Day 1: A dose of adventure
Singapore’s Garden City moniker is in part thanks to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Admire the park’s vast collection of orchids, then take advantage of the cooler morning air to visit the Learning Forest, where you can explore freshwater wetlands, take a walk among wild fruit trees and climb onto the 8m-high Canopy Web.
With your appetite worked up, head downtown for lunch at Labyrinth. The critically acclaimed restaurant is Singapore’s most ardent locavore advocate, with an imaginative, produce-driven menu that’s 80% locally sourced. Be sure to also take a good look at the vintage-style paintings on the wall. Quirky details, such as a hawker with an espuma gun, hint at Labyrinth’s amalgamation of traditional and modern techniques.
Once you’ve had your fill, grab a taxi over to Sentosa. Families can cool off at the Palawan Pirate Ship, a towering water playground complete with water cannons and slides for little marauders. Alternatively, alight at Ola Beach Club where you can lounge around on cabanas, tiki cocktail in hand, or have a go at water activities.
Come early evening, hop back to the mainland via cable car to Mount Faber. The ride offers an unparalleled bird’s-eye view of the foliage-lined coast.
From there, continue onto the Southern Ridges trail. Set against sunset-tinted skies, the Henderson Waves – a 36m-high pedestrian bridge – and its sinuous curves make a perfect backdrop for photos.
Leave the trail at Alexandra Arch, awash by dusk in colour-changing lights, and cab over to Portsdown Road for dinner at Magic Square. It’s host to a year-long pop-up where three up-and-coming young chefs take turns at the helm each month to showcase tasting menus that loosely riff on Singapore’s heritage. There are just 18 seats available at the communal table, so be sure to book ahead.
