The Ultimate Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Vacation Leave: Conquering Sentosa Island...Not!

This is the seventeenth part of our 6-days-5-nights Ultimate KL-Singapore Vacation Leave.

Wonderful Sentosa

Before getting to Universal Studios, you have to pass through Sentosa Island. A lot of blogs recommended that you have to explore both areas on a separate day because, Sentosa alone, is a huge place to explore with lots of things to do. Unfortunately, we don't have the extra day, so we decided to explore what we can in Sentosa, then spend the majority of our day in Universal Studios until 5:00pm, and then explore the rest of Sentosa. Easier said than done haha! We enjoyed USS so much we stayed there an extra hour, oh well!

HOW TO GET TO SENTOSA ISLAND FROM MERLION PARK:

• We boarded the Raffles Place MRT Station, but we took the East West Line going to Jurong East.
• Get off the Outram Park Station, which is the 2nd station from Raffles Place.
• Transfer to the Northeast Line going to HarbourFront Station. Get off there.

Now, the HarbourFront Station is not Sentosa itself. Best way we could describe it is it is the gateway to Sentosa Island. This station is located next to the famous VivoCity Mall and HarbourFront Centre. This is probably the starting point of your journey towards Sentosa. Of course, if you have the time, do check out VivoCity Mall. From the little that we saw, it was still very big for us, lots of stores and places to eat. Anyway, there are 4 ways to get to Sentosa Island from this area. Again, if you have the time, you can try everything because it's just fun haha. The 4 ways are as follows:

BY FOOT THROUGH THE SENTOSA BOARDWALK
This is how we got in Sentosa Island. From the VivoCity Mall, look for the exit to the waterfront promenade. This is in level 1. Unfortunately, there were no signs going there so we just asked for directions. One would think that walking towards Sentosa would be tiring, but, surprisingly, this boardwalk consists of a two-way, covered walk travellators. You can just hop on it and it will take you to the end. Although, there are parts wherein you have to walk manually, but for the most part, travellators are very helpful. Not only that, it's quite enjoyable to walk through the boardwalk because beside it is the Singapore Bay where there are amazing views and through the walk, there are green lush landscapes which is very nice for picture taking. You will definitely not be bored walking to Sentosa. At the end of the boardwalk are the gates wherein you have to pay 1SGD, you can pay via cash or by your EZ link card. The boardwalk is open 24hours a day, but the travellators operate from 7:00am to 12:00am. Along the way, you would also see some signs above which indicates how many more meters you are from Sentosa. It was a very fun walk. Also, along the way, there are some food stalls and souvenir shops if you want to take a look.

Starting End of the Sentosa Boardwalk

Amazing views all around

On the way to Sentosa!

Signs everywhere

The very convenient travellator!

All in all, the walk took about 15 minutes in a leisurely pace

BY SENTOSA EXPRESS
The Sentosa Express is located in the 3rd level of the VivoCity Mall. It is a monorail connecting to the Sentosa Island crossing above the bay. It passes through 4 stations: Sentosa Station (which is where you would get in), Waterfront Station, Imbiah Station, and the Beach Station. Operating time is from 7:00am to 12:00am. Ticket costs 4SGD, which you can purchase at Sentosa Station, or pay via the EZ link card. This price covers the island admission fee and travel cost. We will get into details of the different stations later. By the way, the Sentosa website stated that from January 3 to November 31, 2017, the train operation will be cut short to 10:00pm from Monday to Thursday, however, a free shuttle bus service will be available during the affected hours. We weren't able to try this express during our visit, however, when I first went to Singapore with my family, we were able to ride the Sentosa Express. There were a lot of people and long queues, so for me, the boardwalk is still the more convenient way to get inside Sentosa, especially if it's during peak seasons.

The Sentosa Express as seen from the Boardwalk

BY SHUTTLE BUS
This is from Beach Station to VivoCity Mall, so it's a one-way out of Sentosa. Not exactly a way to get inside, but if you do find yourself at the far end of Sentosa and is too tired to get back, you can try to ride this bus. However, operating schedule is only every Friday to Sunday and public holidays, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm

BY CABLE CAR
This is one of our must-do in Singapore. The Singapore Cable Car in Sentosa has 2 main lines: Mount Faber Line and Sentosa Line. We got a bit confused with the lines at first, but it's quite easy to get. Below is a picture separating the 2 lines and the following stations in each line.

You can get to Sentosa via the Mount Faber line, either entering through the Mount Faber Station or through Harbourfront Station located at VivoCity Mall. Again, some blogs stated that you can do a walking tour starting at Harbourfront MRT station, going through the Marang trail, walking towards the top of Mount Faber and then take the cable car ride to Sentosa, or vice versa. It's advantageous to do the walking tour because you would be able to see the famous Henderson Bridge, as well as one of the Merlions situated all around Singapore, and of course, since it's a mountain, there's bound to be a lot of good views for picture taking. If you don't have that much time, it's more convenient to take the cable car from Harbourfront Station to Mount Faber, get off, explore a bit, then get back on to go to Sentosa Station. The Mount Faber Line costs 29SGD for adults and 18SGD for child.

Once you get into Sentosa Station, you can walk towards Imbiah Lookout, which is around a 3-5minute walk, board the Sentosa Line Cable Car to go around Sentosa Island. There are 3 stations: Imbiah Lookout, Siloso Point, and Merlion Station. You can get on and off at any stations which costs 13SGD for adult and 8SGD for child. This does not include the entrance fee to Sentosa Island. To get a much better value off your money, you can buy Mount Faber+Sentosa Line Cable Car ticket which costs 33SGD for adults and 22SGD for child. We tried the cable car after our Universal Studios adventure so we would be tackling that later on.

A Map showing the cable car network to Sentosa and around Sentossa

We're done discussing about how to get inside Sentosa, now next up is how to get around this huge island. Below is the map of the whole Sentosa Island, which you can get for free there. Just click on it to enlarge and save it in your phone for future references, if you want.

So, basically, the main areas in this island are the following: Resorts World Sentosa, Sentosa Cove, Serapong, Imbiah Lookout/Merlion Plaza, Siloso Point, Beach Station, Tanjong Beach, Palawan Beach, and Siloso Beach. In each area, there are DOZENS of things to do. So, a whole day of exploring the island would not be enough, especially if you want to try out all the attractions. On the way to USS, we only got to pass through Resorts World Sentosa since we really only have a limited time. I will try my best to compile information about each area, but please do keep in mind that we weren't able to really experience it all. So yeah, we were NOT able to conquer Sentosa Island, not even half of it haha!

Resorts World Sentosa
Resorts World Sentosa is an integrated resort in the island, and is the first attraction you will find yourself into when arriving from the mainland Singapore. The famous attractions located in that area are the ff:

• Universal Studios Singapore
• Adventure Cove Waterpark
• Crane Dance
• Lake of Dreams
• SEA Aquarium

Of course, the most famous attraction is the Universal Studios which will have a separate blog entry. We wanted to try out the Adventure Cove Waterpark, however, due to time restraints, we weren't able to try it. But, this is probably our 2nd must do in Sentosa, next to USS. The SEA Aquarium is stated to be the largest aquarium in the world which houses over 100,000 marine animals of over 800 different species. Aside from that, there are also a number of hotels and spas around the areas so if you are planning on staying at Sentosa, this is the area where you can find the hotels. You can get here through the Sentosa Boardwalk by walking, or through the Waterfront Station by riding the Sentosa Express. The cable car does not stop in here.

Imbiah Lookout/Merlion Plaza
Imbiah Lookout is an area in Sentosa which has the biggest clusters of attractions and different things to do. Although, do take note that majority of these attractions have a fee to get into, so prepare your wallets. These attractions are as follows:

• Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom
• Images of Singapore
• MegaZip Adventure Park
• Merlion Plaza and the Merlion
• Nature Walk
• Sentosa 4D AdventureLand
• Sentosa Nature Discovery
• Skyline Luge Sentosa
• Tiger Sky Tower

Probably, the most famous attraction in this area is the Skyline Luge Sentosa. It is a self-steering, gravity-driven, 3-wheel cart that starts from Imbiah Lookout, going down 650 meters ending at Siloso Beach. If you're not up for that adventure, you can opt to ride the Skyride which is like a mini cable car. The Luge and Skyride costs 12.50SGD. The Tiger Sky Tower is Singapore's highest observatory tower rising 131 meters above sea levels. We were able to briefly explore the Merlion Park after the USS, more on that on later blogs. The Imbiah Lookout also houses a number of restaurants and fast food chains, most notable of which is the KFC, so if you want to get cheaper food then inside USS, go outside the USS, eat at KFC and then go back in, just don't forget to have your hand stamped before going out of the park. The Movenpick Heritage Hotel is also located in this area. You can get in this area through the Sentosa Express by getting off Imbiah Station or by Cable Car and getting off the Imbiah Lookout Station. You can also opt to walk from the Resorts World Sentosa Area.

Siloso Point
This is in the far west end of the island. We were able to explore this area when I was with my family before. Anyway, the following attractions are seen in this area:

• Combat Skirmish LIVE
• Fort Siloso
• Underwater World Singapore

People usually go to this area to check out Fort Siloso. It is the sole restored coastal artillery fort in Singapore. It is now a free military museum open to the public. There are also guides in the area if you want to know more about the history of Fort Siloso. The Underwater World Singapore is kind of like our Ocean Park in the Philippines and Hong Kong. It has this underground tunnel where you can walk under the various sea creatures. And there's also a dolphin show, so don't miss that. You can get in this area by the Sentosa Line of the Cable Car and getting off Siloso Point Station.

Beach Station
The following attractions can be seen here:

• iFly Singapore 2D
• Gogreen Segway Eco Adventure
• Songs of the Sea

There's a McDonalds fast food chain here if you're looking for a somewhat cheap food around. This is the last station of the Sentosa Express, so if you want to explore the different beaches found in the island, you can get off here and walk by foot towards the 3 other beaches seen in the island.

Sentosa has a stretch of beach of more than 2 kilometers and is divided into three: Palawan Beach, Siloso Beach, and Tanjong Beach. These are artifical and reclaimed beaches using sand bought from Indonesia and Malaysia. I read a blog stating that the sand from the Palawan Beach of Singapore was given by Marcos previously, I just don't know if it's true haha.
Palawan Beach is in the center of the southern coast of Sentosa. Tourists go to this area because of a suspension bridge that leads to a small islet off the coast. This islet is said to be the southernmost point of continental Asia or Asia's closes point to the Equator. Cool! Other attractions are: Animal and Bird Encounters and Port of Lost Wonder. There are also several bars and restaurants along the beach if you want to freshen up and eat.
Siloso Beach lies on the west portion of the southern coast. This is the area where you can do a lot of activities, such as beach volleyball, canoeing, skim boarding, etc. This area is also the end point of the Luge from Imbiah Lookout. I think you can also swim in the beach though I'm not too sure about that. Again, several restaurants and bars are found all around, as well as shopping outlets.
Tanjong Beach is the more secluded beach and is in the eastern part of the coast. The only attraction in here is the Tanjong Beach Club.

Lesser known areas are the Sentosa Cove, which is more of a residential area of the island, and the Serapong, which has numerous restaurants, spas, and hotels.

HOW TO GET AROUND SENTOSA ISLAND:
We have already discussed the cable car and Sentosa Express to get to certain areas in Sentosa, however, there are also 3 buses and a beach tram if you want to get to other areas not covered by the express or by the cable car. Below are the bus and beach tram route, just click on the image to enlarge.

So that's how to get in Sentosa Island and how to get around the very huge island. To reiterate, we went through the Sentosa Boardwalk which took us around 15-20minutes at a leisurely pace. When we got to the end, there were some water fountain wherein you could refill your water bottle. Don't worry, it's clean water and it's for free! So be sure to refill your bottles there before entering USS. At the entrance at the boardwalk, you will be seeing a lot of signs pointing to whichever attraction you want to go to. Our main priority was the Universal Studios so we followed the signs. We were able to pass through the Trick Eye Museum, but it was still close at that time. After about a 10-15 minute walk, we finally saw the famous Universal Studios rotating globe!

The start of our Sentosa Adventure..which ended very abruptly as well haha!

The Trick Eye Museum

One of the museum's display located outside

Walking towards USS

Almost there!

Up next, Universal Studios Singapore!!!

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The Ultimate Kuala Lumpur-Singapore Vacation Leave: Saying Hello to the Merlion

This is the sixteenth part of our 6-days-5-nights Ultimate KL-Singapore Vacation Leave.

Hello Merlion!

This is our second day in Singapore, and after the stressful first day that we had, we were quite excited for this day. We had 2 itineraries in mind for today, first would be to do the Singapore River Walk towards Merlion and then next would be our Sentosa and Universal Studios Singapore day! So with that in mind, we woke up at around 6:00am so that we would have an early start and not waste anytime. We left the hotel at around 7:00am and looked for a breakfast place first around the Bugis area. We wanted to try something different, something Singaporean..so we ended up in...Mcdonalds! Hahahaha! They have this Breakfast Wrap thing which is like a tortilla wrap and inside of it is either a Chicken Ham or a Chicken Sausage PLUS hash brown and egg. That is inside the wrap. It was yummy, very filling, and is now my favorite Mcdo Singapore food ever! J had the pancake meal..boring! Hahaha! I would have to say that this was probably one of the best Mcdo breakfast I have ever had.

The Breakfast Wrap menu

Other breakfast items

My all time favorite: Breakfast Wrap!

J's all time favorite: Pancakes!

After that very fulfilling breakfast, we headed off to explore the Singapore River area first. From Bugis Station, we boarded the East West line heading to Tuas Link but you have to get off the Raffles Place Station which is just 2 stations away from Bugis. Now, this is the tricky part. The Merlion is a bit of a walk from the MRT station, and, of course, we got a bit lost haha. But the walk is nice since a lot of scenery can be seen. You can also start the "Singapore River Walk" tour from here and you would be passing through a lot of tourist areas so that's a must do. The end point would be the Merlion Statue. So, here's our very own Singapore River Walk tour version, please bear with us because it was a bit chaotic when we were doing it on our own haha. And I would be placing the right way to walk towards Merlion after I tell you how we did it hahaha.

• From the Raffles Place MRT Station, exit at Exit H. You would see the Bank of China at the side as well as the Singapore River right in front of you haha.



Singapore River Walk


Singapore River view

• From there, you can take pictures of the river because it is a wonderful view, and just walk along the river until you see a bridge from afar which is the Cavenagh Bridge. Beside the bridge, you would also be seeing the majestic Fullerton Hotel. Take pictures again.



The Fullerton Hotel


Cavenagh Bridge

• Cross the Cavenagh Bridge and you would see the Dalhousie Obelisk and the Victoria Memorial Hall.



Across the Cavenagh Bridge


Victoria Memorial Hall


Dalhousie Obelish

• Turn right and head towards the Anderson Bridge. At the bridge, there is an underpass crossing to the other side. That was where we got lost haha. We headed towards the underpass and we found ourselves in a huge park with no people. From here, you can see the Esplanade and the Marina Bay Sands.



Anderson Bridge from afar


Underpass of the Anderson Bridge


Esplanade view from afar

• So we went back at the underpass and decided to cross the Anderson Bridge, which is the correct way.
• Just cross the bridge and you would see the One Fullerton from a distant. The Merlion is just beside it.
• Once you have crossed the bridge, you would find yourself at a wide cross road. You can cross the road to One Fullerton or you can opt to walk at the underpass towards One Fullerton. It's safer to pass under because when we passed at the pedestrian crossway, we had to run since it was a really wide highway full of speeding cars haha.



The highway crossing towards One Fullerton


The underpass crossing towards One Fullerton

• And there you have it, the Merlion!



Merlion

Below is the map representation of our version of the Singapore River Walk, just click on it to enlarge. I hope it's not as confusing as we went through haha.

Click to enlarge!

Click to enlarge!
Anyway, the Merlion Park is one of the must-see Singapore landmark and is a major tourist attraction. The Merlion Statue itself is an epic representation of Singapore. It is a mythical creature with a lion's head and a fish body. The body symbolises Singapore's beginnings as a fishing village and the head represents Singapore's original name, "Singapura" or "lion city". Two Merlion statues are located at the park, one is the original Merlion which is what you usually see in pictures and it stands at 8.6 meters sprouting water from its mouth, and the other is the smaller Merlion cub, standing at 2 meters, which is just nearby, also sprouting a small water from its mouth. Really cute. From here, you can see the view of Singapore River, the Esplanade, Marina Bay Sands, the Helix Bridge, the float at marina bay sands, The Arts and Science Museum, and Makansutra Gluttons Bay. You can opt to walk across the Jubilee Bridge to get at Gluttons Bay and explore further towards Helix Bridge and across the Marina Bay Sands but we just didn't have the time to do all that. Suffice to say, we were contented with just taking pictures of the surrounding scenery and the amazing Merlion. And here are a few of those pictures.

Merlion with buildings on the background

Merlion poem?

Just beautiful!

The Arts and Science Museum

Marina Bay Sands

The Float at Marina Bay Sands

The Esplanade

Back of the Merlion

After a lot of picture taking and gaping at the Merlion and the view itself, we decided to get on the MRT to get to our next destination, and my favorite destination in Singapore: Universal Studios Singapore! We took a different route to get back to the MRT station, which I think is the better and faster route haha. Anyway, from the Merlion Park, just follow the river towards One Fullerton and towards the Fullerton Hotel and pass those buildings. Just go straight until you see the Clifford Pier, pass tat area, you will see an overpass going towards the One Raffles Place and the HSBC building. We just took the overpass, and voila, we found ourselves at Chevron House and across it is the One Raffles Place. Between these buildings is the Entrance/Exit A of the Raffles Place MRT Station. We boarded from there to get to Sentosa/USS. See the map below to see where we walked towards the MRT station.

You will be passing this "pier-like" area, called the Clifford Pier, if you follow the river towards Fullerton Hotel

Once you see this building, the One Raffles Place, on the other side, look for the overpass to cross towards this area

Chevron House

The Entrance/Exit A of Raffles Place MRT Station

Click to enlarge!

Here's the more complete and legit way to do the Singapore River Walk, this is our original itinerary and we compiled this from various blog suggestions, hopefully, we can revisit Singapore and do this, but for now, I hope you guys can do this for us:

• Exit at Exit A of the Raffles Place MRT. Look for the Chevron House.
• Enter Chevron House through the Change Alley. This is an alley full of shops and cafes. You can do some shopping here.
• At the end of Change Alley is Collyer Quay. Follow the road until you see the Fullerton Hotel. Cross the street towards the hotel.
• Enter the atrium of the Fullerton Hotel and go to the basement and take the underpass to go to the other side of the street, which is the One Fullerton.
• To the left is the Merlion Park. Enjoy the Merlion statue and the views all around.
• From the Merlion Park, you can see the "durian-shaped" building across the river which is the Esplanade. To get there, walk under the Esplanade Bridge (flowery bridge) and go on until you see the Anderson Bridge.
• Cross the Anderson Bridge, walk on the underpass of the bridge, and then walk towards the Esplanade Park. Here, you can also see the Victoria Theater and the Supreme Court of Singapore if you explore the area.
• To the left is the Asian Civilisations Museum. Walk towards the Esplanade, just follow the river.
• Walk further until you reach the Makansutra Gluttons Bay, which is a row of food stalls. Rest up and eat!
• There's a boardwalk near along the river which you can walk to towards Marina Bay Sands. Just follow the river again.
• Once you reach a cool looking bridge, that's the Helix Bridge. Cross to the other side.
• At the end of the bridge is the base of the Marina Bay Sands.
• You can opt to explore the Marina Bay Sands or just follow the signs leading to the Gardens By The Bay on the other side of the Marina Bay Sands. Near the Gardens by the Bay is an Marina Bay MRT Station, so you can alight there if you don't want to go all the way back to the Raffles Place MRT Station.

The Merlion Park and the Singapore River as a whole is quite tiring to do. It involves a lot of walking and a lot of getting lost. But in the end, once you see that beautiful stretch of river and the looming Merlion, it's all worth it. We really enjoyed the park and because of that, we planned to go back in the evening so that we could see the Merlion with lights on. Anyway, before that, just click onwards for our Sentosa Island and Universal Studios Singapore adventure!

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