One Week in Singapore and Bali, Indonesia
Imagine emerging into beautiful, warm, lush, and tropical Southeast Asia after a long 16-hour flight. Stepping off a marathon flight into a tropical world filled with beautiful modern amenities and friendly locals is a surreal experience. The flight may be long but the experience is completely worth it! Bali has been on our bucket list for a long time and we sprung at the opportunity to visit during the shoulder season in October. Since we are based in Denver, Colorado, we decided to split up our trip and include a few days in Singapore rather than push through with a double layover to get to Bali. Singapore has also been on our bucket list and this was a great way to get a taste of the country.
Why Visit Singapore?
The City State of Singapore is such a cool, compact city that has a bit of everything. With its beautiful warm tropical weather, bustling parks and waterways, and plenty of culture, Singapore offers something for everyone. We really enjoyed the mix of restaurants, shopping, outdoor activities, Eco-friendly tourism, and sights. The public transportation makes getting around easy and effective. We took a couple of modes of transport, but we found the MRT underground (subway/metro) to be the cheapest way to get around and Grab (Uber alternative) to be convenient, especially if you are short on time.
Singapore: Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Supertree Grove
Things to know:
Getting Around: Using the MRT is the easiest and cheapest way to get around this large city state. You can use Apple Pay to pay as you go, you can download the MRT app, or you can pay for individual tickets at the kiosks. Another faster, but slightly more expensive option is using Grab (ride sharing app) - just make sure you load your credit card information ahead of time!
Simcards and WIFI: We typically use Simify to buy our sim cards in advance. For the most part, the sim cards are easy to pop into your phone whenever you land and they work fairly seamlessly, although we had some cases where we had to restart our phones a few times for them to work. If you would prefer to find a local sim card whenever you land, there are plenty of sim card stores in the airport or around the city.
Entrance requirements: While Singapore does not require a visa for most countries (such as the US or the UK), everyone needs to fill out an SG Arrival Card and Health declaration form. You can either fill this out ahead of time (three days prior to arrival), which we recommend to make getting through immigration control a breeze. You can, alternatively, opt to scan the QR code upon arrival and complete the forms at the airport before heading through immigration (yes, the airport does have free WIFI). Be sure to check out the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority Website for more details and to complete your Arrival Card.
Do I need cash? No, you really don’t need cash in Singapore as most businesses and vendors take credit cards. If you are planning on shopping at some of the stalls (such as in Chinatown) having some cash on hand can be helpful for small souvenirs and trinkets, but not a necessity.
Do I need restaurant reservations in advance? Depends on the restaurant, we found it fairly easy to find availability, however if there is a nice restaurant you have in mind, it is a good idea to book a few days in advance.
Plug Type: Type G (the same as you would find in the UK). If you are coming from North America you will definitely need plug adapters.
Singapore
Our Singapore Experience
We started our journey in Singapore, visiting for 36 hours as a “layover” experience before traveling on to Bali.
Where we stayed: Conrad Centennial Singapore
Our day by day itinerary:
Day 01
After landing early in the morning from an overnight flight from Vancouver, we headed straight to the hotel to drop off our luggage and start exploring. On our first day, we enjoyed walking around the marina bay area, which was a close walk (10-15 minutes) from our hotel. The entire district is a really cool boardwalk area. We walked around the Gardens by the Bay, which contain the Supertree Grove. These iconic Supertrees offer a unique Eco-friendly experience. The Supertrees serve different sustainable functions and each “tree” contains a living wall filled with flora and fauna. To get a better view of the Supertrees, we visited the OCBC Skyway, which is a canopy walkway that allows you to venture around the tops of the Supertrees. The OCBC skyway offers great views of the bay and glimpses of the city skyline. It is definitely worth a visit.
After the skyway, we visited the living biodomes of the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome. Both are worth a trip to see each biodiversity sphere in action. The Cloud Forest is a living rain forest with a 35 meter (115 foot) tall indoor waterfall. The variety of plants is truly impressive and offers a unique glimpse into diverse self-contained ecosystems. Whether you come for the tranquil setting or to learn more about diverse rainforests, it is one of our favorite “living museums”. Across the way is the Flower Dome. The Flower Dome offers a peek into different regional floral and plant habitats. It is a great place to spend a few hours walking around and observing all of the different plant species from all over the world.
After wandering around the Gardens by the Bay, we stopped over at one of the local hawkers, or food stands, for some ramen. The hawkers offer a variety of different food at reasonable prices for a quick meal or snack and some of these are so good that they have been awarded Michelin Stars. Be sure to stay long enough to see the Jurassic show!
After lunch, we jumped on the Singapore MRT to Chinatown. The Chinatown district contains two really beautiful temples: the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and the Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple. Both are worth a visit. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple contains several museums to learn more about Buddhism with some very impressive relics on display. You will need to be appropriately dressed in order to go inside the temples (covered from your shoulders to your knees), but both offer free sarongs and coverups to enter. After the temples, we stopped at the SILK tea bar for a tea tasting and then wandered around the many street market shopping stands for souvenirs.
For dinner, we had some delicious Indian cuisine & stopped over at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel rooftop, which offers great views of the city at night and then capped off the night with a walk around the lit up Supertree grove, which offers a very different perspective than seeing the Supertrees during the daytime.
Day 02 (1/2 day)
On our second day in Singapore we took a Grab (ride share app) over to Sentosa Island, a huge tourist island that contains theme parks like Universal Studios, beaches, and shopping. It feels like a massive self-contained wonderland offering so many things for families. We went over to Sentosa to visit the Skyline Luge, basically a downhill gravity based luge track (think Mario Kart racing). We had a similar experience in New Zealand and absolutely loved it. You take a beautiful gondola ride to the top of the track and enjoy the views of Sentosa in a competitive race to the bottom. Make sure to purchase a couple of runs/passes - this activity will have your adrenaline pumping and it’s very addicting!
After the Skyline Luge, we took the tram and explored around the islands and beaches before taking another Grab to visit the Floral Fantasy back in Gardens by the Bay. Floral Fantasy is a massive indoor floral arrangement park, which is an Instagram heaven. The Floral Fantasy attraction also contains a 4D Dragonfly ride.
Our last stop of the day was over at Merlion Park to check out the Merlion sculpture and park. The Merlion is a mythical creature that is half lion half fish and is the official mascot of Singapore. The area offers great views of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the bay. After a quick lunch at PS Cafe One Fullerton, we were off to pick up our luggage and on our way to the Singapore Airport for our flight to Bali.
Personal Favorites in Singapore
Although we were on an accelerated tour some of our favorites were:
The Cloud Forest
Flower Dome
Supertree Grove
Skyline Luge
Enjoying one of the numerous cocktail bars
Wandering around the numerous parks to enjoy the city skyline
Bali
Bali, Indonesia
Why Bali?
The island of Bali feels a lot like beautiful, controlled chaos. Once you get used to the zipping motor scooters everywhere you can start to take in the essence of Bali. Bali has amazing beaches, cultural activities, temples, yoga studios, spas, and Instagram worthy backdrops. The locals in Bali are super friendly and we always felt welcome. Bali is also a place where you can try out new adventurous experiences while tuning into your spiritual side. Bali is just something to be experienced.
Things to know:
Getting Around: Bali is fairly easy to get around. If you are more adventurous you can rent a moped or scooter. This is probably the cheapest and easiest way if you want to adventure on your own. Additionally, you can hire a private car with a driver for the day, hail a taxi (moped or car!), or use ride sharing apps such as Grab. If you are using a ride share app like Grab, we’d recommend setting up your account before heading out on travel. This makes it easier to receive your verification code via text without having to worry about cell service and it makes it safer when entering in your credit card information.
Simcards and WIFI: We typically use Simify for our international sim card needs, however if you prefer to find a local sim, there are quite a few all over Bali. If you can wait, we’d recommend not getting a simcard at the airport as you can find much better deals at a local phone shop in Ubud or in the beach towns.
Entrance requirements: You will need a visa in order to enter Bali (and Indonesia in general). You can either buy your Visa in advance or you can purchase the Visa on arrival when you land at the airport. You can request your visa in advance using the Indonesian eVisa Website. The visa cost is 500,000 Indonesian Rupiah or roughly $35.
Do I need cash? Yes, you will most likely want some cash. While most places take credit cards, there were still some smaller boutique shops that only took cash. While it is possible to get around Bali without having cash, we’d recommend bringing some cash with you as it makes it easier when paying for small things like coffee and snacks or buying items at local artisans.
Do I need restaurant reservations in advance? If you are visiting in the shoulder season (April - June or September - October) it is much easier to find available restaurants without requiring reservations (depending on your location within Bali of course). For Ubud and Sanur, we found it very easy to find restaurants with availability, however some of these restaurants filled up fairly quickly around prime lunch and dinner time. If you are going during the high season (July - August, and December - January), it is a good idea to make a reservations in advance if there is a particular place you would like to go.
What plug type do they use? Bali uses Type C plug - the two-pronged plugs found throughout Europe and Asia. If you are coming from North America, you will definitely need plug adapters.
Our Bali Experience
After a short two and half hour flight to Bali, we took a private transfer (about an hour and a half) to our hotel in Ubud. Ubud is such a cool, diverse, and lively area in the middle of the rain forest in Indonesia. The picturesque town sits on a small mountain plateau with hotels and villas overlooking serene flora and fauna. Ubud is such an interesting place, one part serene and one part chaotic with tight roads and motor bikes zipping around. It’s a place that just works.
Getting Around part two:
Remember you are on Bali island time. While getting around is fairly easy, it will not be fast. We mostly opted to take private cars and taxis around to different areas (which are more expensive, but run anywhere between $20 - $30 depending on far you are going), but there are plenty of taxis and scooter options that can be cheaper.
Where we stayed: We stayed our first three nights at the BISMA Eight hotel in Ubud. The hotel was very peaceful, off the main streets, but still close enough to walk to all of the main attractions. The last three nights we stayed at the Hyatt Andaz Bali in Sanur by the coast.
The Bisma Eight Hotel in Ubud, Bali
Ubud
Things we did:
Day 01 (first full day):
Our first full day we spent walking around, exploring Ubud.
We started our day off with a nice relaxing massage at Svaha Spa Bisma, which offers a variety of massages, flower baths, and many other relaxing experiences. We really enjoyed the tranquil area and the amazing massages. After our treatments, we ventured off to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, home to the Balinese long-tail monkey. The sanctuary has a large outdoor space to wander around and explore with several temples and walking trails to see the monkeys. The monkeys are everywhere, wandering around their habitat. Some of the monkeys will even come up to you or hop on your shoulders if you look friendly or look like you have a snack for them. We saw hundreds of monkeys swinging in the trees, rolling around and playing on the ground, and relaxing in the warm sun. In our experience, the monkeys were not shy and are very accustomed to seeing humans and were observing us as much as we were observing them.
We headed over to Rayjin Ubud for a quick lunch & of the rest of the day we spent shopping around the various shops in Ubud. Ubud has a lot to offer in terms of boutique stores. We really enjoyed the teak wood stores, especially Bali Teaky, which offers handcrafted bowls, cutting boards, and other teak items. Ash really enjoyed the boutiques, specifically Paulina Katarina Boutique Ubud for their Rayon dresses and clothing which are better for the hot humid climates. A couple of other notables that we enjoyed were Seniman Coffee Studio, for the coffee tasting, the Bohe Bali Perfumery, and Ikat Batik (textile store). Additionally, Ash tried to get into the Romansa Beauty Nail Ubud, but unfortunately they were completely booked. She read great things and would highly recommend making an appointment ahead of time if you are looking for a nail salon that offers customized nail art.
We finished our day wandering around the Ubud Palace and then grabbed a quick dinner.
Day 02:
On our second full day in Ubud we choose to take a day tour to Tanah Lot, Jatiluwih Terrace, and Ulundanu Beraton through Get Your Guide. We thought this particular tour provided a little bit of everything and was a great way to see different areas of Bali. We started at the Temple Tanah Lot, which is a beautiful sea temple situated on an island surrounded by a few other large temples along the beautiful coast. Temple Tanah Lot is a very spiritual area. If you make the short trek across the water causeway to the temple you can donate to participate in a blessing ceremony. This is a cool experience to gain a better understanding of the spiritual heart of Bali.
After Temple Tanah Lot, we drove north to the UNESCO world heritage site of Jailuwih Rice Terraces. The terraces offer some of the most iconic sweeping views in Bali and are worth strolling around. There are different paths you can take that last anywhere from 30 mins to a couple of hours so soak up the tranquility of this area. We ate lunch at the main restaurant overlooking the rice terraces and the mountains. Wandering through the rice terraces gives you a glimpse of the historical irrigation and rice growing process, where the rice terraces are still owned by many local farmers. We learned quite a bit about how the irrigation system works and the differences and importance between growing white versus brown rice. The trek through the rice terraces really gives you a sense of awe of how vast these terraces truly are.
After our stop at the Jaliuwih Rice Terraces we made our way to Ulun Danu Beratan Temple, which is a temple on the Danu Beratan Lake. This Hindu temple complex offers picturesque views of the lake. The weather decided to turn a little cool and rainy, which added a misty mystique to the experience with a wave of fog rushing in around the lake and temple complex. The varying contrast between coast, agriculture, and mountain lakes gave us a great overview of the diverse island.
We ended our day with dinner at CHORA Mediterranean Restaurant. The ambiance and food were fantastic and definitely worth it if you like to sit in a tranquil setting with cocktails and wine.
Day 03:
Our last day in Ubud was relaxing. We started the day with morning yoga at the BISMA Eight Hotel. After a nice yoga session we had breakfast at the hotel and spent the rest of the morning enjoying our inifinity pool overlooking the rainforest. We then took a private car (roughly $25-30) to our hotel in Sanur. There are cheaper options to get around, but we opted to go with the comfort and convenience of a private car.
We stayed our last three nights in Sanur, on the east coast of southern Bali. Sanur is a great laid back and family friendly beach destination with good amenities and an extremely walkable town and boardwalk area. We stayed at the Andaz Bali by Hyatt, a large resort complex right along the coast with several pools and restaurants.
Once in Sanur, we spent the day relaxing at the pool and beach and then had dinner at a Thai restaurant, Paed Thai, which is a quick taxi ride away. The vibe in Sanur was much different than Ubud or the more popular party areas such as Canggu Beach. If you are looking for more nightlife, we would definitely recommend staying closer to Canggu Beach to enjoy the beach clubs. Sanur, on the other hand, resembled more of a laid back California beach town with a large boardwalk great for walking, running, biking, and wandering. The boardwalk offered a variety of restaurants, cafes, shops, and activities. Sanur is more geared for couples, families, and those looking for more of a quiet and relaxing experience. We did meet a few honeymooners staying in this area as well. We really enjoyed the wellness vibe of Sanur.
If you’re looking for more nightlife, we recommend staying outside of Sanur in another beach area like Seminyak or Canggu, but if you’re looking for good amenities, a laid back town, with a good mix of boutique hotels and luxury resorts, Sanur is a great option. We also opted to stay in Sanur was because many of the boats left out of the “port” of Sanur to visit the island of Nusa Penida.
Sanur
Day 04
We enjoyed everything that the Andaz Bali had to offer! This was a down day for us to lay at the beach and pool and check out the local shops and cuisine. We made out with more than a few purchases from local artisans for ourselves as well as gifts for family. We loved Sensatia Botanicals and Utama Spice in downtown Sanur for their natural skin care products.
Day 05
Day tour to Nusa Penida.
We took a day tour over to Nusa Penida, an island off the east coast of Bali known for it’s beautiful cliffs and beaches. Nusa Penida is worth a visit, but be advised that the seas are usually pretty rough on the ride over. If you are prone to sea sickness, be sure to take some Dramamine before getting on the boat. One of the highlights while on the water, is snorkeling and swimming with the manta rays. These calm, friendly, and big rays are are just incredible to watch as they effortlessly glide through the ocean. There were a few other snorkeling spots that we stopped at, each offering different opportunities to see coral reefs and sea life. By the late afternoon, the seas became a little rougher, so we opted to sit out one of the snorkel experiences to regain our equilibrium. After our snorkel stops, we docked and landed on the island of Nusa Penida. Once on land, we took a van over to AMARTA Penida for lunch. Here we had some lounge time at their infinity pools and took some pictures with the heaven gates. We then took a van ride over to the Kelingking Beach view point (the walk down to the beach can take an hour or two and is all steps) for some amazing and picturesque views which didn’t disappoint. There is a short walk to get to the view point, but it offers stunning photo opportunities overlooking the beach with the island of Bali in the background. Overall, the experience was definitely worthwhile to see the mantas, Kelingking Beach, and the island of Nusa Penida; however, if you are worried about sea sickness, or a rough/bouncy jeep ride to view the famous Kelingking Beach, then this may be an experience you want to reconsider.
Nusa Penida Vibes
Day 06
Our wellness day:
We started off our day with a morning Yoga session at Koa Shala (drop in/no reservations needed). The Yoga studio was very serene and our Yoga instructor was fantastic, doing a great job instructing both beginners to more advanced students with adjustments. This felt like more of an intermediate class with the poses and holds.
The studio also offers massages and other relaxation packages including a package for a Yoga session and a 60 minute massage combo, and nail treatments (which Ash booked a day in advance). Additionally, there is a barber shop next door called Balis Barber Bali, who gave Matt a fresh haircut. We highly recommend both!
After our crazy good Balinese massages (our massages in Bali were some of the best we’ve ever had), we spent the rest of our day around the pool and wandering around the boardwalk taking in final views of the sea. Then we took an evening flight back to Singapore, grabbed a brief overnight sleep, and then headed back home in the morning.
Final Thoughts
Bali is an incredible experience. The energy, natural beauty, temples, attractions, and people make Bali an amazing destination. The great thing about Bali is that you can find a different vibe for every style. You can find the laid back, spiritual or wellness vibes, you can go for the parties, the adventure. No matter your style, it’s easy to immerse yourself in the local culture & simply eat your way through the island. The fresh fruits, local teas, and clean, healthy eating made us feel so good while we were here. We went into the trip aiming for mind and body wellness and left the trip feeling refreshed and stress-free. Bali invokes something in you. It makes you want to slow down and explore your spiritual side, whatever that means to you. Bali is a jaw dropping haven that you need to experience. Perhaps you should embark on this journey.
Personal Favorites in Bali
Places to Visit:
Tanah Lot
Jatiluwih Rice Field Terraces
Nusa Penida
Bali Shopping
Yoga
Ubud
Food to try in Ubud:
Chora Mediterranean Restaurant
Rayjin Sushi
Food to try in Sanur:
Bao Bar Sanur
Paed Thai
The Andaz Bali they had a special Korean BBQ night with live music that we really enjoyed
This vacation was incredible with a great blend of culture, food, adventure, and relaxation. Singapore and Bali offer different styles of tropical oasis. These are both bucket list destinations that beg to be explored.