Singapore Short Family Holiday

For many Indian families, Singapore is the first trip abroad with the children, and it is hard to think of a better choice. The flight is short, the city is spotlessly clean and very safe, English is spoken everywhere, and almost everything is designed with families in mind, from step-free pavements and lifts at every station to clean toilets and baby-care rooms in every mall. This short holiday fits the highlights into a long weekend, with two full days of sightseeing and plenty of time to rest in between.

Flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Kochi take between about four and six hours, and many arrive in the early morning or late at night. Remember to set your watches forward by two and a half hours. Before you fly, every member of the family, including babies, needs a valid passport and a Singapore visa, which is applied for in advance through an authorised agent. You also need to submit the SG Arrival Card online, free of charge, within the three days before you arrive. It takes only a few minutes per person, and you will receive a confirmation by email; keep it on your phone.

Changi Airport is often voted the best airport in the world, and you will soon see why. Immigration is usually quick, with automated gates for many travellers and staffed counters for families. Luggage trolleys are free, lifts and travelators are everywhere, and there are clean family toilets, nursing rooms and children's play areas in every terminal. If you are travelling with a stroller, it will usually be returned to you at the aircraft door or at the baggage belt.

Once you have your bags, walk out into the arrivals hall, where our representative will be waiting with a board showing your name. Your transfer is private, so there is no waiting for other passengers, and there is space for strollers and luggage. If you need a child seat, let us know when you book. The drive to most city hotels takes about 20 to 30 minutes along wide, tree-lined roads.

If your flight lands early and you have energy to spare, ask us about stopping at Jewel Changi Airport on the way, or plan to visit it on your last day instead. Jewel is a glass dome linked to the terminals, built around the Rain Vortex, the tallest indoor waterfall in the world, which pours from a hole in the roof into a pool surrounded by a terraced indoor forest. Children love watching the water thunder down.

Most hotels in Singapore have check-in from 2 or 3 PM. If you arrive in the morning, the hotel will store your bags while you have breakfast nearby, and early check-in can sometimes be arranged, subject to availability and at extra cost. Singapore hotel rooms are often compact, so let us know the ages of your children when you book, and we will request a family room or connecting rooms where possible.

After an overnight flight, children usually need a nap, and so do parents. Plan an easy first afternoon: a swim in the hotel pool, a short walk to the nearest mall for lunch, or simply a rest in the room. Singapore is hot and humid all year round, with temperatures around 30 degrees and short, heavy showers on many afternoons, so keep a small umbrella and a water bottle with you whenever you go out. Tap water is safe to drink, so refill bottles at the hotel.

In the evening, take a gentle stroll around your neighbourhood. Little India is a favourite with Indian families, with its colourful shophouses, flower garlands, sari shops and the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, and it has dozens of restaurants serving dosas, thalis, biryani and North Indian curries, many of them vegetarian. Hawker centres, Singapore's famous open-air food courts, are another great choice, with stalls selling noodles, rice dishes, fresh juice and ice cream at low prices.

A few practical tips will help from the start. Singapore uses the Singapore dollar, and cards and mobile payments are accepted almost everywhere, but a little cash is useful for hawker stalls. Taxis and ride-hailing apps such as Grab are easy to use; the MRT metro is clean and fast, but it can be crowded at rush hour with a stroller. The city has strict rules: littering, eating or drinking on the MRT, and smoking in non-designated areas can all bring fines, and chewing gum is not sold, so teach the children to keep wrappers until they find a bin.

Get an early night: tomorrow is a full and exciting day, with the city tour in the morning and Sentosa Island in the afternoon and evening.

Included today: private arrival transfer from Changi Airport to your hotel, hotel stay.

Good to know: submit the free SG Arrival Card for every traveller within 3 days before arrival, and carry printed or digital visas. Ask for a child seat and family rooms when you book. Read our guides to the SG Arrival Card and the Singapore visa for Indians.

Today is the busiest day of the holiday, so start with a good breakfast. Your half-day city tour is on a shared coach, which collects guests from several hotels at a fixed time, usually in the morning; our team will confirm the exact pickup time the evening before. Be ready in the lobby a few minutes early with everything the children need for the day: water, snacks, sunscreen, hats, a light jacket for air-conditioned buses and a change of clothes. Strollers can be folded and stored on the coach.

The tour shows you the city's highlights from a child's point of view. At Merlion Park, the famous statue with the head of a lion and the body of a fish spouts water into Marina Bay, and children love posing as if they are drinking the water or catching it in their hands. The Merlion is the symbol of Singapore, combining the city's old name, Singapura, meaning "lion city", with its origins as a fishing village. Across the bay, you can see the three towers of Marina Bay Sands, with its ship-shaped SkyPark on top, which you will visit tomorrow.

The tour also includes a photo stop at the Singapore Flyer, one of the largest observation wheels in the world, and a visit to a temple in Chinatown, where you can see red lanterns, incense and gold decorations, and learn a little about the Chinese community that makes up most of Singapore's population. Singapore is a city of many cultures, Chinese, Malay, Indian and Western, and children are often fascinated by the different temples, foods and festivals they see side by side. The tour usually ends with a stop at a duty-free shop, where you can browse but are never obliged to buy.

After the tour, you have time for lunch before heading to Sentosa, the island resort just south of the city. Lunch is at your own cost, and VivoCity, the large mall next to the cable car station, has a food court with plenty of choices for children. Your Sentosa transfer is shared, and the adventure starts with a ride on the cable car, which swings high over the harbour from Mount Faber to the island. Children love the glass-sided cabins and the views of the cruise ships, the container port and the city skyline far below.

On Sentosa, your combo ticket includes three rides each on the Skyline Luge and the Skyride. The luge is a small, gravity-powered cart that you steer down a winding track through the forest, using handlebars to brake and turn. It is safe and easy to control, and children quickly learn to ride. There are height rules: younger children below a certain height ride in the same cart as an adult, and the staff will measure them at the entrance. The Skyride, a chairlift with wonderful views over the island and the sea, takes you back up the hill to the start of the track, ready for the next run.

Between rides, there is time to explore. Siloso Beach, a short walk or free shuttle ride from the luge, is a lovely place for children to play in the sand and paddle in the calm, shallow water, and there are cafés and ice cream stalls along the beachfront. Sentosa has plenty of shade and clean toilets, and free trams and shuttle buses link the main areas, which is a great help with tired little legs. If the children need a rest, find a bench in the shade or a café with air-conditioning before the evening show.

As darkness falls, the day ends with Wings of Time, an outdoor show on the beach at Siloso, starting at 7:40 PM. It combines water jets, lasers, fire, fireworks and music to tell the story of a boy and a girl who help a mythical bird find his way home. The show lasts about 20 minutes, and seats are on open-air terraces facing the sea, so arrive about 15 minutes early for good seats. Children are usually spellbound, and it is a magical end to the day.

The shared transfer brings you back to your hotel after the show. It is a long day, so you may like to have an early dinner on Sentosa, where there are restaurants and food courts near the beach, or pick up something simple near your hotel on the way back. Little ones often fall asleep on the coach, so keep a light layer handy for the air-conditioning.

Included today: half-day Singapore city tour on a shared basis, Sentosa combo with one-way cable car, Skyline Luge and Skyride with 3 rides each, Wings of Time show at 7:40 PM, shared transfers, breakfast.

Good to know: pickup times are fixed and confirmed the evening before. Height rules apply on the luge, and lunch and dinner are at your own cost. Read our Sentosa Island guide and our list of places to visit in Singapore.

After yesterday's adventures, today has a gentler rhythm, and much of it is indoors and air-conditioned, which is perfect for younger children. After breakfast, a shared coach takes you to Gardens by the Bay, the spectacular garden on the waterfront next to Marina Bay Sands. The tour usually takes around four to six hours, depending on how long you spend in each dome, and our team will confirm the pickup time the evening before.

Gardens by the Bay was built on land reclaimed from the sea and opened in 2012 as part of Singapore's plan to become a "city in a garden". It is famous for its two giant glass domes and its Supertrees, tall steel structures covered in climbing plants, ferns and orchids, which collect rainwater and solar energy and light up at night. Children usually think they have walked into a science-fiction film, and they are not far wrong.

Your first stop is the Cloud Forest, a cool, misty mountain landscape inside a glass dome. As you walk in, you are greeted by one of the tallest indoor waterfalls in the world, cascading down a mountain covered with ferns, orchids, pitcher plants and mosses. A lift takes you to the top of the mountain, and you walk down along a winding aerial walkway that circles the outside of the mountain high above the ground, with views across the dome. The walkway is step-free, so strollers are fine, and the cool air is a welcome break from the heat outside.

Inside the Cloud Forest, the Jurassic World experience brings life-sized animatronic dinosaurs into the misty landscape, with roaring sounds, moving heads and tails, and displays about the age of the dinosaurs. Children who love dinosaurs will be thrilled, and smaller ones may want to hold a parent's hand at the louder moments. It is a fun way to combine nature and adventure in one visit.

Allow about an hour in the Cloud Forest. Lifts and ramps make it easy with a stroller, and there are clean toilets and a small café near the entrance if anyone needs a break or a snack. Keep a close eye on small children on the walkway, which is busy at weekends.

Next door, the Flower Dome is the largest glass greenhouse in the world, recreating the cool, dry climate of the Mediterranean and other parts of the world. It is filled with ancient olive trees, baobabs, cacti, succulents and a central flower field whose displays change with the seasons and festivals, from tulips in spring to bright Deepavali and Christmas themes. It is a wonderful place for family photographs, and there are benches throughout if anyone needs a rest.

After the domes, the tour continues to the Marina Bay Sands SkyPark observation deck, on the 56th floor of the famous hotel, about 200 metres above the ground. The view is breathtaking: the whole of Marina Bay, the Supertrees and domes below you, the city skyline, the Singapore Flyer and, on a clear day, the ships anchored far out at sea. The observation deck has railings and plenty of space, and it is a great place to point out the places you visited yesterday. The famous infinity pool is reserved for hotel guests, but you will see it from the deck.

The afternoon is free. Many families go back to the hotel for a rest and a swim, then return to Marina Bay in the evening for two free light shows. At Gardens by the Bay, Garden Rhapsody is a light and sound show in which the Supertrees glow and change colour in time with the music; lie on the ground underneath them for the best view. Across the bay, Spectra is a light and water show on the waterfront promenade in front of Marina Bay Sands, with fountains, lasers and projections. Show times are posted online and both are free, so they make a lovely end to the trip without extra cost.

If it rains in the evening, the shows usually go ahead in light showers, and the covered walkways and malls around Marina Bay make it easy to stay dry.

For dinner, Satay by the Bay, a hawker centre at Gardens by the Bay, and Makansutra Gluttons Bay, near the Esplanade, serve local favourites such as satay, fried rice, noodles and fresh juices, and the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands have a large food court with plenty of choice for children. If your children are tired, there is no shame in an early dinner at the hotel; tomorrow is a travel day.

Included today: Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands combo with Cloud Forest, Flower Dome, Jurassic World experience and SkyPark observation deck at non-peak times, shared transfers, breakfast.

Good to know: the domes are cool, so bring a light layer for the children. The evening light shows are free; check the times online. Read our guide to Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands.

Your last morning in Singapore has arrived, and with children, it pays to keep it simple. Enjoy a relaxed breakfast, let the children have one last swim in the hotel pool, and then pack together. Ask everyone what they enjoyed most: the Merlion, the cable car, racing down the luge, the Wings of Time show, the dinosaurs in the Cloud Forest or the view from the top of Marina Bay Sands. Children often remember the small moments best, such as an ice cream on Siloso Beach or the first ride on the MRT.

Checkout is usually at 11 AM or noon. If your flight is later in the day, the hotel can store your luggage, and you have time for one last outing. Shopping is a favourite activity for many Indian families, and Singapore has something for every budget. Mustafa Centre, in Little India, is open around the clock and sells everything from electronics, watches and perfumes to chocolates, spices and toys, often at good prices. Bugis Street, a busy street market, is good for inexpensive souvenirs, T-shirts and accessories, and Orchard Road has the city's big malls and department stores. Late checkout is sometimes possible, subject to availability and at extra cost.

Good gifts to take home include boxes of chocolates and biscuits, kaya, a sweet coconut jam spread on toast at breakfast, Singapore-style chilli and curry sauces, Merlion souvenirs, keyrings, magnets and fridge stickers, and toys and books for children. Remember that Indian customs has limits on duty-free goods, and keep bills for electronics, jewellery and other valuable items in your hand luggage.

Before you leave the room, check everywhere for small items: under the beds, in the bathroom, the wardrobe and the safe. Children's toys, chargers, water bottles and swimwear are the things most often left behind. Pack liquids, such as sauces and perfumes, in your checked luggage, and keep passports, tickets and anything valuable with you.

At the agreed time, your private driver collects you from the hotel lobby for the drive to Changi Airport, usually 20 to 30 minutes from the city. Plan to reach the airport at least three hours before your flight, which gives you plenty of time to check in, pass through security and enjoy the airport with the children without rushing. Changi is so good that many families plan extra time here on purpose.

If you did not see Jewel Changi on arrival, try to visit it now. It is connected to Terminals 1, 2 and 3, and it is open to everyone before you pass through immigration. Watch the Rain Vortex pour down from the roof, wander through the Shiseido Forest Valley, an indoor forest of trees and ferns, and look for the children's attractions on the top floor, such as a canopy park, mazes and bouncing nets, which are at extra cost. Jewel also has many restaurants and cafés, so it is a good place for lunch before your flight.

Once you are airside, Changi has plenty to keep children busy. Each terminal has free play areas, and some have slides and gardens, including butterfly and sunflower gardens, and a movie theatre showing films. Water fountains are everywhere, toilets are spotless, and family-friendly restaurants serve Indian, Asian and Western food. Free Wi-Fi and charging points make it easy to keep tablets and phones topped up for the flight home.

Allow time for security, as Changi carries out the security check at the boarding gate rather than at the entrance to the departure area, so be at your gate when boarding opens.

For the flight, keep snacks, water, a change of clothes, wet wipes and a favourite toy in your hand luggage, and give younger children something to drink or suck during take-off and landing to help with their ears. If you are travelling with a baby, ask the airline in advance about a bassinet seat.

As the plane climbs away from Singapore, look down for one last view of the city: the busy harbour, the islands, and perhaps the Supertrees and Marina Bay Sands in the distance. In just three nights, your family has seen the best of Singapore, and many families find it is the perfect first step into international travel. Next time, you might add Universal Studios, the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, or combine Singapore with Kuala Lumpur and Genting Highlands for a longer holiday.

Thank you for travelling with Dreamland Vacations. Our team will stay in touch until you are home safely, and we would love to hear what the children enjoyed most.

Included today: private departure transfer from your hotel to Changi Airport, breakfast.

Good to know: choose a flight that leaves at least 3 hours after you reach the airport. Late checkout is subject to availability and may cost extra. Plan your next trip with our Singapore itinerary guide and our Singapore travel tips.