Singapore itinerary, 22 days: the whole city-state, hotels and bookings

Fort Canning Park

A hill 48 m high in the middle of the city, which the Malays called Bukit Larangan, the forbidden hill, because the kings of Temasek were buried there. Raffles had his residence built on it in 1822, then the British turned it into a fort and, later, into the headquarters of the defence of Malaya. Nine historic gardens, military remains and the tunnel stairway, one of the most photographed images in the city.

Battlebox

A command bunker built in 1936 nine metres below the hill, protected by a metre of concrete. It was in its conference room that Lieutenant-General Percival decided, on the morning of 15 February 1942, to surrender Singapore to the Japanese army. The twenty-six rooms have been restored and can only be seen on a guided tour, with wax figures and a reconstruction of the last hours of the siege.

Booking · Guided tour in limited time slots, to be booked online before departure: www.battlebox.com.sg (new tab)

National Museum of Singapore

The oldest museum in the country, opened in 1887 under its neo-Renaissance glass dome and enlarged in 2006 with a contemporary wing. The history gallery is walked as one continuous ramp, from Temasek to the colonial port, from the Japanese occupation to independence in 1965. It is the best way into everything the rest of the trip will show.

Peranakan Museum

Housed in the former Tao Nan School of 1912, reopened in 2023 after a complete overhaul. It is devoted to the Peranakans, descendants of the Chinese merchants who settled in the Straits and married into local communities, whose culture mixes Chinese furniture, beadwork, kebaya and European porcelain. The finest Peranakan collection in the world.

Raffles Hotel

Opened in 1887 by the Sarkies brothers, listed as a national monument in 1987 and completely restored in 2019. The last grand colonial hotel in South-East Asia still standing in its original form, with its white verandas and colonnaded galleries. The Long Bar is where the Singapore Sling was invented, around 1915. Arcades and courtyards freely accessible, smart dress requested.

Chijmes

The former convent of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, founded in 1854, which housed an orphanage and a girls' school. Deconsecrated and then converted in 1996 into a courtyard of restaurants, around a neo-Gothic chapel of 1904 whose stained glass has been kept and which is now a concert hall.