Gardens By the Bay in Singapore is a great day out for all ages and all personality types, whether you are young or old, sporty or cultured, like walking outdoors and running up and down, or cool air conditioned comfort with a lift.
Planning Your Visit
The visit consists of three areas, the flower dome, the waterfall, and the outdoor and riverside walk.
We ordered our tickets on line thinking there was a saving and had to go to and fro printing our tickets at customer service and upgrading our tickets on finding we had booked only one of the two paid for indoor areas. So the price was twice what we were expecting to pay.
You may also want to spend time in the three different gift shops. You can buy souvenirs, plants as gifts for hosts if you are visiting Singapore, hats with large brims. If you live in Singapore, potted plants of all sizes and prices, from a cactus smaller than your hand to a plant in a planter as tall as yourself for an entrance hall or business foyer.
Timing
If you are short of time, you can see one indoor area or walk around the outside. Just walking around the flower dome on all levels takes at least an hour. We then spent another hour on a lunch break walking down to the relatively cheap hawker centre, which was still twice the price of hawker centres in the city. Then we spent a second hour on the waterfall which has three levels.
Finally and fourthly we spent another hour walking around the outside and taking riverside photos. Lastly, fifthly, we walked back to the MRT through the riverside walk, getting last sun of the day photos, instead of taking a taxi. Best part of a day gone, but very happily, highlight of our visit to Singapore. If you read or photograph every caption and plant you could spend twice as long.
The Flower Dome
Immediately on entering the flower dome we were overwhelmed with delight. The landscaping is amazing, full size trees, sculptures, views from ground level and treetop. It looks magnificent from a distance, intriguing close up.
The layout has world-wide appeal. You can see the plants of areas you have never visited. Or often visited. Australia. South America.
Teachers, researchers and writers will love the information. Every tree and plant seems to have a dozen uses, medicinal or practical.
Palm Trees Galore
The week before visiting, on arrival in Singapore, I had been researching palm trees and had learned about five I and you and everybody could easily recognise (coconut, date, the fan-shaped traveller's palm, the red or lipstick palm with a red stalk and the cement palm suited to lining city avenues with its straight, grey upright trunk like a lamp-post. See my previous post for pictures. But now in the Gardens By The Bay I discovered many more palms and many more uses.
I took several pictures of the giant circular wheel of the Singapore Flyer through the windows, as well as the T shape Marina Towers complex with its amazing rooftop infinity swimming pool and sky-high bars and special occasion expensive rooftop restaurants.
Indoors, using yourself, or your family, or any other group, creates a sense of scale.
The Waterfall
On entering you see the waterfall several stories above. Lovely and cooling on a hot day in tropical Singapore.
Food and Drink
Travel Tips
1 If you are on a budget, look for concessions or consider just walking around the outdoors.
2 If you are into photography, choose a day when there is good visibility.
3 Food and drink is expensive, so consider taking a picnic or water which you might want to eat outdoors.
4 If you are likely to take out children, an extended family, or a succession of foreign visitors, buy an annual pass.
5 Dress for indoors and out.
6 Wear your best clothes as you will want to take lots of selfies and photos of family or friends because the backgrounds are beautiful, the arches make perfect frames.
7 A few colourful pictures of close-ups of flowers are colourful, and plaques are informative, especially if you are keen on gardening, but they could be taken anywhere. The larger vistas are the best record of the locale.
8 Take a camera.
9 Budget for food and drink, money for gifts, hiring the audio device, a taxi or shuttle but for those who find walking tiring.
Planning Your Visit
The visit consists of three areas, the flower dome, the waterfall, and the outdoor and riverside walk.
We ordered our tickets on line thinking there was a saving and had to go to and fro printing our tickets at customer service and upgrading our tickets on finding we had booked only one of the two paid for indoor areas. So the price was twice what we were expecting to pay.
You may also want to spend time in the three different gift shops. You can buy souvenirs, plants as gifts for hosts if you are visiting Singapore, hats with large brims. If you live in Singapore, potted plants of all sizes and prices, from a cactus smaller than your hand to a plant in a planter as tall as yourself for an entrance hall or business foyer.
Timing
If you are short of time, you can see one indoor area or walk around the outside. Just walking around the flower dome on all levels takes at least an hour. We then spent another hour on a lunch break walking down to the relatively cheap hawker centre, which was still twice the price of hawker centres in the city. Then we spent a second hour on the waterfall which has three levels.
Finally and fourthly we spent another hour walking around the outside and taking riverside photos. Lastly, fifthly, we walked back to the MRT through the riverside walk, getting last sun of the day photos, instead of taking a taxi. Best part of a day gone, but very happily, highlight of our visit to Singapore. If you read or photograph every caption and plant you could spend twice as long.
The Flower Dome
Immediately on entering the flower dome we were overwhelmed with delight. The landscaping is amazing, full size trees, sculptures, views from ground level and treetop. It looks magnificent from a distance, intriguing close up.
The layout has world-wide appeal. You can see the plants of areas you have never visited. Or often visited. Australia. South America.
Teachers, researchers and writers will love the information. Every tree and plant seems to have a dozen uses, medicinal or practical.
Palm Trees Galore
The week before visiting, on arrival in Singapore, I had been researching palm trees and had learned about five I and you and everybody could easily recognise (coconut, date, the fan-shaped traveller's palm, the red or lipstick palm with a red stalk and the cement palm suited to lining city avenues with its straight, grey upright trunk like a lamp-post. See my previous post for pictures. But now in the Gardens By The Bay I discovered many more palms and many more uses.
I took several pictures of the giant circular wheel of the Singapore Flyer through the windows, as well as the T shape Marina Towers complex with its amazing rooftop infinity swimming pool and sky-high bars and special occasion expensive rooftop restaurants.
Indoors, using yourself, or your family, or any other group, creates a sense of scale.
The Waterfall
On entering you see the waterfall several stories above. Lovely and cooling on a hot day in tropical Singapore.
Food and Drink
Travel Tips
1 If you are on a budget, look for concessions or consider just walking around the outdoors.
2 If you are into photography, choose a day when there is good visibility.
3 Food and drink is expensive, so consider taking a picnic or water which you might want to eat outdoors.
4 If you are likely to take out children, an extended family, or a succession of foreign visitors, buy an annual pass.
5 Dress for indoors and out.
6 Wear your best clothes as you will want to take lots of selfies and photos of family or friends because the backgrounds are beautiful, the arches make perfect frames.
7 A few colourful pictures of close-ups of flowers are colourful, and plaques are informative, especially if you are keen on gardening, but they could be taken anywhere. The larger vistas are the best record of the locale.
8 Take a camera.
9 Budget for food and drink, money for gifts, hiring the audio device, a taxi or shuttle but for those who find walking tiring.
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