Singapore

Changi Airport is consistently rated the world's best airport — the Jewel (a shopping mall inside a forest atrium with the world's tallest indoor waterfall, the Rain Vortex) is worth at least an hour before leaving the airport complex. The MRT from Changi to the city center takes 30 minutes and is clean, air-conditioned, and entirely frictionless. Check into your hotel and walk immediately to the Marina Bay waterfront — the best introduction to Singapore's extraordinary skyline: the Marina Bay Sands hotel (the ship-on-three-towers design by Moshe Safdie), the Supertree Grove of Gardens by the Bay glowing in the evening light, and the lights of the Merlion fountain. The Spectra light and water show at Marina Bay Sands runs nightly — free, extraordinary, and the definitive first-night Singapore experience. Dinner at one of the Marina Bay restaurants with the city view.

Gardens by the Bay is Singapore's most extraordinary public space — a 101-hectare garden on reclaimed land beside Marina Bay with two climate-controlled conservatories (the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest) and the 18 Supertrees that are the garden's icons: vertical gardens up to 16 stories tall, covered in orchids, ferns, and tropical plants, with elevated walkways connecting them at canopy height. The Cloud Forest is the more extraordinary of the two domes: a 35-meter artificial mountain inside a misty tropical greenhouse that replicates the cloud forest habitat of tropical highlands. The OCBC Skyway between the Supertrees (22 meters above ground) provides the best aerial view of the gardens and the bay. Then: the Marina Bay Sands infinity pool, available exclusively to hotel guests — at 57 stories above the city with the skyline on three sides, this is one of the world's great swimming moments.

Singapore's three great ethnic heritage neighborhoods — Chinatown, Little India, and Kampong Glam (Malay/Muslim quarter) — each have distinct food, architecture, and cultural atmosphere. Chinatown's Maxwell Food Centre is one of the city's great hawker centers: Tian Tian Chicken Rice (Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2016) and Zhen Zhen Porridge are the standouts. Little India's Tekka Centre has excellent Indian hawker food; the streets around Serangoon Road have the most sensory-intense atmosphere in Singapore — marigold garlands, incense, sari shops, and spice stalls that perfume the street. Kampong Glam's Arab Street has excellent Malay and Middle Eastern food around the golden-domed Sultan Mosque. Evening: Clarke Quay's riverside restaurants and bars, or Lau Pa Sat — a Victorian cast-iron pavilion converted to a hawker center with the satay street that fires up after 7pm.

The Peranakan (Straits Chinese) culture — the descendants of early Chinese immigrants who intermarried with local Malay women and created a distinct hybrid culture of extraordinary sophistication — is one of Singapore's most fascinating and visually beautiful traditions. The Joo Chiat and Katong neighborhoods in eastern Singapore are the heart of Peranakan Singapore: rows of beautifully decorated shophouses in pastel colors with ornate ceramic tilework, the cuisine (Nonya laksa, kueh sweets in coconut milk, Nyonya chicken curry) is extraordinary, and the Peranakan Museum on Armenian Street is excellent for context. 328 Katong Laksa is the city's most famous laksa — spicy coconut curry noodles eaten with a spoon (the noodles are cut short so the dish can be eaten without chopsticks, the Katong Peranakan innovation). East Coast Park beach for an afternoon swim in the Singapore Strait.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is the world's finest tropical botanic garden — 63 hectares of tropical rainforest, themed gardens (the National Orchid Garden has 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids, with a VIP Orchid Garden containing hybrid orchids named for visiting heads of state), and the oldest free outdoor concert venue in Asia at Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage. The garden is free, open 24 hours, and one of Singapore's most loved institutions. Dempsey Hill, a former British colonial barracks 10 minutes from the Botanic Gardens, has been converted into one of Singapore's best restaurant and lifestyle districts: PS.Cafe under the sprawling raintrees, Long Bar Steakhouse for the Singapore Sling cocktail, and a cluster of excellent food destinations in a shaded colonial setting very different from the urban center.

Sentosa Island, connected to the mainland by cable car or monorail, is Singapore's resort island — home to Universal Studios Singapore, the S.E.A. Aquarium (one of the largest in the world with 100,000 animals), and the Palawan and Siloso Beach clubs. Universal Studios is an excellent half-day — the park is smaller than its Florida or Hollywood counterparts but the crowds are more manageable and the Battlestar Galactica dueling roller coasters are uniquely thrilling. Capella Singapore, the extraordinary colonial-meets-contemporary hotel on Sentosa's forested hill, has a pool and terrace that are among the most beautiful in Asia. Singapore Cable Car from Mount Faber provides the most panoramic view of the harbor, the container port, and the Sentosa cable car crossing. Evening: return to the city for dinner at Joel Robuchon Restaurant in Resorts World — the only Joel Robuchon three-star outside of Europe and Japan.

Changi Airport is 30 minutes from the city center and is so well-designed that even departure is a pleasure. A final hawker center breakfast — kaya toast with soft-boiled eggs and kopi (local coffee with condensed milk), the classic Singapore breakfast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast or Toast Box — is the correct farewell. Pick up souvenirs: Bengawan Solo pandan layer cake (the official Singapore state gift cake, taken home by heads of state), Tiger Balm (invented in Singapore in 1870), and Bak Kwa (barbecued pork jerky, the must-buy Chinese New Year food) from the Lim Chee Guan shop on New Bridge Road. Changi Airport's butterfly garden and cactus garden in the transit hall are one more extraordinary Singapore detail.