Things to do in Singapore: travelling with a toddler

Bright lights, endless sights, home to the infamous Marina Bay Sands infinity pool, Singapore.

Now I do consider myself to be a city chick, but I'm not drawn to the crowds or fast paced life style. On the other hand I would never see myself living remotely. I love to follow the sun and the coastline. But Singapore, oh what a sight (well from all the googling I have done anyways!) It's one thing to live in a busy city, it's another when travelling. All the bright lights and gorgeous sights in this city has me drawn to visiting. Of course I would love to travel the world (hopefully one day) but this is getting ticked off my bucketlist😁.

Well I do live in a busy city, home to the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House, Sydney, but I have probably explored more of the world than the city I actually live in. I guess it's because it's just there and I have lived here all my life, it doesn't seem to be so special. While travelling on the other hand, there is limited time to see everything and because it's not readily available I guess I appreciate it a lot more. When will I get to experience this city again? Maybe never, so I embrace it and love every little bit of time I get to spend at any given destination.

At 32yrs old, I honestly haven't travelled that much. I have done most of my travelling with my 3.5yr old son. There has always been something holding me back, job, finances, lack of leave, fear, the list could go on. I finally caught that travel bug almost 5 years ago when I saved up enough leave to financially be able to travel comfortably without the stress of rent, bills, just life in general. Since having my son and being a fulltime single mum without a job to limit me or hold me back for the first time EVER, my calendar became open to possibilities. I could travel whenever and wherever I wanted. It gave me the flexibility to travel out of school holidays, when it is low season but still good weather, fly within sale dates and there is no one to ask permission from!

My son, 3.5yrs old is pretty well-travelled. He definitely has the travel bug and is looking forward to our next adventure. This holiday will be our first Multistop, 6 weeks through South East Asia, 8 destinations, 8 flights, 4 ferries and a million things on our itinerary. Sounds like a long time, but it definitely is not. With so many places to go and so much to see, 6 weeks are going to fly by. First stop, Bangkok, followed by Kuala Lumpur, Penang and then Singapore.

I found flights from PEN Penang to SIN Singapore (1hr 25min flight), flying Air Asia for $159.51 aud total for 1 adult and 1 child. Asia Asia does not include any checked baggage, so I purchased 25kg for $19.54 aud. Total of $177.96 aud for flights and baggage (with the exchange rate at the time of purchase). Air Asia however does allow 7kg total per passenger Carry on complimentary

Arriving in Singapore you can catch a taxi or book a grab/uber. There are also other Options available.

The best value sim card I found to suit our needs is from Singtel. You can pick one up from a travellex exchange at terminal 1, 2, 3 and 4.

We will be staying at Hotel clover 5 hongkong st which I booked through agoda for $554.50 aud.

Arriving in Singapore at 1.20pm means we have some time left in the day to explore the city. Here is what out itinerary is looking like thus far:

Day 1:

• River taxi around marina bay sands (ask at counter for a short cruise $6)
• Singapore flyer 8.30am - 10.30pm
• Chinatown
• Marina Bay Sands Spectra light and water show Sun - Thu 8pm & 9pm, Fri & Sat 8pm, 9pm & 10pm
• Fountain of wealth (free) fountain time 9am - 12pm, 2pm - 6pm, 7pm - 7.50pm, 9.30pm - 10pm
• Laser show at fountain of wealth 8pm, 8.30, 9pm
• Touch water at fountain of wealth 9am - 12pm, 2pm - 6pm, 7pm - 7.50pm, 9.30pm - 10pm

Day 2:

• Marina Bay Sands
• Observation deck Mon - Thu 9.30am - 10pm, Fri - sun 9.30am - 11pm
• Future world museum 10am - 7pm, entrance times 10am, 11.30am, 1pm, 2.30pm, 4pm, 5.30pm
• Helix bridge open 24hrs
• Gardens by the bay 9am - 9pm, Flower dome 9am - 9pm, Cloud forest 9am - 9pm (mist falling 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm), OCBC Skyway 9am - 9pm, Super tree grove 5am - 2am, Far east organization childrens garden Tue - Fri 10am - 7pm, sat & sun 9am - 9pm (free), some Services provided by gardens by the bay which may come in handy

Day 3:

• Singapore zoo 8.30am - 6pm (last entry 5.30pm)
• River safari 10am - 7pm (last entry 6.30pm)
• Night safari 7.15pm - 12am (last entry 11.15pm), creatures of the night show Fri & Sat 25min

This will most likely change as I don't think there will be enough time to do all 3. Our itinerary is pretty jam-packed, so I may just opt to do night safari so we have the daytime to fit in all the other things. If we have time we can try to come back for one of these activities.

Day 4:

• Sentosa, Sentosa express
• S.E.A aquaria 10am - 6pm
• Trick eye museum 10am - 9pm
• Wings of time 7.40pm , 8.40pm
• Skyline luge Sentosa 10am - 9.30pm
• Mega zip 11am - 7pm
• Beach at Sentosa

Day 5:

• Adventure cove water park 10am - 6pm
• Crane dance
• Lake of dreams

Our flight departs at 5.20pm on the 6th day. I will either spend the day fitting in what I couldn't, or spend the day at the Airport. There are so many things to do at the airport! Swim in the pool and watch the planes fly by is one of the things I would like to do with my son. He loves planes!

Our itinerary is so jam-packed with lots of activities to try to fit in. There are so many more things to do in Singapore which aren't on our to do list. This is my shortlist!

I have found Klook to have some of the lowest prices. Use my referral code y9676 to receive $4.10 aud credit.

Come and take the ride with us through South East Asia. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram to check out our daily grind.

Fly time to Koh Samui