Sentosa Island Tickets

Almost certainly not. The MRT reaches nearly every sight on this site, and Changi to Marina Bay takes about 45 minutes for under €3 — in traffic a taxi is no faster. A car earns its keep in one case only: the day trips over the causeway to Johor. For the city itself it is an expensive way to look for parking.

Two to three full days cover everything on this site comfortably: one for Marina Bay and the gardens, one for Sentosa, one for the quarters and the food. With a long layover of eight hours or more you can realistically do one thing — the river cruise or Gardens by the Bay — and still make your gate.

Go for the rides, not for the sea. Siloso, Palawan and Tanjong are engineered beaches and the sand was shipped in; they are calm and clean, and they are not a coastline. What Sentosa does well is Universal Studios, the cable car, the luge and the aquarium. For actual sea, the day trip to Bintan is the honest answer.

Most of the big sights here sell timed entry, which means the popular slots go first rather than last — sunset at the SkyPark, weekend mornings at Universal Studios. Booking ahead is less about selling out than about choosing your hour. Almost everything on this site can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before.

Yes. Both Johor Bahru and the Riau islands are a different country and a real immigration crossing. The ferry from Tanah Merah to Bandar Bentan Telani takes about 1 hour 10 minutes and to Tanjung Pinang around two hours; the Johor causeway is short but queues badly at rush hour, on Friday evenings and on public holidays.

The attractions are not. Tickets on this site start at €2.73 and Gardens by the Bay costs under €7, while a plate at a hawker centre is a few euros. What is genuinely expensive here is alcohol and accommodation. The median tour price across all 306 offers is €57, and that figure is pulled up by combination tickets, not by the sights themselves.