Anything new, different or recommended on Singapore/Bali tour in 2025
Scheduled for the tour in June and we are hopeful the same great descriptions that Smiling Sam has previously posted will prevail. Are there any changes from the published agenda for 2025 which have been noted by the first groups travelling this year? Any recommendations in general or good spots to eat which are not included on the tour?
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For us the only opportunity to eat while not on the tour was in Singapore. We had identified several candidate restaurants, some in the Raffles City complex just across the street from the Raffles Hotel, others in the Marina Bay Sands shopping complex, others at other locations around the marina, and a few others short walks from the hotel.
In the end we ate in the Marina Bay Sands shopping complex (there are several places to choose from) after our visit to Gardens By the Bay, but prior to our visit to the Marina Bay Sands Sky Park observation deck. The Sky Park visit was arranged for a timed entry prior to our arrival in Singapore.
There were other opportunities (for dinners) to eat at places not of the tour (we arrived a day early), but the humidity was such that we chose to each at various restaurants within the Raffles Hotel complex to avoid venturing out into the humidity after a days activities in the humidity.
Throughout the rest of the tour we ate only at tour hotels or provided meals at other restaurants.
When we took the tour the tour director reserved a table for lunch for the two of us on the roof of the Marina Bay Sands hotel near the infinity edge pool. The food was delicious and the views stunning. This was after the tour of the Gardens by the Bay
Hi, 317engineer! We did this tour in 2023. It’s spectacular!! One of our favorites. I definitely recommend arriving in Singapore early because you really don’t get a whole lot of time there otherwise to explore everything. It’s extremely safe and easy to get around. The day we arrived we went to Lau Pa Sat hawker market (featured in the film “Crazy Rich Asians”) for dinner. It is within walking distance of the hotel. We spent our first full day just relaxing and having afternoon tea at the Raffles (a wonderful hotel), walking around the area, and getting a historical tour of the Raffles (very interesting!). We also took a ride on the Singapore Flyer which was fun and had great views. Plus it is air-conditioned. 😃 The hotel is very conveniently located in a central spot. We did a food tour with Hello Singapore (highly recommend!!) which was a lot of fun and took us to places we did not visit with Tauck. We read about it on this forum and were grateful for the recommendation! If you could do that early on, it’s very helpful because the guide will suggest all sorts of places to go. We had dinner on our own at Violet Oon, which is at the National Gallery. Food and service were excellent! It is within walking distance of the hotel. Also at the National Gallery, we had pre-dinner drinks at Smoke & Mirrors, a rooftop bar with a prime view of Marina Bay Sands that offered some fun, exotic cocktails. We did not have a meal atop Marina Bay Sands, but we did go up to the SkyPark Observation Deck for viewing which was worthwhile. They offer a VIP sunset package there which we were going to do, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Other fellow travelers went to the restaurant there for dinner and loved it. We also went to the Botanical Gardens in the late afternoon after our tour of Gardens by the Bay with Tauck and we went to the Super Trees light show at Gardens by the Bay at night. Both were fun and well worth it!