Singapore has a reputation for being a tad expensive, but in truth there’s a wealth of free attractions to explore and a glut of affordable street food to devour. Coupled with the fact that some of its most charming hotels offer amazing value, travellers can easily enjoy a long weekend in this stunning city-state on a budget of around AED 3,000 per person. Here’s some inspiration on a shoestring…
Your Budget
- Accommodation: AED 2,100 for 3 nights based on two sharing; AED 1,050 each
- Food and sundries: AED 450 each; AED 150 per day
- Flights: AED 1,500 per person (approx.)
Your Flights: Getting to Singapore for Less
Budget: AED 1,227 – AED 1,629
Direct flight time from the UAE to Singapore is just over seven hours, but the cheapest flights from the UAE are indirect with carriers such as Gulf Air and Qatar Airways, adding a few hours onto journeys. Book at least two weeks before departure in order to get the best prices – last-minute fares can skyrocket. While January, November and December represent peak season in Singapore, July is generally the cheapest month to fly.
Your Accommodation: Singapore’s Best Budget Hotels
Singapore’s best budget accommodation is bursting with character. Here are two very special hotels you’ll want to stay in even if money’s no object…
Ann Siang House
This converted 1920s ‘shophouse’ on the outskirts of Chinatown is loaded with nostalgia, hinting at a bygone Singapore. Found throughout the historic cities of South East Asia, shophouses are an important part of Singapore’s architectural heritage. Comprising two or three storeys, families would sell their wares from the ground floor and live in the quarters above. Constructed between the 1840s and the 1960s, shophouses are most prevalent in Singapore’s old city and a stay in one is a cultural experience. If Ben Stiller’s ‘Night at the Museum’ inspired you, then booking into a shophouse is likely to ignite your imagination, too.
While elements of this shophouse-turned-hotel, such as the timber framed windows designed in the French style, have been carefully restored and conserved, 20 fashionably reimagined rooms offer all the mod cons, including Nespresso machines. Walls are like art galleries and the selection of designer furniture in shared spaces includes a Jan Ekselius-designed Etcetera chair and ottoman. Take a seat and savour your surrounds. Know more: https://www.annsianghouse.com
The Vagabond Club
Budget: AED 700 a night
Award-winning French designer Jacques Garcia has infused The Vagabond Club with lashings of Parisian glamour. A little 41-room gem in a row of shophouses in Little India, the building retains its original red shutters and rooms are accessorised with red velvet furnishings and patterned Art Deco screens. Managed by Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio, standards are high – expect Etro bath amenities, air-conditioning, a king-size bed and flat-screen TV with complimentary movie channels.
Guests have access to the Anytime Fitness gym across the street but it’s hard to leave this hotel’s warm glow created by its collection of golden statement pieces, including a gold-plated Rhino-shaped reception desk, floor-to-ceiling golden tree sculptures and a Franck Le Ray-designed golden baboon. Know more: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sinvb-the-vagabond-club-singapore-a-tribute-portfolio-hotel/
Your Food: Tasty Cheap Eats
Budget: AED 150 a day
Just a three-minute walk from The Vagabond Club, famed eatery Sungei Road Laksa serves bowls of old-school, over-the-counter, three-dollar laksa – that equates to a bill of less than AED 10. Expect queues at this beloved stall, famed for its flavoursome coconut-infused broth, cooked over a charcoal burner, and topped with cockles, crunchy beansprouts and green laksa leaves.
Also nearby is the 24-hour mall Mustafa Centre, home of Singapore’s ever-popular 400-seat Kebabs’n Curries restaurant, which enjoys a rooftop setting and serves – as the name suggests – tasty skewers (vegetarian and meat) and spicy gravy-laden creations priced below SGD$10 (AED 28).
Two minutes from Ann Siang House is Maxwell Road Food Centre, an outstanding hawkers’ market where you can tuck into the likes of two-dollar Maxwell Fuzhou deep-fried oyster cakes and Fu Shun Shao La Mian Jia’s roast meats with noodles for under SGD$5 (AED 14).
Click here for a list of fabulous free attractions in Singapore.
