Singapore Good to Know

Until 2010, Singapore's Tourism Board used the slogan "Uniquely Singapore" to attract visitors, and Singapore is truly unique. Its multi-cultural society mixes with a modern economy and efficient city planning. The result is a country that looks somewhat sterile at first glance, but offers diverse cultural experiences when you delve a bit deeper into its sights and attractions.

Eating and shopping are the favourite pastimes of Singaporeans, and choices are aplenty. No wonder some visitors come to Singapore only for one of the two. 

Singapore is a developed country. Things work, and very efficiently so. Singapore is also a very safe country to travel, even for single females. You can walk about post-sunset without being harrassed.

Singapore is more expensive than its neighbouring countries so expect to pay double. Singapore's currency is the Singapore Dollar (SGD, S$ or simply $). S$1.00 is roughly EUR0.50, US$0.50, Malaysian Ringgit MYR2.50 and Indonesian Rupiah IDR 7000.

Singapore is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+8), making it 2 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne, 7 hours ahead of Europe and 13 hours ahead of New York. Daylight-saving time is not practiced, clocks do not go forward by one hour Summer. In the European summer, Singapore is only 6 hours ahead of Europe.

Singapore uses electricity of 220-240 volts AC at 50 cycles, similar to Europe, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Australia. The three-pin plug is the most common power socket, Most hotels provide two-pin fittings for power sockets, and plug adaptors can also be easily bought from any hardware store. It is even possible to just use a pencil or a sharp non-metallic object as the third pin when inserting a European two-pin plug into a three-pin socket. People in Singapore do this all the time, but don't blame us if you get injured.