Lanterns in Chinatown Singapore

Walking through China Town with your personal tour guide for Singapore, seeing the beautiful lanterns lined up - No doubt! Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year is close! Colourful processions, markets and the vibrant lions dancing to bring good luck and fortune are a fascinating sight on Singapore excursions.

"Ang Pow" (red packets) with money is exchanged and you will see that the dominating colours are red to scare away the evil spirits and gold for prosperity! Traditionally, on the eve of the new year families celebrate at home with a Reunion Dinner to share one of the most important meals of the year with their loved ones. Culinary delights like pineapple tarts, 'lapis' or layered cake, crisp love letters, 'kueh bangkit'  or coconut cookies and 'bak kwa' barbequed meat (mostly pork) are a one of the best food to try in Singapore for this time of the year.The following days are spent visiting relatives, friends and temples to pray for blessings.

As this Chinese New Year falls on a weekend, it would be also a great time to travel and see how other places around the region are celebrating. For example, you could hop on an aeroplane and fly over to Hong Kong! Our Hong Kong Team is having a special "Chinese New Year Firework Cruise" to watch the incredible 23 minutes firework display over Victoria Harbour with the amazing Hong Kong Skyline in the background! Limited spots are available! Book HERE.

 #singapore #sg #hellosingaporetours #ilovesg #hellosg #sgfestivals #culture #chinesenewyear #lunarnewyear #yearofthedog  #temple #gods #ancestors #visitsingapore

after a private tours in Singapore visit the Red Dot Design Museum and enjoy a craft beer

The Red Dot Museum in Singapore is the perfect place to finish your tours in Singapore

try a selection of local foods after your private tours in Singapore

The Red Dot Design Museum is the sister museum of the Red Dot Design Museum in Germany. Together they showcase the best new design ideas across the categories Product Design, Communication Design and Design Concept. The Singapore museum contains the award winners of the best Design Concepts.This is a fascinating museum showcasing 300 new and unique design concepts from all of the world. Every year the competition attracts over 4000 entries from a wide range of amateur designers through to world famous and household names. A panel of international design experts select the winners which will be displayed in the museums. Many of these ideas and products go into production, some are even available in the museum shop!A show case of the best new and unique design concepts from around the world.  The museum is located on the Marina front, not too far from Marina Bay Sands. It is open until 2am making it the only Night Museum in Singapore and it has an excellent bar with a good selection of craft beers! You can even enjoy some food, which is has been 'designed' into cubes!Even the food has been 'designed'! Top centre is a cube shaped Chicken Rice! We think that the Red Dot Design Museum is one of the Best Museums in Singapore because: 

• The exhibition itself is super interesting covering design concepts in furniture, clothing, automobiles, pets, construction, the environment...

• It's location on the Marina is brilliant.

• It's open right through until 2am making it the perfect place to go if you have jet lag!

• The bar has a very good selection of beers and runs a happy hour from 5pm to 8pm every day!

• The food menu has been well crafted covering all of the Singapore favourites from Chilli Crab to Laksa and Beef Rendang. Click here for the full menu.

• The shop is fantastic - it would be impossible to go home without a souvenir!

the shop at the red dot design museum - perfect for picking up gifts after your tours in singapore

The museum shop. If you would like to visit the Red Dot Design Museum after your Singapore tours, just ask your private tour guide to drop you off here at the end of your tour. 

Address: 11 Marina Boulevard. Singapore 018940.

Website:https://www.museum.red-dot.sg/

Opening Hours:Monday to Thursday : 10am to 8pmFriday to Sunday : 10am to 11pm

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/RedDotDesignMuseumSG/

If you ever thought of a tour for Singapore, you will definitely have seen some pictures of Gardens by the Bay! This 101-hectare nature park is an initiative of the Singapore government to transform the "Garden City" into a "City in a Garden".The Gardens opened its doors to the public in 2011 after breaking ground in November 2007. Being high on the popularity list, Gardens by the Bay had its 20,000,000th  (YES, twenty millionths!!! 😳) visitor in November 2015!It consists of three waterfront gardens, the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forrest. Whereas the Cloud Forrest replicates the tropical mountain regions of South-East Asia, Middle- and Sout America featuring a 35-metre waterfall to providing crisp and refreshing air, the Flower Dome replicates the mild and dry climate found in the Mediterranean, Australia, some South American and South African regions.If you need a break on your Singapore city tour, the changing floral displays in the Flower Dome are always worth a visit, especially, for Christmas and Chinese New Year.Did you know that the orchid display won gold at the 22nd World Orchid Conference (WOC 22) held in Ecuador in 2017?Ask your private tour guide in Singapore to tell you more about it, or how about finishing your Singapore tour at the Gardens by the Bay? 

Undoubtedly, one of the most iconic buildings in Singapore is Marina Bay Sands.Its unusual shape triggers your curiosity. The three towers are, according to their architect, Moshe Safdie, inspired by a card deck. Indeed, if you look closer on your Singapore Walking Tour with your personal guide, you will see that both legs in all three towers are asymmetric and lean against each other, going wider in the bottom and narrowing, going up. The number 29 out of 75 tallest buildings in Singapore, is crowned by the almost 1.5 hectare Skypark (that is as long as 4.5 Airbus 380 Jumbo Jets! 😳). The Skypark is home to the world's longest elevated swimming pool (a 150m infinity pool) which is an attraction in itself and can be accessed by hotel guests.The base of Marina Bay Sands is home to a very large luxury mall, many cafés and restaurants as well as local eateries. To make the experience even better, during winter, there is an ice skating rink in the mall and all year long you can book a sampan ride in the canal that runs through the lengths of the mall, similar to the Venetian in Las Vegas.So, next time you visit Singapore ask your private tour guide of Hello Singapore Tours to tell you about the Marina Bay Sands! 

Six brilliant bars in Singapore; two for Friday, two for Saturday and two for Sunday night! Now that's a good weekend!If you are taking a Singapore Walking Tour with us and would like us to point these ones out to you just let us know.

Visit Raffles with a private tour guide as part of your tours in Singapore

The Hello Singapore team of Singapore walking tours guides

We LOVE going to Raffles!Opened in 1887 by the Sarkese Brothers and named after British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (the founder of Singapore) this is an absolute must see in Singapore. But get there quick as its closing for renovation from Dec 2017 to the middle of 2018!This fabulous artwork of the Raffles hotel can be found on display in the Raffles gift shop. Long gone are the days when tigers roamed the district but the doorman is ever present in his iconic uniform! Here's a fun fact for you - in 1902 the last tiger to be killed in Singapore was finally shot while cowering under the hotel's Bar & Billiard Room, then an elevated building.Left to Right: Daryl, Su Ling, Narjan, Laura and Gee Soo. This is us, your Hello Singapore tours team, at Raffles with Narjan, the most photographed man in Singapore! He has been the doorman at Raffles for 25 years! Ask us to include a visit to Raffles as part of your Singapore walking tour and we'll tell you the story behind the infamous cocktail - the Singapore Sling.... yes there will be time to try one as well! 

Take one of our Singapore guided tours on your next visit

Just in case you didn't already a reason to come to Singapore... The Telegraph just named Singapore as the most welcoming city on earth!And we have to agree! Click the chart below to read the full article.

At the Singapore Grand Prix the Marina Bay Sands hotel is lit up like a flag

There is an electric atmosphere in Singapore during the F1. Even if you are not particularly interested in the racing you can not fail to enjoy the after party!The race area itself hosts an outdoor concert (pictured above) with A List DJs and Singers. 2017 saw Duran Duran, Seal, Ariana Grande and Calvin Harris grace the stage. For up to date information about the upcoming 2018 acts you can keep an eye on the official Event Guide by CLICKING HERE.  If you don't have tickets to the Grand Prix itself why not book into one of the after parties being hosted at other venues across the city?The Podium Lounge, just 200 metres from the track, hosts the official after party. Or simply head down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks display and check out the checkered flag lighting display on the Marina Bay Sands.The best way to get over the F1 hangover is to get up and out and get some good food inside your stomach, so book onto one of our Food Tours in Singapore !

Follow the action of the Singapore F1 on your tours in Singapore

Most people don't realise but Singapore was a part of the racing calendar from 1961 to 1973. A variety of reasons are behind the termination of the early GP but it was mostly down to safety issues. In 2008, after a 35 year absence, Formula One was back and back in a big way.Singapore is host to the first ever race NIGHT and it is the first street circuit in Asia. 

Photo credit: https://www.singapore-f1-grand-prix.com

Ask your tour guides in Singapore for the latest facts and figures of the Singapore F1

The 5.067 km race track runs through the centre of Singapore passing the Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands and the Fullerton Hotel (all of which can be visited on a Singapore walking tours with us). Bernie Ecclestone describes the Singapore Grand Prix as the “crown jewel of F1" and he has good reason to. It is a spectacular event. We took this picture from out seating area which was in Zone 1 or the yellow section of the above map. The race runs anti-clockwise starting and finishing in the Yellow Zone so it is our top pick when choosing your seats.Tickets for the Singapore Grand Prix can be booked online at the official website. Please CLICK HERE. The Singapore Grand Prix is a 3 day event which is attend by over a quarter of a million people. Practice sessions take place on Day 1, the Qualifiers are on Day 2 and Day 3 is the actual race night.In order to stage the event a number of roads in downtown Singapore are closed. Road markings are removed by painting them black and new track markings are painted on. 1,500 lighting projectors are installed to light the entire racing circuit and grandstands.If you are visiting Singapore during the F1 drop us an email and we will help you plan your days, there is so much to do and see you wont want to miss out! 

guided tours of Singapore and the botanic gardens.

On Sunday we joined the masses at the Botanic Gardens Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage for a sunset concert by the NUS Wind Symphony. We were treated to soundtracks from Miyazaki’s famed anime works such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Ponyo on the Cliff.Your friendly Singapore tour guides rocked up with a picnic and a bottle of wine and had a wonderful evening.The Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage hosts a number of open air musical events each year. They are all 100% free of charge and open to the public. You can find more information about upcoming events as well as guided tours of the gardens by CLICKING HERE.