Singapore Expensive
Hawker centres are the whole point — Maxwell, Tiong Bahru and Old Airport Road. A Michelin-recognised chicken rice plate costs a few dollars. Look for the longest local queue and join it.
Budget travel in Singapore
What a visitor's money does in Singapore: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Expensive average across 1 guide · 5 is very cheap
Money
Singapore Dollar (SGD) · 1 EUR = 1.45 SGD · 1 USD = 1.28 SGD
Money changers in Mustafa Centre, Chinatown and Arcade at Raffles Place give notably better rates than banks or the airport. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, but hawker stalls often want cash or PayNow.
ATMs
Avoid: independent machines in Change Alley and tourist arcades
Use: DBS, OCBC, UOB
Getting around
A short ride in Singapore: S$9–16 across town — middling
From the airport: Changi to the centre S$25–35, against S$2 on the MRT
About level with a metered taxi. Both are reasonable by the standards of a city this rich.
City by city, cheapest first
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
