How to Get Around Singapore

The MRT is fast, cheap, clean and reaches nearly everything, with buses filling the gaps. Tap in and out with any contactless bank card or phone — no local card is needed — and fares are distance-based and inexpensive.

Taxis are metered and honest; Grab is the dominant ride-hailing app. Both are affordable by the standards of a wealthy city.

Walking is pleasant in the mornings and evenings and hard in the middle of the day; much of the centre is connected by underground and sheltered walkways, which is how locals move about.

Driving makes no sense here. Car ownership requires a Certificate of Entitlement costing more than the car, and the road pricing system charges by time and place.

Changi Airport is on the MRT and is worth extra time in its own right.

Onward: buses and trains to Malaysia across the causeway, and ferries to the Riau islands.