Practical, budget-friendly advice from a family who’s visited Singapore multiple times
Singapore has a well-deserved reputation for being expensive. And it is. When estimating costs to visit Singapore, it’s helpful to think of the island nation more like New York City or Paris, not Bangkok or Da Nang. However, you can enjoy an amazing visit with our practical, affordable Singapore travel tips.
We’ve visited Singapore twice with school-age kids
Our family of four has visited twice: for a week in 2023, and for four nights in 2025. We’ve braved the sticker shock of Singapore to discern not only where we could save money, but where to splurge on. Here are our 7 affordable Singapore travel tips to help you get more out of your visit, while sticking to your travel budget.
Note: We’ll list prices or estimates in Singapore dollars, or SGD. A decent mental-math rule of thumb for conversions is USD$0.75 to SGD$1, or SGD$1.30 to USD$1.
1. No car needed: Singapore’s extensive public transportation network is safe, affordable, and easy to access.
You don’t need to rent a car in Singapore. Buses and light rail (known as the MRT/LRT) connect Singapore in a safe, affordable, easy-to-use, and immaculately clean transit network.
Singapore has budget-friendly buses and trains
While fares are based on distance traveled, your per-person cost typically will run you less than $2 per person per trip. Plus, kids under 0.9 meter (or 3 feet) tall travel for free when traveling with a person paying a fare.
For example, if you wanted to ride the train from Gardens by the Bay (station stop TE22) to the Botanic Gardens (station stops CC19/DT9), that 9.8km (6 mile) journey would cost about SGD$1.77, or USD$1.35.
No group payments: Each person needs a way to pay their individual fare
While buses accept correct change cash fares in addition to smartphones and cards, trains require a smartphone, contactless chip-enabled credit card, or transit card for each person. You and your spouse could scan your individual phones if you have a credit card in your phone’s wallet (this is what Jodie and I do, and our phones attach to the same credit card).
However, you’ll need a separate card for each fare-paying child.
Especially for visits longer than a few days, concession cards such as Simply Go or the Singapore Tourist Pass can be a better option for you or your kids. We got a SimplyGo EZ-Link Card for each of our kids. We can top up cards at the station’s fare machines, and they handle their own cards and tap-ins and tap-outs when using transit.
Stations and stops are plentiful and well-spaced for convenient access
Like New York, you’ll never have to trek far to catch a bus or train. Bus stops and subway stops are plentiful and close together. From our hotel window, we could see the station just down the street that we used for nearly all our jaunts throughout Singapore.
Use these resources for more about using Singapore’s public transit:
- Plan Your Journey: Payment methods, cards, passes, and more
- Fare calculator: Get an idea of what different trips might cost
2. Singapore’s accommodation will be your biggest expense.
Singapore’s accommodation is expensive, and it likely will be your biggest line-item expense for your visit here.
There’s not necessarily a way to get around that, either.
Budget options are still costly, only for less quality
“Budget” options are available, but they’re still pretty spendy. For example, during our 2025 visit, we stayed in a private room in a hostel. While we had air conditioning, bunk beds for the kids, and a full-size bed for me and Jodie, it was a so-so experience at best.
I considered it like staying in a basic budget hostel in Europe in the 1990s, only I had to pay 2025 New York City hotel rates. Not great.
Consider a splurge on lodging with savings on other parts of your trip
Singapore accommodation simply costs a lot. When you need to keep lodging costs low, you can find options. Or, you can decide not to worry about it.
Sometimes, where to stay in Singapore is where travelers choose to splurge.
After all, Singapore is home to iconic hotels, such as Marina Bay Sands Singapore and Raffles Singapore. If your budget allows you to go big on accommodation in Singapore, even for a night or two, that could be a worthwhile vacation priority.
High-demand winter and school holiday periods come with higher accommodation rates
Time of year will come into play too. Rates are most expensive around major holiday times, such as November, December, January, July, and August. That played out for our first visit to Singapore in 2023, when we came in January for Lunar New Year. It was more expensive, but we knew it would be.
Odds are, your lodging will cost more than you might prefer. We’ve typically found that staying in Singapore has cost us more than anywhere else in Asia (and yes, that includes Japan).
However, you can usually balance out lodging costs with savings on transportation, food, and activities. Or if you can time your trip for a lower-demand time of year, you may find more affordable lodging options.
Where to stay in Singapore with kids
3. Singapore’s Supertree Grove is amazing, and 2 free light shows make for a fun, low-cost family night out.
Not only are the 18 trees cool structures, these vertical gardens generate solar power and collect rainwater. The free public gardens are a joy to wander, and evenings bring a carnival feel to the light shows.
We love to combine a visit to the Supertree Grove with a wander along the paved, greenery-lined, waterfront paths of Gardens by the Bay.
4. Explore Singapore’s Little India and Chinatown
Singapore brings together multiple cultures, peoples, and histories. We appreciated the cultural and historical insights we got from wandering through Chinatown and Little India. Here are a few spots to include:
- Indian Heritage Centre: The history and perspective of Indian immigrants to Singapore (especially great for rainy days or as an indoor activity during the sunny peak heat times of day)
- Chinatown Complex Hawker Center: With over 260 food stalls over 3 floors, this is an iconic place to grab a meal for locals, not just visitors.
- Take a food and walking tour: A highlight of our 2025 visit to Singapore was a morning’s walking tour including history and food, culminating with lunch at a Little India’s Michelin Guide-listed Tekka Centre. Search Little India tours here.
Little India and Chinatown are also ideal areas for a simple wander. Shops, food vendors, grocers, snapshots of local history: You’ll find all of them just walking around these historical areas.
5. Singapore’s Cloud Forest and Flower Dome are worth the splurge, especially on a rainy day.
Cloud Forest is cool in terms of natural wonder, lush plants, and exhibits. A visit to the glass-domed wonder is also a great cool-down from the equatorial nation’s tropical climate.
The Flower Dome serenely weaves plant and floral ecosystems from around the world. Animal sculptures woven from branches make a fun family scavenger hunt (and keep an eye out for the dragon!).
Some times of the year are prone to rain, so these make a great indoor activity that still feels like you’re outside… only dry.
Get tickets to the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome
Singapore’s tap water is safe to drink, so you won’t need to buy bottled water.
When it comes to affordable Singapore travel tips, small savings add up. One money-saving opportunity in Singapore is the safe, drinkable tap water.
Singapore’s tap water is every bit as safe as tap water in the EU, USA, Canada, Japan, or Australia. There is no need to shell out precious cash for bottled water. We drank tap water the entire time we were in Singapore and had no more issues than we would have at home.
7. Singapore is very urban, but there is a lot of green space for free public use!
It’s easy to think of Singapore as only a vast city full of streets and skyscrapers. However, the island-nation is about the same land area as the Los Angeles metropolitan area, yet nearly half of the land is green space. Free parks and gardens abound, many easy to reach via public transportation. Here are a few to keep in your back pocket, and for affordable Singapore travel tips, they give you peaceful green space and a wonderful place to share with your family:
- Playgrounds, water-play areas, and more for kids: Throughout Singapore, free parks and gardens also offer playgrounds, splash pads, kid activities, and more, such as the climbing net at Choa Chu Kang Park or the expansive playground at Mayfair Park.
- Gardens by the Bay: Home of the Supertree Grove and so much more. Free park with amazing public green space, plus paid attractions such as Cloud Forest, not to mention food stalls and restaurants.
- Singapore Botanic Gardens: With over 200 acres of green space and trails, don’t be surprised if you forget you’re in one of the world’s great cities. The Botanic Gardens is one of my favorite spaces to wander, especially the Fragrant Garden and the Healing Garden.
Your family can travel Singapore on a budget, and have an amazing time
Can Singapore be expensive? Of course. Like New York or Paris, Singapore is one of the most vibrant economic hubs on the planet, and it doesn’t shy away from having a price tag to match.
While any city or nation of this scale can be spendy, there are lots of ways to save money too. Have budget worries have put you off going to Singapore? We hope our family’s 7 affordable Singapore travel tips help you see that you can enjoy this incredible country, and find ways to make Singapore more budget-friendly for your trip.
Ready to start planning?
Our complete Singapore budget guide breaks down costs, neighborhoods, and day-by-day strategies. Check it out here.
