Practical Information for visiting Singapore

The currency is the Singapore dollar (SGD). Brunei dollars are accepted at par by custom, which occasionally surprises people.

Cards, contactless and QR payments work everywhere, including hawker stalls, which increasingly take PayNow or a card. Cash is still useful at older stalls and wet markets, and some famous hawker stalls remain cash only.

ATMs are everywhere. Money changers in the Chinese quarter, Mustafa Centre and the arcades give better rates than banks or the airport, and are entirely reputable.

A goods and services tax of 9 per cent applies, and restaurants typically add a 10 per cent service charge plus GST — look for the plus-plus notation on menus, which means the bill will be about 20 per cent above the listed price. Tourists can reclaim GST on larger purchases at the airport.

Tipping is not customary and is not expected anywhere.

Singapore has among the fastest and most complete connectivity anywhere. Coverage for mobile networks is total, with 5G nationwide from Singtel, StarHub, M1 and Simba, including in the MRT tunnels.

Tourist SIMs and eSIMs are cheap and sold at the airport and every convenience store; data allowances are generous.

Free public Wi-Fi — Wireless@SG — covers libraries, malls, hawker centres and transport hubs, and hotel and cafe Wi-Fi is fast.

Note that Singapore filters a small number of sites and that online speech is regulated more tightly than in most wealthy countries; there is nothing a visitor will normally notice, but it is worth knowing.

Singapore is one of the safest countries in the world, with very low crime and no real risk of theft or violence for visitors. The warnings here are all legal, and they are unusually serious.

• Drug offences carry the death penalty. This is not theoretical — executions for trafficking take place, quantities that trigger a mandatory death sentence are low, and you can be tested on arrival and prosecuted for consumption abroad. Carry nothing.
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• Vaping is illegal, including possession, and e-cigarettes are confiscated at the border with a fine.
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• Chewing gum cannot be imported for sale; a personal amount is tolerated, therapeutic gum is legal.
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• Fines apply to littering, jaywalking, smoking outside designated areas, eating or drinking on the MRT, and not flushing a public toilet. They are enforced.
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• Caning is a judicial punishment for vandalism, overstaying and some other offences, and applies to foreigners.
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• Heat and humidity are the physical risk; pace yourself.

Healthcare is excellent and among the best in Asia, with world-class public hospitals and private ones used to international patients. It is also expensive for visitors, so insurance matters.

Vaccinations: routine cover is sufficient. Yellow fever proof is required if you arrive from a country with risk, and this is checked.

Dengue is the genuine local health issue — it is endemic, transmitted by a day-biting mosquito, and outbreaks are common in residential areas. Use repellent, especially around parks and greenery. There is no malaria.

Heat and the constant humidity cause more visitor trouble than anything infectious; drink far more water than you think you need and use the air-conditioned interiors deliberately.

Haze, in the years it occurs, matters for asthma and respiratory conditions; check the published index and wear an N95 if it is high.

Tap water is safe and good everywhere.

Pharmacies are excellent, though some medicines routine elsewhere — including certain codeine and sleep preparations — are controlled; check before travelling.

Read the drug laws before you pack. They are the most important thing on this page.

Return your tray at hawker centres — it is now required and enforced with fines.

Choping: a packet of tissues on a hawker table means it is taken. Respect it, and use it yourself.

Queue, properly and patiently. It is close to a civic virtue.

Temples and mosques: remove shoes, cover shoulders and knees, and do not photograph worshippers. Sarongs are usually lent at the door.

Elders are addressed as uncle and auntie, including stallholders and taxi drivers, and it is polite rather than familiar.

Right hand for giving and receiving among Malay and Indian Singaporeans; business cards with both hands.

Smoking is banned almost everywhere outdoors except marked yellow boxes.

Emergency numbers: 995 for ambulance and fire, 999 for police. Operators speak English and response is fast.

Medical. Public hospitals — Singapore General, Tan Tock Seng, National University Hospital — have 24-hour emergency departments, and private ones such as Mount Elizabeth and Raffles Hospital are quick and expensive. Visitors pay non-subsidised rates; keep receipts for insurance.

Pharmacies: Guardian and Watsons are everywhere, with pharmacists on duty during shop hours.

Lost passport: report to the police for a report, then contact your embassy — nearly all are in the city centre, which is a short MRT ride from anywhere.

If you are detained, ask immediately for consular access. Given the severity of drug and immigration penalties, this matters more here than in most places.