Why Singapore
In sixty years, a port without resources has become one of the richest cities in the world, and it shows: vertical gardens, spectacular architecture, an immaculate metro, and a cleanliness that disconcerts.
It is also the best place in Southeast Asia to eat. The hawker centres — halls of street food stalls — serve Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan dishes for a few euros, and some hold stars. That is where the real visit happens.
Getting around
The metro covers the island and works with a contactless bank card: nothing to buy, you tap in and tap out. Buses complete the network.
Everything is less than an hour away. Taxis and apps are cheap for the region, with fares displayed in advance. A car is of no use at all: the mere right to own a vehicle, auctioned by the state, costs more than a new car in Europe.
Money
Cards work everywhere, except in some hawker centres where only cash and local QR code payments are accepted. Keep a few notes for eating.
The city is expensive for hotels and alcohol — heavily taxed — and cheap at table and on transport. Tipping is not customary, and a service charge is already included in restaurant bills.
Before you go
The rules are real and the fines land: no food or drink on the metro, no smoking outside marked zones, no litter dropped on the ground. Selling chewing gum is forbidden outside pharmacies.
Drug legislation provides for extremely heavy penalties, including capital ones, and it applies to foreigners without exception.
The climate imposes a rhythm: go out early, take shelter indoors in the middle of the day, come back out late in the afternoon. The city is designed for that, with covered, air-conditioned passages from one district to the next.