? Yes, precisely because it’s the opposite of everything else on this itinerary. Cycle the island, walk out to the Chek Jawa Wetlands if the tide cooperates, and eat at one of the handful of kopitiams that make up the entire food scene here, then head back to the mainland for dinner in whichever neighbourhood you liked best.
Day 7: Jewel Changi wind-down, then departure
After two border crossings plus a boat trip to Pulau Ubin, day seven should be slow, not another checklist. Sleep in, skip Orchard Road, and head to Jewel Changi even if your flight isn’t until evening: it’s free to enter, no boarding pass required, and the HSBC Rain Vortex, the tallest indoor waterfall in the world at 40 metres, runs a light-and-sound show most nights.
Is Jewel Changi worth a half-day this late in the trip? Yes. Changi took the World’s Best Airport title at the 2026 Skytrax awards for the 14th time, plus Best Airport Dining and Best Immigration Service, so treating it as a destination rather than a last-minute dash to the gate is the better use of a wind-down day.
Eat one more hawker meal before you go, Old Airport Road Food Centre or whatever stall from earlier in the week you’re still craving, and clear security with at least three hours in hand before an international flight.
Getting around without renting 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 Visa and Mastercard (not Amex) carry a SGD 0.60 per day admin fee. Use Grab for anything door to door; Uber isn’t an option, it 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 only bans sale and import, nobody’s arresting a tourist for a stick of gum already in their bag. Tap water is safe straight from the tap and tipping isn’t expected, though sit-down restaurants often add 9% GST plus a 10% service charge regardless. Keep small bills on you for hawker stalls and both border crossings, all three run cash-first even in a country that wants you tapping a card everywhere else.