Day Out at Marina Bay, Singapore

Singapore is often described as a great place to shop, and when shopping is mentioned, Orchard Road is often the first place to come to mind. However, there are many other places to shop and the Marina Bay area is a great place to start.

Suntec City Mall is located here. Many tourists visit it for the many shops available there and the great variety of food. Besides that, it is also famous for the Fountain of Wealth. At night, there are light shows. If you wish to obtain some "good luck" you should also follow the instructions given at the Fountain. Suntec City is also connected to a convention centre. Occasionally, there are sales held there by brands like Tangs and also IT fairs.

Marina Square and Raffles City is connected to Suntec city through underpasses which start from the City Hall MRT Station. Thus, it is possible to spend the whole day shopping in the Marina Bay area without seeing the sun at all. Also, a great place to hang out if it happens to rain.

A major tenant at Marina Square is John Little. It also offers other top-notch brands like Massimo Dutti, Zara, MUJI, Topshop and Mango. At Raffles City, the brands available include Robinsons, Tommy Hilfiger and RAOUL.

Millenia Walk can be easily reached by using the Promenade MRT station. Here, the main tenant is Parco. Parco Marina Bay consists of 3 levels. The first level focuses mostly on fashion accessories and beauty and fitness-related services. On the next level, there are many brands selling mostly women's apparel. There is also a section named Parco next NEXT which is a fashion incubator set up with strong support from Spring Singapore. The highest level, Level 3 is where most of the restaurants are located. 

The Esplanade is an icon in Singapore not only because of its unique architecture which resembles the king of fruits, the durian. It is also one of the best places in Singapore to head to if you love the performing and visual arts. There are many performances every week. Some of these performances would be free and thus would make for a great stop for the backpacker. Another reason to love the Esplanade is because of its location near the waterfront area where you can enjoy Singapore's beautiful nightview.

Marina Bay Sands is one of the two Integrated Resorts (IR) in Singapore. The other would be Resorts World Sentosa on Sentosa Island. At Marina Bay Sands, lovers of luxury brands like Manolo Blahnik, Miu Miu and Hublot would be very happy. An attraction there would be the casino and the Sands SkyPark. Hotel guests need not pay to go up to the SkyPark. Others would need to fork out SGD20 though. Since 2011, the Art & Science Museum, a food court and a skating rink has opened too. Thus, it is a definite improvement from the time it first opened in 2010. Since mid 2012, the Gardens by the Bay are also open to the public. You can take the escalator located behind Chanel to get to a link. Just walk along this path and you will soon see the Gardens by the Bay.

If you are feeling tired after all that shopping, head to the Singapore Flyer. It is a huge observation wheel standing at 165 metres tall. An entire circle takes about 30 minutes. During this time, you will have the chance to view central Singapore from the top. The Flyer sits within a three storey building which has Food and Beverage (FnB) outlets like Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and souvenir shops like the Singapore Flyer Gifts by RISIS. As of July 2010, an adult ticket would cost SGD29.50. 

As the area is inundated with shopping malls, you will find it easy to find eating spots be it simple cafes, food courts or restaurants. Raffles City has a good selection at the basement level with Japanese restaurant Watami, Korean restaurant Bibigo, Vietnamese restaurant Nam Nam, the Tiong Bahru Bakery and much more. Along the City Link Mall, you will find lots of choices too such as Yomenya Goemon and Starbucks Cafe. Further from City Hall MRT station, Suntec City also has a good selection.