Singapore Chinese New Year's Day

[Dishyork]

How can I find what is open on Chinese New Years in Singapore? Does anybody know of a private tour guide who might want to shepherd us that day?

[Aussie One]

I have been to Singapore many times, to my knowledge it has never closed maybe christmas day.its a easy country to navigate you do not need a guide. the public transport system is incredible plus taxis are cheap to use.the ownership of cars is small it cost some thing like $30,000 just to license a car.you will enjoy s/pore very clean and a low crime rate. Grumphy

[new22003]

Are you going to be there exactly on the 26th or 27th? If so you will find many/most of the small stores closed and even many of the larger department stores as these are official public holidays. It really is amazing the transformation Singapore goes through on CNY. From bustling and hectic to dead and slow paced. If you some slightly before or after you are OK, as a matter of fact it’s the perfect time to visit. If you come exactly during CNY don’t fret too much though. Singapore does have almost 15% Malay and 9% Indian population as well as a huge number of Expats. As such they have sections of the city that are ethnically Indian or Malay or targeted to Expats. Some stores in these areas will be open. The good news is the City/State will be beautiful at this time. Many areas will be decorated. Chinatown will be stunning and they set up a big dragon along the river at Clarke Quay.

It’s been 2 years since I lived there so take this for what its worth as my info can be slightly out of date. .

I recommend going to the waterfront it’s still pretty and you can see the Merlion. Its a great place for photos and pretty tranquil on CNY. Not a whole lot will be open in the area though.

Chinatown in Singapore is a beautiful place with its multicolored buildings. Although nothing is open on CNY it is a beautiful walk and you will come away with vibrant and amazing photos.

I believe the Long Bar at Raffles is still open on the holiday so you can get a Singapore Sling (if you can afford it). At least take some photos and grab some napkins.

Go to Little India and there will likely be some shops open. This area isn’t for name brand shopping though but certainly worth the visit.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Singapore/Little_India

The Malay area is Kampong Glam. It’s a beautiful place to take photos and shops there are usually open on CNY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kampong_Glam

Both the Malay and Indian areas will give you a more authentic/complete Singapore experience.

Good luck, if I think of anything else I will post it.

[ab0si]

The post just above this gave some excellent advice. Allow me to add two suggestions:

 

1) Singapore has a great botanical garden (free) and inside that a superb Orchid garden (modest fee). If you have any interest in this sort of thing, it is well worth the time.

 

2) Singapore has wonderful food. That said, there is a dish called Chili Crab. It is the closest thing to proof that God exists. People get in fights as to which restaurant makes this the best. Wonderful stuff.

[new22003]

The botanic gardens are a beautiful and cheap visit. I do believe they are closed on CNY though as the web site says they are closed on public holidays.

 

http://www.sbg.org.sg/visitorinfo/openinghours.asp