Singapore is the most expensive country to visit in South Asia and one of the most expensive in the world. We have seen people spending more than INR 3 lakhs for just 5 days in Singapore.
But a trip to Singapore does not have to be that expensive.
We spent less than INR 1,38,000 on our 9 days trip to Singapore. This amount includes all expenses – airfares, hotel accommodation, activities, internal travel, food, and shopping. That means, the per day cost was INR 7800 per person. That’s cheap for Singapore, isn’t it?
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Where We Saved The Money
We saved the money on everything we could. We stayed in a budget hotel, used public transport, ate cheap, and shopped at the street markets. And that saved us more than INR 1.5 lakhs in expenses. Hey, that’s the budget for another 9 days Singapore trip 😛
Read this article for tips on budget travel in Singapore.
Airfare
The actual roundtrip flight cost was ~ INR 46,000 for two persons but we only paid INR 13,800. I used credit card points accumulated on my HDFC Infinia credit card for flight booking that allows up to 70% of the cost redeemable by points.
Accommodation
We stayed in Hotel Classic By Venue which is a budget hotel. Had we stayed in a 4-star hotel or resort in Sentosa, our hotel expense alone would have been close to our actual total expense of our Singapore trip. Read the review of Hotel Classic By Venue here.
Attraction Tickets
We booked most of the activities online through Pelago. Pelago is a tours and attractions booking website just like Klook. As it is a new website, attractive promotional offers were running when we booked our attractions tickets. We also got a Pelago promo code from Singapore Airlines for booking flights with them.
Internal Travel
We travelled in public transport in Singapore throughout our trip. We even boarded a bus to reach the hotel from the airport. The only time we were forced to use a taxi was when we had to go to the airport on the last day. We were supposed to travel by bus but heavy rain left us no choice. That one taxi ride cost us INR 1000 whereas we paid less than INR 120 per person for the bus ride to Singapore Zoo which was about 25 kilometres away from our hotel.
Food
We avoided eating at restaurants on or near the attractions as much as possible. Eating out near popular attractions places is always expensive as most tourists eat there. And the taste is pretty average also.
Mostly, we ate at the food courts (hawker centres) or restaurants near our hotel. We also ate Indian food lots of times which is a bit cheaper than other country’s cuisines.
All the soft drinks, biscuits, and chocolates were bought from Value$ stores where prices were comparable to India.
Shopping
We did all our clothing, gifts, and souvenir shopping from street markets in Singapore. We bought all the gifts and souvenirs from Chinatown street market and all the clothes from Bugis street market. The clothes in Bugis Street market were as cheaply priced as in Sarojini Street market of Delhi but quality was way better. Megha bought a couple of shorts for INR 300 each.
Singapore Trip Expense Breakdown
| Expense | Cost (INR) |
|---|---|
| Roundtrip flight on Singapore Airlines for 2 people | 13,900 |
| 8-night stay in Hotel Classic By Venue | 36,800 |
| Food | ~17,000 |
| Attraction Tickets for 2 people | ~44,000 |
| Shopping | ~13,800 |
| Local Transport for 2 people (EZ-Link Card Top-up + 1 taxi ride) | ~6,700 |
| Visa for 2 people | 4,400 |
| Health Insurance | 1,600 |
| Local Sim Card | 600 |
| Total | ~1,38,000 |
How much did you spend on your Singapore trip? Let us know in comments below.
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