Singapore has to be one of largest but also dynamic cities I have ever been too. There’s a lot to see and do in the city, with many different cultures residing within the streets!
If you’re only just catching up, then we visited Singapore as the second leg of our honeymoon. We spent 5 days exploring the city of which was plenty! And the best way we explored? A good ‘old hop on hop off bus tour!
If you have never done a hop on hop off but tour before, I would highly recommend it for any city! When we popped over to Paris, we thoroughly enjoyed viewing and learning about the city aboard the bus. Having had such a great time in Paris, we knew we had to do it again in Singapore.
We decided to do the 48hours with HiPPO buses. This allowed us to use all 7 lines of the buses for 48 hours from purchase and meant we would be able to get to Universal studios on the Friday morning. We also decided to book onto the Duck tour so we could see the city from the marina, something we both were eager to do. So with that, we got exploring.
Read : Singapore – the city of lights
Day 1 – Real Exploration
Having purchased our tickets prior to collection, we made our way to the hub of the buses – Suntec City. It was super easy no thanks to our online booking with Isango .Here we collected our tickets and confirmed the time of our Duck tour. We then were free to board any bus for every route. Hippo Buses in Singapore offer the best coverage across the city, with 7 lines, all of which explore the city and extend to tourist attractions like Singapore Botanic Gardens and Sentosa Island. On Day one we really just wanted to get our bearings and explore as much as we could.
We boarded every line, and we stayed on for an entire loop. Like mentioned, we really just wanted to get our bearings of the city and see everything we could. We disembarked at certain stops and explored locations too. Our first real tourist attraction was Gardens by the Bay.
It was absolutely stunning, even for someone who’s not that keen on gardening or flowers! ( Full review and further snaps coming in separate blog post ).
From here, we jumped on another bus and headed into the financial district of the city. We didn’t wander round here, as we saw what we wanted from the bus. It really was the high rise part of the city and very very built up! From here, we jumped on various lines to see the rest of the city. Like I said, we really wanted to see it all. We stayed on the buses so long, it genuinely got to the point where our bums were numb!
We drove through the streets of Little India and China town too. The architecture of these parts of the city was simply stunning. The colours so vibrant! Once again, we didn’t jump off, which I kinda wish we had, just so we could explore a little more.
By 6pm, we had quiet enough and made our way back to our hotel. We freshened up and spent the evening at Robertson Quay having dinner by the river. Tomorrow, we had planned to be the day we were on our feet!
Day 2 – On and Off
Our second day kicked off with the Duck tour around the marina. I will note, our second day was the birthday of Singapore. It was a national holiday and the marina would be closed for boats after 12pm as they prepare for the evenings celebrations of fireworks and more. We were so lucky to get tickets for one of the earlier tours to take full advantage and motor within the marina.
Overall, the Duck tour was superb. Really informative and fun! We got gorgeous views of the bay, and learned so much. Much to my husbands delight, he learnt abit more about the F1 race that’s held in the city every year, and managed to see a bit more of the circuit too!
The tour was about an hour, with half of it on the water and the rest around the city. We ended the tour back at Suntec city, where we could jump on any other bus.
Since we had gathered a real feel for the city the day before, we knew where and what we wanted to do. We had earmarked some pretty big shopping centres that we wanted to mooch around, and decided we wanted in on the Birthday celebrations down at the marina.
We had gorgeous Thai food (We just missed Thailand so much) in one of the malls and then searched for holiday gifts. Much to our surprise there wasn’t much we fancied and just spent the time taking in the city sights. We made it down to marina bay by 5pm and sat waiting for the celebrations.
There was a superb fireworks display and fly overs from incredible planes. Once it had all finished, we headed over to Marina Bay Sands to take in the sights of the city at night from a great height. We walked back to our hotel making it back in just after 1am.
It was the busiest of days and we were both cream crackered. But ultimately, we really took advantage of the tickets we had for the buses. We so enjoyed seeing the city on the buses, especially in the stifling heat. Whilst walking isn’t an issue, its the heat you endure whilst doing it.
I would highly recommend hop on hop off buses to anyone who’s visiting Singapore. Super easy to use, ample frequency and available all across the city. Thank you to Isango and Local Singapore Tours for organising the superb 48 hours pass!
Have you been on a Hop on Hop off bus tour before?
Would you? As always leave your thoughts in the comment section below!
Charlotte x
** This was a collaborative post with Isango and Local Singapore Tours. All opinions are my own.
