Singapore is an incredibly impressive city, and it’s particularly well-suited to sightseeing from a vehicle. The views from the roads are superb and in Singapore’s equatorial heat, you won’t want to walk! In this post we tell you about the free sightseeing buses, the hop on hop off tour bus and other ways to see the best tourist sights in Singapore.
Singapore Tours
We have taken these sightseeing bus tours in multiple cities around the world, and I think Singapore is very well suited to this type of tour. The tour will help you get oriented for further exploration, or give you an overview of the city if you only have 1 or 2 days in Singapore.
You can buy bus tickets for multiple days to help you explore further. Check out the Singapore Big Bus Hop On Hop Off Tour Bus here.
Best Places To See On a Singapore Tour Bus
We published a post covering our top 10 sights to see in Singapore, but here’s a list of the best tourist sights and places you should see.
The top sights to see in Singapore are as follows.
- Gardens by The Bay
- Marina Bay Sands
- Raffles Hotel
- Singapore’s Merlion
- Orchard Road
- The Singapore Flyer
- Little India
- Chinatown (There are many things to see in Chinatown, our Chinatown sightseeing guide is here.)
- Singapore Botanic Gardens
- There are many more, the Singapore River, Clarke Quay, The Fullerton Hotel, plus more!
What’s the easiest way to explore Singapore and see the sights? Book a bus tour. Not only is this a good way to see Singapore, you can also use your bus ticket to travel between attractions, for example Gardens by the Bay and The Botanic Gardens. These two attractions are a long way apart, and a taxi will be costly.
Why pay for a taxi when you can hop on a bus? Buses with clear information for tourists, in English, or your language. Commentaries are normally available in English, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian, and French
See Singapore on a Bus Tour
The Singapore Big Bus Hop on Hop Off Bus has two routes, red (Heritage Line), and yellow (City Tour). You can hop on the bus at any stop along the route.
There is some overlap with the two routes, around the central sights. I would suggest buying a two day pass and fully exploring both routes.
These open-top buses operate every day except Lunar New Year, normally. Most things are open in Singapore at Christmas.
In our experience these tours are very good for kids. The commentary is normally entertaining and my kids loved the open top buses. It also cuts walking time for kids and gives them a rest. Child tickets to14 years old are generally cheaper.
Free Singapore Tour Buses
There are a couple of companies offering free Singapore tour buses, but they come with conditions.
Changi airport offers free Singapore tours for passengers with a long layover at the airport. I know about it, I’ve tried to take it on my stops at Changi, and failed. But it exists. Maybe it’s restricted.
Singapore Airlines also offers a free Singapore tour for transit passengers. You layover must be between 5.5 and 24 hours to qualify. I believe this is the same tour.
You may need to fly with Singapore Airlines to qualify. Singapore Airlines is a great quality full-service airline, we fly with them between Singapore and Australia when we can. Take a look at flight options here. We use this site to find flights often these days.
Free Singapore Tours by Bus, Routes
These are the 4 free Singapore tours that Singapore Airlines offer. I believe they are the same as the airport tours.
- Sentosa Discovery Tour
- City Sights Tour
- Singapore River and Marina Bay Sands Tour
- Heritage and Culture Tour
Read more about these tours here. The times of the tours are also on this website. The Sentosa Discovery Tour seems to be somewhat separate and sponsored by Sentosa Development Corporation.
As I said, I’ve tried and failed to take these tours in the past. We’ve found the desks at Changi, but there was nobody there.
Other Ways to See The Sights of Singapore
There are numerous ways to take a sightseeing tour of Singapore, we list a few below. If you enjoy walking tours, Singapore is too big to explore in this way, but you can find walking tours for specific areas or activities, for instance, walking food tours by night or a Chinatown hidden gems walking tour. Both sound good to me!
- Klook is a popular tour site for Asia and Asians. They have a Singapore tour with optional admission to the Superdomes at Gardens by the Bay.
- Here we have a small group private tour of Singapore, with driver, to save your legs.
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