Offbeat Singapore and Beyond: 6 Days
Six days is enough to treat Singapore less like a checklist and more like a base camp, with a second and third country reachable by bus and ferry thrown in for good measure. Builds on the 5-day stopover ; the 7-day version closes with the Botanic Gardens and Dempsey Hill on top of this.
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Changi arrival, Maxwell Food Centre, Marina Bay’s free half, Lau Pa Sat satay |
| 2 | Chinatown Complex’s hawker hub, Little India, Kampong Glam after dark |
| 3 | Katong, Joo Chiat, and Tiong Bahru |
| 4 | Pulau Ubin, the kampong-era island |
| 5 | Johor Bahru, Malaysia, a different country and currency |
| 6 | Bintan or Batam, Indonesia, by ferry |
Book these before you go
- Compare rates for Singapore hotels near Chinatown or Katong
- Compare Bintan and Batam ferry and resort packages before you commit to a sailing date
- Book a guided Pulau Ubin cycling tour if you’d rather not navigate the trails solo
Day 1: Changi, hawker crash course, Marina Bay’s free half
- Land at Changi, 14-time Skytrax World’s Best Airport winner, MRT into town in around 35 minutes for a couple of SGD.
- Maxwell Food Centre first, not the hotel breakfast: Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Michelin Bib Gourmand, the stall Anthony Bourdain filmed at, cheaper than most airport coffee.
- Watch for a folded tissue packet on an empty stool, that’s “chope,” the seat’s taken.
- Afternoon: Gardens by the Bay’s free outdoor half, Supertree Grove and OCBC Skyway, the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome conservatories are ticketed extras.
- Evening: satay street at Lau Pa Sat, the Victorian cast-iron hall shipped in piece by piece from Glasgow, then the free Spectra light show at Marina Bay Sands.
Day 2: Chinatown Complex, Little India, Kampong Glam
- Morning: Chinatown Complex, 700-plus stalls, the country’s largest hawker centre, anchored by Liao Fan Hawker Chan’s soy sauce chicken, Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice cooked over charcoal since 1979, and Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Foo’s Bib Gourmand yong tau foo, plus a fresh batch of names the July 2026 Michelin update added.
- Buddha Tooth Relic Temple afterward, free, rooftop garden included.
- Afternoon: Tekka Centre in Little India, spice shops and gold merchants all around.
- Evening: Kampong Glam under Sultan Mosque’s dome, Haji Lane’s single strip of independent boutiques the reason to linger.
Day 3: Katong, Joo Chiat, Tiong Bahru
- Morning: Katong and Joo Chiat, Peranakan shophouses in pastel with hand-painted tiles, order laksa here specifically, it’s the version other laksa in the country gets measured against.
- Afternoon: Joo Chiat Road’s kueh and antique shops, several run by the same families for generations.
- Evening: Tiong Bahru, a 1930s art-deco estate locals half-jokingly call the coolest postcode in the city, curved balconies, indie bookshops, serious coffee.
Day 4: Pulau Ubin
- Bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal (a different Changi from the airport), roughly 10 minutes, SGD 4 each way, cash only, leaves once 12 aboard.
- Singapore’s last “kampong-era” island, no malls, barely developed since the 1960s. Rent a bike and ride out to Chek Jawa Wetlands.
- Evening back in the city: Old Airport Road Food Centre, off the tourist path enough to keep queues shorter than Maxwell’s.
Day 5: Johor Bahru, Malaysia
- Bus or the KTM shuttle train across the Woodlands Causeway. A direct rail link between Woodlands and Bukit Chagar is meant to open soon, though the date has slid between late 2026 and early 2027, so check before relying on it.
- Bring a passport, this is a different sovereign country with its own currency, ringgit, not a suburb of Singapore.
- A day of noticeably cheaper malls and hawker food before crossing back ahead of the evening checkpoint queue.
Day 6: Bintan or Batam, Indonesia, by ferry
- Ferries to Bintan leave from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, roughly 70 minutes to the resort side; ferries to Batam leave from HarbourFront, 45 to 60 minutes. Both are a different country again, Indonesia, so the passport comes out a second time this trip.
- Bintan leans toward beach resorts and a slower pace; Batam is closer and rougher around the edges but has its own hawker-style food scene worth a look if resort lounging isn’t the goal.
- Factor in a fuel surcharge on top of the return fare and terminal fees, and double-check the day’s sailing schedule before committing, since services can be thinner outside peak season.
- Evening: back in Singapore for a final hawker dinner, Amoy Street Food Centre or Chinatown Complex again if the Michelin stalls are still on your mind.
Getting around
- Tap a contactless bank card or phone wallet directly at MRT and bus gantries, no separate card needed.
- Grab covers ride-hailing everywhere in Singapore; Uber sold its Southeast Asia business to Grab in 2018 and isn’t an option here.
- Bumboats, buses to JB, and ferries to Bintan/Batam all run on their own schedules rather than MRT-style frequency, build in slack.
Things to know
- Singapore has been independent from Malaysia since 1965, its own sovereign country with its own currency, the Singapore dollar.
- Tipping isn’t customary, and tap water is safe to drink.
- The chewing gum law bans sale and import, not chewing a stick brought in personally.
The one call worth making
Pick one cross-border trip, not both, if six days feels tight once you’re actually there. Johor Bahru and Bintan or Batam both eat most of a day once transit and immigration are counted, and rushing either one defeats the point of leaving Singapore in the first place.