AlanS - You’re right! At least, this is where our tour went to see the Komodo dragons. Mil - I’m very glad you enjoyed the trip and did the sail! 👍😀 British - thanks for posting your pics - I don’t recognize some of your signage so we must have gone to different islands.
Just signed up for the Aug 24 trip- very excited. Thank you all for posting your pictures. We'll be arriving in Singapore 2 days before the start of the tour. Suggestions, please! Do you suggest we arrange a food tour before the Tauck tour, or the afternoon of Day 3 (Gardens by the Bay), when the entire afternoon and evening are free?
You may want to spend additional time at the Gardens which is an option. We wanted to have lunch at the Marina Bay Sands hotel on the roof with the Infinity pool and glorious views of the Gardens by the Bay. The tour director booked it for us and the food was delicious. We got some great photos too.
Hi, AmyBlackstone! You will love this tour! It’s fantastic! Many of our fellow travelers thought it was one of their best tours. We, too, arrived two days early and were really glad we did. We went on a food tour the day that the Tauck tour began. The food tour lasted 6+ hours; we had just enough time to get back to Raffles to shower & change to make the tour orientation and dinner. It was a lot of fun and a great way to learn about the various local cultures through the food. We used Hello Singapore which had been recommended on this forum. It was an excellent tour that took us to four neighborhoods and a hawker center popular with locals. I would recommend doing the food tour before the Tauck tour begins. I don’t think you’d have enough time once the tour begins; at least, not for the particular food tour we did. I believe they start that one in the morning only. If possible, I’d do the food tour on your first full day because they give you lots of recommendations as to where to eat, shop, etc. On our first full day on our own, we rode the Singapore Flyer ferris wheel (nice views of the city!), enjoyed afternoon tea at the Raffles, had a tour of the Raffles Hotel by their resident historian (it’s offered for free), and had a fabulous dinner at Violet Oon National Kitchen located at the National Gallery, which is within walking distance of the hotel. We had funky pre-dinner drinks at the rooftop bar there, Smoke & Mirrors, which has a prime view of Marina Bay Sands. We visited Gardens by the Bay at night on the 2nd evening of the tour to see the light show among the Supertrees which is a must see! Prior to nightfall, we went to the top of the Marina Bay Sands to check out the views. We originally bought “VIP” tickets to have a premium view table with a champagne toast and chocolates to watch the sunset (it’s called “Sunset in the Sky”), but that was cancelled due to cloudy/rainy weather, so we just checked out the views from the observation deck instead. A couple of people on our tour had a meal at the restaurant there which they really enjoyed. There’s also a light show outside of the hotel which was on our “to do” list, but we didn’t have a chance to catch that. We went to Chinatown for dinner and stumbled upon a Thai restaurant down a side street which turned out to be very good! We felt totally safe walking around Singapore day and night. On the 3rd day of the tour, when we had the free afternoon and evening, we went for chili crab at “Holy Crab,” a place recommended to us by the local guide. It was delicious!! Messy but extremely yummy!! Definitely worth the effort! We then visited the Botanical Gardens later in the day - it was recommended by folks on this forum, who also suggested going early or late in the day to avoid the heat of midday. The orchids there are beautiful! It’s worth the trip! That evening we had an excellent meal at Firangi Superstar, a contemporary Indian restaurant in Chinatown. We loved Singapore and were really happy that we had the chance to explore it on our own a bit before the tour and during our free time. The food is amazing! Check out Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre - it’s within walking distance to the Raffles Hotel and open late. The driver (through Tauck) who picked us up from the airport recommended we go there for dinner that evening (we wanted a quick meal since we had been traveling) and it was a happening place with tons of choices! I believe it was also featured in the movie “Crazy Rich Asians.” You can try satay there! Lastly, I want to say that folks on this forum were so helpful as we were planning for this trip, so I would like to give them a shout out! If I can pay it forward, I am happy to do so!
Comments
I went to the same island as British.
Wow, Mil, how funny we only just figured that out.
british, maybe we entered different gate- the other side of the park .
Nothing is a secret between Tauckers. 
AlanS - You’re right! At least, this is where our tour went to see the Komodo dragons. Mil - I’m very glad you enjoyed the trip and did the sail! 👍😀 British - thanks for posting your pics - I don’t recognize some of your signage so we must have gone to different islands.
So the tour is now as we originally signed up for it!
Just signed up for the Aug 24 trip- very excited. Thank you all for posting your pictures. We'll be arriving in Singapore 2 days before the start of the tour. Suggestions, please! Do you suggest we arrange a food tour before the Tauck tour, or the afternoon of Day 3 (Gardens by the Bay), when the entire afternoon and evening are free?
You may want to spend additional time at the Gardens which is an option. We wanted to have lunch at the Marina Bay Sands hotel on the roof with the Infinity pool and glorious views of the Gardens by the Bay. The tour director booked it for us and the food was delicious. We got some great photos too.
Hi, AmyBlackstone! You will love this tour! It’s fantastic! Many of our fellow travelers thought it was one of their best tours. We, too, arrived two days early and were really glad we did. We went on a food tour the day that the Tauck tour began. The food tour lasted 6+ hours; we had just enough time to get back to Raffles to shower & change to make the tour orientation and dinner. It was a lot of fun and a great way to learn about the various local cultures through the food. We used Hello Singapore which had been recommended on this forum. It was an excellent tour that took us to four neighborhoods and a hawker center popular with locals. I would recommend doing the food tour before the Tauck tour begins. I don’t think you’d have enough time once the tour begins; at least, not for the particular food tour we did. I believe they start that one in the morning only. If possible, I’d do the food tour on your first full day because they give you lots of recommendations as to where to eat, shop, etc. On our first full day on our own, we rode the Singapore Flyer ferris wheel (nice views of the city!), enjoyed afternoon tea at the Raffles, had a tour of the Raffles Hotel by their resident historian (it’s offered for free), and had a fabulous dinner at Violet Oon National Kitchen located at the National Gallery, which is within walking distance of the hotel. We had funky pre-dinner drinks at the rooftop bar there, Smoke & Mirrors, which has a prime view of Marina Bay Sands. We visited Gardens by the Bay at night on the 2nd evening of the tour to see the light show among the Supertrees which is a must see! Prior to nightfall, we went to the top of the Marina Bay Sands to check out the views. We originally bought “VIP” tickets to have a premium view table with a champagne toast and chocolates to watch the sunset (it’s called “Sunset in the Sky”), but that was cancelled due to cloudy/rainy weather, so we just checked out the views from the observation deck instead. A couple of people on our tour had a meal at the restaurant there which they really enjoyed. There’s also a light show outside of the hotel which was on our “to do” list, but we didn’t have a chance to catch that. We went to Chinatown for dinner and stumbled upon a Thai restaurant down a side street which turned out to be very good! We felt totally safe walking around Singapore day and night. On the 3rd day of the tour, when we had the free afternoon and evening, we went for chili crab at “Holy Crab,” a place recommended to us by the local guide. It was delicious!! Messy but extremely yummy!! Definitely worth the effort! We then visited the Botanical Gardens later in the day - it was recommended by folks on this forum, who also suggested going early or late in the day to avoid the heat of midday. The orchids there are beautiful! It’s worth the trip! That evening we had an excellent meal at Firangi Superstar, a contemporary Indian restaurant in Chinatown. We loved Singapore and were really happy that we had the chance to explore it on our own a bit before the tour and during our free time. The food is amazing! Check out Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre - it’s within walking distance to the Raffles Hotel and open late. The driver (through Tauck) who picked us up from the airport recommended we go there for dinner that evening (we wanted a quick meal since we had been traveling) and it was a happening place with tons of choices! I believe it was also featured in the movie “Crazy Rich Asians.” You can try satay there! Lastly, I want to say that folks on this forum were so helpful as we were planning for this trip, so I would like to give them a shout out! If I can pay it forward, I am happy to do so!
The light show at Gardens by the Bay at night, the Botanical gardens and Marina Bay Sands are all a must!!!! Great tour.
Thank you, thank you for all of your suggestions---so very helpful! Greatly appreciated!!! You've added to our excitement!!