16 reasons to visit singapore in 2015

I love Singapore

Since I arrived in Singapore 6 years ago, I’m in love with this city-state.

Woman in front of colorful rocks Haw Par Villa |curlytraveller.com

At my favourite place in Singapore: Haw Par Villa aka Tiger Balm Gardens. See point 14 further on.

People that don’t know Singapore, often have a negative idea about it, like that its only a bunch of shopping malls and skyscrapers, or they are at most sort of neutral/blank about it.

I’m on a constant mission to change that perception and I’m quite successful at that. Most visitors that I receive and lead around are pleasantly surprised by Singapore. Yay!

Singapore is hot!

Yes, Singapore IS hot, temperature-wise, but I’m referring here to Singapore being THE travel destination of 2015.

Everyone wrote about it, from Lonely Planet to Huffington Post and many others.

Most of those articles give you a quick and dirty list with reasons why Singapore is the place to be now. In this article you will find a more complete list with a lot of info and links. I hope it will help you plan your stay in Singapore!

16 Reasons to visit Singapore in 2015

There are several reasons why it’s a good idea to visit Singapore this year:

Singapore celebrates 50 years of independence with a big party!
-National Day Parade on august 9th
-Jubilee Weekend and opening Jubilee Walk
-there is a year round program of festivities, like fireworks and free concerts in parks, in relation to SG50.
there are hot, new hotels in town, like:
-Hotel Jen
-Park Hotel Alexandra
-Not brandnew, but sounds like a nice place to stay: Hotel Nostalgia
-Read all about 15 other cool hotels in Singapore in this article.

Hotel Majestic, Singapore. One of the 15 cool hotels from the link above.
the National Gallery Singapore opens its doors in october 2015
upcoming events: F1 races and music (18-20 september), Singapore Food Festival (17 july -2 august), Cirque du Soleil with their new show Totem (28 october -22 november), Mid Autumn Festival (12 september -16 october), Hari Raya (24 september), Deepavali (9 october) and Christmas.
new art spaces, like
-MAD- a very interesting, huge gallery with contemporary art and design
-Gillman Barracks - a cluster of contemporary art galleries and restaurants in heritage architecture
-ArtScience Museum -a beautiful building with interesting exhibitions

The spectacular building of the ArtScience Museum

-National Design Centre - located in a renovated heritage building and also housing pop-up store Kapok and a small cafe for coffee and munchies.

Detail exhibit National Design Centre Singapore

Golden ‘oldies’ like the SAM, the Peranakan Museum, the Red Dot Design Museum and the National Museum Singapore are as interesting and worthwhile as the newbies, by the way.

Entrance Peranakan Museum Singapore

Further more, Singapore has numerous galleries. To mention some: Art Season Gallery, Art Plural Gallery, Yavuz Fine Art ( one of my personal favorites), Taksu, Ipreciation, The Drawing Room, and Ota Fine Arts.
the food
Singapores cuisine is as eclectic as its multi-cultural society. That means that Chinese, Indian and Malay dishes are available everywhere.
Being an international city, almost all other cuisines are to be found as well.
Eating local food generally is a lot cheaper than choosing for international food options.
Local dishes can be found in food courts like Lau Pa Sat, and basically in every block and street in Singapore.
Known local foods and dishes are: the durian, chili crab, pepper crab, chicken rice.
For reviews, check out the blog from LadyIronChef, or find your restaurant at HungryGoWhere.

The beautiful building in which food court Lau Pa Sat is housed.
the drinking scene, with its
-(rooftop) bars with spectacular views: Level 33, KuDeTa, Indochine at Gardens by the Bay, OneAltitude
-secret bars: read more about them in this article by City Nomads.
-hipster coffeeshops: check out this article from CafeHopping Singapore or this one by MothershipSG.
hip and happening hoods, like
-Tiong Bahru

Books Actually, Tiong Bahru

-Kampong Glam
-Haji Lane

Haji Lane

-Katong
-Everton Park
-Joo Chiatt
-Jalan Besar
-Keong Saik
the many green spaces, like:
-Singapore Botanic Gardens
-Gardens by the Bay

Sky Bridge at Gardens by the Bay

-Pulau Ubin
-Southern Ridges
-Chinese Gardens
-various nature reserves and reservoirs, as well as numerous parks and park connectors
Read more in the following articles from Lonely Planet, Huffington Post and Expat Living. The articles confirm my own perception of Singapore as an Urban Jungle in another way than what is usually meant by that. Singapore as Urban Jungle due to its many, many green pockets and its massive trees in the heart of the city, instead of thanks to it density of buildings and concrete.
Changi airport
-wins awards all the time and is considered to be the best airport in the world. Cheekiemonkies wrote several great articles about what there is to do and see at this airport. Read them here and here.
-the airport provides free city tours, how cool is that?
shopping
-big malls: all the major, high end brands are represented at Orchard Road and Marina Bay The Shoppes.

Chanel on Orchard Road

But there are many, many more malls all throughout Singapore. Most have floors both under and above ground level. Often below ground, the shops are more affordable. You will find that different malls have a different focus. Far East Plaza is known for cheap stuff, nail salons and hair salons, Orchard Central and Orchard Gateway are focussed on a young, hipster clientele, but they are not cheap malls, Lucky Plaza is popular amongst Philippino maids, etc

Volkswagens as sales booths in Orchard Central

-hip boutiques

With Gilda from Revasseur and SuperSpace, the wildest store in Singapore. See her XXL necklace? Cool!

-flea markets: read more in this article by Honeycombers or check out this link.
-pop-up stores: Keepers, Zalora, Crateful
-local designers: Hansel, In Good Company, Ed Et Al, K by Kevin Seah, Raoul, Depression, Carrie K, Vice & Vanity and more.
Read more about shopping in Singapore in this article from Lonely Planet, in this article from Honeycombers
sports
-F1 Grand Prix (18-20 september)

Formule 1 track in Singapore through the heart of the city

-Singapore Sports Hub - a brand-new stadium in innovative architecture
Marina Bay
We lived there for four years and saw the whole area being built and developed. It is awesome.

Marina Bay during daytime.

You can walk all around the bay; it’s pedestrian heaven there. There are spectacular sights and views, you can sit and relax everywhere.

Marina Bay at nighttime

You come across shops and food and beverage options. It is great for people watching. See also point 15.
Haw Par Villa
My favourite place in Singapore. An almost deserted, huge, quirky theme park. 1000 statues and dioramas spread out over a big plot of and. Totally unique.

mermaids at Haw Par Villa

I heard that it is getting a new management soon, which may imply big changes. So go now! I wrote many articles about Haw Par Villa, also named Tiger Balm Gardens. Type in Haw Par Villa in the search box on the right and they will all pop up. Or start with this article that I wrote about the eccentric, weird world of Tiger Balm Gardens.

Another group of sculptures at Haw Par Villa aka Tiger Balm Gardens
the architecture
-architecturally, the most impressive area is Marina Bay. There is a lot to see, enjoy and admire there: The Esplanades, Marina Bay Sands, the Fullerton, Gardens by the Bay, ArtScience Museum, the Helix Bridge, The Singapore Flyer, Marina Barrage and more
-the area around Fusionopolis, with The Sandcrawler
-traditional architecture, like the shophouses and Peranakan style houses
-Parkview Square Building

Shophouses in the front, the Parkview Building in the background.

-ION Orchard
the cultural mix
Where else do you find three very distinctive cultures living in harmony in one society? When you visit Chinatown, e.g., you come across a Chinese temple, and Indian temple and a Buddhist temple almost next to each other. You will see that all three temples are active and authentic, with daily ceremonies and worshipping visitors.

Festivities at Buddhist temple in Chinatown.

Small street altar with offerings

Offerings at Bukit Brown Cemetery