Singapore Travel Guide

Singapore is small, organised and almost cashless. For an traveller it is one of the easiest international trips to plan, the language is familiar, the food is familiar, the systems work.

Where most travellers leak money is the airport currency counter and the dynamic-currency-conversion offers at hotels and restaurants. Both are quietly more expensive than the live interbank rate.

The Singapore Dollar and the Rupee

The Singapore dollar trades comfortably above the Indian rupee, and the rate is mentally easy, multiply SGD by roughly 75 to get a rough INR equivalent, and the running mental maths takes care of itself within a day. The currency has been broadly stable to slightly stronger against the rupee through 2025 and into 2026, which is normal for SGD given the Monetary Authority of Singapore's exchange-rate-targeting framework.

Rates move every day. The number on Google is the live rate, what authorised dealers use to trade with each other. It is not the rate most banks and forex providers actually sell at. They build a markup into their selling price, usually 2 to 4 percent, and it never appears as a separate line item on the bill. On a forex order of a couple of lakh rupees, that markup quietly adds up to thousands.

Singapore is expensive. Hotels, dining, and alcohol are markedly higher than Bangkok or Saigon. The exchange rate is not the part that hurts. The base prices are.

How Much SGD to Carry

Singapore is among the most cashless economies in the world. Cards work at almost every retail outlet, restaurant, taxi, and tourist site. Contactless tap-to-pay is universal. PayNow and other QR systems are everywhere on signs but tied to local bank accounts and not directly usable by travellers.

Cash matters mainly at hawker centres, where Visa or Mastercard contactless is increasingly accepted but not universal yet, plus the older wet markets, some traditional shops in Chinatown and Little India, and small mom-and-pop establishments.

A Sensible Cash Plan

Carry a small amount of SGD in cash from India for arrival incidentals, a hawker centre meal on day one, a top-up on the EZ-Link card, a taxi from Changi if you skip the MRT. Withdraw additional cash only if needed. For most travellers, a forex card loaded with SGD handles 95 percent of spending.

Indian residents can carry up to USD 3,000 equivalent in foreign currency notes per trip to Singapore. Anything beyond that goes on a forex card or as a wire transfer. Most leisure trips will not approach the ₹10 lakh per person per financial year TCS threshold, so no tax collection at source applies.

Where to Buy SGD Before You Fly

The cheapest SGD you will buy is the SGD you buy in India before flying. Indian airport counters and tourist-area money changers run a noticeable markup over the interbank rate. Hotel front desks run worse. Online forex providers are typically a few percent better than both, and show you the rate and the applicable charges before you confirm the order.

Inside Singapore, licensed money changers in The Arcade at Raffles Place, People's Park Complex in Chinatown, and Mustafa Centre in Little India offer rates close to the interbank rate, often better than banks and far better than airport counters. They are one of the small genuinely cheaper-than-home things in Singapore. If you find yourself short on cash mid-trip, those are the places to top up.

Skip the airport exchange counters at Changi for anything beyond emergency cash. The fees are reasonable but the rates are middling.

Cards in Singapore

Visa and Mastercard are accepted almost universally in Singapore. American Express works at most international hotels, restaurants, and large stores. JCB has decent acceptance through Japanese tourism volumes. RuPay has effectively no acceptance, so do not rely on it as your main card.

Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay all work widely. NETS and PayNow are the local alternatives but they are tied to Singapore bank accounts and not directly usable by visitors. A standard Visa-based forex card works wherever Visa is accepted.

Two Things Indian Cardholders Should Know

Online payments in Singapore trigger 3D Secure verification, which means an OTP to your registered Indian mobile number. Keep your Indian SIM active on roaming, or use an eSIM that keeps the number reachable. Otherwise online bookings, particularly attractions like Universal Studios Singapore and the Night Safari, sometimes fail at the OTP step.

At hotels, large department stores like Takashimaya and ION, and duty-free counters at Changi, the card machine asks whether to charge in SGD or in Indian rupees. Always pick SGD. The rupee option is dynamic currency conversion and adds a markup of several percent on top of whatever your card already takes.

ATMs in Singapore

ATMs are everywhere, DBS, OCBC, UOB, Citibank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered all have wide networks. Foreign cards work reliably at almost all of them. Withdrawal fees are moderate. The main consideration is your home bank's foreign-ATM fee, which adds to the cost of every withdrawal.

The cleanest approach is to load a forex card before flying, withdraw a moderate amount in cash on day one, and avoid frequent small withdrawals.

What a withdrawal actually costs once your Indian bank has taken its share, and the screen to decline are covered in full in our guide to ATMs in Singapore.

EZ-Link or SimplyGo: The Transit Card

The EZ-Link card is Singapore's stored-value transit card. Tap on, tap off, fare deducts automatically. It works on the MRT, all public buses, and increasingly at retail outlets and parking. Buy it at any MRT station with a small refundable deposit and a few dollars of stored value.

There is also a SimplyGo option that uses your contactless Visa or Mastercard directly, tap your card or phone at the gate and the fare is charged in SGD. Most Indian forex cards work with SimplyGo, which means many travellers can skip buying a separate transit card altogether. Test it on day one before committing.

If you visit Singapore often, an EZ-Link or NETS FlashPay card is worth keeping for return trips. The balance does not expire.

What You Will Spend Each Day

On the ground, daily spending splits into three rough tiers.

Backpacker: hostel dorm bed, hawker centre meals (still some of the best food value in the world for the money), MRT and buses, free attractions like Gardens by the Bay's outdoor sections and most museums on free days. Singapore at this tier is more expensive than Bangkok or Saigon but still doable.

Mid-range, where most travellers land: a three-or-four-star hotel in Bugis, Clarke Quay, or near Orchard Road, a mix of hawker meals and mid-range restaurants, paid attractions like Universal Studios, the SEA Aquarium, and the Night Safari, occasional taxis, a few experiences like a Singapore Sling at Raffles or a chilli crab dinner.

Premium: five-star hotels like Marina Bay Sands, the Fullerton, or the Capella, fine-dining restaurants, private guides, paid Sentosa attractions, and the high-end shopping budget on Orchard Road. Singapore at this tier is genuinely expensive, comparable to London or Tokyo.

A 7-day mid-range trip for two in Singapore costs noticeably more than the same trip to Vietnam or Sri Lanka, and roughly comparable to a Japan trip outside the cherry blossom premium. Flights and hotels are usually paid in India before departure and sit on top.

Getting Around

The MRT is fast, clean, and covers almost everywhere a tourist needs to go. EZ-Link or SimplyGo handles the fare. Buses fill in the rest of the network. Singapore is small, most journeys take under 30 minutes.

Taxis are easy to hail and use meters honestly, but they are expensive compared to the MRT. The Grab app is the default for ride-hailing and works with foreign cards. Standard taxis from companies like ComfortDelGro can also be booked through the Grab app.

Walking between the major neighbourhoods is feasible but Singapore's heat and humidity make long walks unpleasant. Plan around indoor connections, much of central Singapore is connected by air-conditioned underground walkways and shopping centres.