Singapore, SG

The Maxwell Food Centre stall that turned poached Hainanese chicken into a pilgrimage, served over rice cooked in stock with a punchy chilli-ginger dip. The queue moves faster than it looks, and a single plate plus the chilli is the whole point.

A long-running stall in Tiong Bahru Market whose rice carries a faint turmeric warmth and whose deboned chicken is sliced thin with a gelatinous skin. Locals rate it over the more touristed Maxwell options for the value and the shorter wait.

A Tiong Bahru Market institution that fries Hokkien mee dry rather than wet, so the noodles soak up prawn stock instead of swimming in it. The result is darker and more concentrated than most versions around town.

The Tiong Bahru stall behind those steamed rice cakes topped with preserved radish and a slick of chilli. It is a cheap, soft breakfast snack that locals grab before the rest of the market wakes up.

A Tanjong Pagar shophouse doing sit-down Peranakan cooking, with ayam buah keluak and a tamarind-bright assam fish head as the dishes to build a meal around. It is the comfortable, full-tablecloth version of Nyonya food rather than a hawker plate.

One of the oldest Peranakan restaurants still running in the Joo Chiat heartland of Nyonya culture. The itek tim duck soup and the hae cho prawn rolls are the old-school dishes that keep multi-generation families coming back.

Set inside the former Joo Chiat Police Station, this is the modern, design-forward take on Peranakan and local dishes, with reinterpreted plates like a chilli crab pasta. Good for visitors who want Katong flavours in a more polished, air-conditioned room.

The Katong laksa shop where the noodles are cut short so you eat the whole bowl with a spoon, in a coconut gravy thick with dried shrimp. It is the dish the neighbourhood is named for, done plainly and well.

A Little India mainstay for fish head curry served on a banana leaf, the South Indian way with a tangy, fiery gravy. Come hungry and eat with your hands alongside rice and a spread of vegetable sides.

The other big name for Little India fish head curry, drier and more aromatic than the soupy versions, plus a strong line of South Indian classics. It has grown polished over the years but the curry that built it is still the order.

One of Singapore's oldest South Indian vegetarian spots, run since the 1940s, where the dosas and the thali on a banana leaf are the move. Cheap, fast, and entirely meat-free without trying to be a health concept.

The Eng Hoon Street flagship that helped put proper laminated French pastry on the Singapore map, with kouign-amann and croissants the headliners. A morning anchor for wandering the Tiong Bahru shophouse blocks.

An old-school kopitiam in a Keong Saik corner shophouse doing charcoal-toasted kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs and kopi the traditional way. This is the Singaporean breakfast ritual without the cafe markup.

A bohemian French-Balinese cafe on Eng Hoon Street that does brunch from morning, morphs into a wine bar by evening, and sits right in the heart of the Tiong Bahru shophouse belt. Good croissants, eggs, and a terrace that invites lingering.

The bak chor mee stall at Crawford Lane that draws long queues for minced-pork noodles tossed in vinegar, chilli and pork lard. It is one of the few hawker stalls to hold a Michelin star, and the line proves people care.

A family-run zi char restaurant at Alexandra Village turning out coffee pork ribs, moonlight horfun and a proper chilli crab in a no-frills coffee-shop setting. This is where locals go for a celebratory seafood dinner without the tourist-strip prices.

A wood-fired barbecue counter at Dempsey built around a custom four-tonne oven, where the menu shifts with whatever the fire is doing that day. Sit at the counter to watch the cooks work the coals; it is a splurge worth booking for.

A Dempsey restaurant doing refined Peranakan cooking, the only Nyonya kitchen to hold a Michelin star. The ayam buah keluak and blue-pea-flower rice come plated with restaurant polish rather than home-style abundance.

A long-running vegetarian Mediterranean restaurant in Holland Village, leaning Italian and Middle Eastern with mezze, moussaka and house pastas. A reliable answer when part of the group does not eat meat but wants more than salad.

An art-deco bar inside Parkview Square with a towering gin cabinet holding over a thousand bottles, built for a dressed-up cocktail before dinner. The room does more for the experience here than almost any bar in the city.

An Amoy Street cocktail bar that forages and ferments regional ingredients, so the drinks taste of Southeast Asia rather than a London bar list. It is consistently ranked among Asia's best bars for reasons that go beyond novelty.

An Amoy Street cafe and bar serving Sichuan-inflected modern dishes by day and cocktails into the evening, set in a restored shophouse. A flexible spot for brunch, a long lunch, or drinks depending on when you turn up.

The original Katong scoop shop for botanical gelato built around Southeast Asian flavours like white chrysanthemum, pandan and strawberry basil. The house-made thyme-infused waffle cone is as much the draw as the gelato.

A century-old murtabak specialist across from Sultan Mosque, where cooks flip and fold the stuffed flatbread in the front window. The mutton murtabak with a side of curry is the order that has kept the queues for generations.

A connected ridge-top walk linking Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Hill and Kent Ridge by way of the wave-shaped Henderson Waves bridge and a treetop forest walk. Mostly elevated boardwalk, so it stays cool and the city views open up between the trees.

The tallest pedestrian bridge in the country, an undulating timber wave connecting Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill parks. It is a short walk in itself and the centrepiece of the wider Southern Ridges route.

The central catchment reservoir whose trails run through secondary rain forest to the suspended TreeTop Walk high in the canopy. Long-tailed macaques, monitor lizards and the occasional flying lemur make it feel far from the city.

A patch of primary rain forest around the country's highest natural point, with a steep paved summit road and rougher side trails through the trees. The short distance is deceptive; the climb gets your heart going in the humidity.

A coastal park on the southern shore with a cliff-top path, old British coastal-defence gun emplacements and a boardwalk over the rocky foreshore. Flat, breezy and short, it is an easy seaside walk with a dose of WWII history.

A rustic island park off the northeast coast, deliberately left rugged with sandy tracks, casuarina woods and quiet beaches. A flat, easy ride or walk that feels remote despite being a bridge-crossing from the mainland.

A bumboat ride off the northeast coast lands you on the last village island, all dirt tracks, kampong houses and abandoned quarries now filled with water. Rent a bike and ride a day in a Singapore that the mainland left behind decades ago.

A boardwalk loop on the eastern tip of Pulau Ubin crossing mangrove, sand-bar and coastal forest where six ecosystems meet. At low tide the intertidal flats reveal starfish, sand dollars and crabs.

One of the oldest hilltop parks, with a short climb to a lookout over the harbour and the cable-car station to Sentosa. Short and accessible, it works as a sunset stop or the start of the Southern Ridges walk.

A hill park with a terraced Alkaff Mansion garden and the Forest Walk boardwalk threading the canopy toward Henderson Waves. A gentle, paved option that links into the wider Southern Ridges without the full distance.

A newer nature park beside Bukit Timah, built around a former quarry now flooded into a wetland, with a long elevated boardwalk and a colugo-shaped viewing deck. Quieter than its famous neighbour and good for spotting birds and lizards.

The world's largest collection of Southeast Asian modern art, set in the linked former Supreme Court and City Hall buildings. The architecture alone, with its rooftop walkways and old courtrooms, justifies the visit.

The lotus-shaped museum at Marina Bay Sands, best known for its permanent Future World digital art playground of interactive light installations. The rotating headline shows have ranged from Da Vinci to deep-sea exploration.

A compact museum in a 1912 former school devoted to Straits Chinese culture, with beaded slippers, embroidered kebayas and a reconstructed wedding chamber. The best single primer on the heritage you taste at Katong's restaurants.

The country's oldest museum, pairing a neoclassical dome with modern galleries that trace 700 years of the island's history. The walk-through history gallery is a clear, story-driven introduction for first-time visitors.

The spiky twin-domed arts centre on the bay, nicknamed the durian, hosting concerts, theatre and dance across several halls. Much of its programming, including outdoor waterfront gigs, is free.

A riverside museum in the old Empress Place Building tracing the trade and faiths that linked Asia, including a standout gallery on a 9th-century shipwreck's cargo. Strong on objects rather than wall text, and rarely crowded.

An open-concept zoo at Mandai where moats and landscaping replace cages, long held up as one of the better-designed zoos anywhere. The orangutan free-ranging area and the breakfast programme are what set it apart.

The world's first nocturnal wildlife park, where a tram and walking trails move you past lit habitats of animals most active after dark. An evening outing that lands differently from a daytime zoo.

A river-themed wildlife park at Mandai built around freshwater habitats from the Amazon to the Mekong, with giant pandas and a manatee tank. The flooded-forest finale, walking under a tank of Amazon fish, is the memorable bit.

The giant observation wheel on the Marina Bay edge, turning a slow half-hour loop with views over the bay, the city and out to the islands. A calm, air-conditioned alternative to the SkyPark for taking in the skyline.

A compact movie-themed amusement park on Sentosa with dueling roller coasters and themed zones from ancient Egypt to a sci-fi city. Walkable in a day, it is the island's headline draw for families and thrill-seekers.

The misty conservatory at Gardens by the Bay built around a 35-metre indoor mountain with a waterfall and a cloud-walk among orchids and ferns. A cool, otherworldly hour that contrasts with the heat outside.

The reclaimed-land park behind the solar Supertrees and two climate-controlled domes on the Marina Bay waterfront. Walk the outdoor gardens for free, then decide whether the Cloud Forest waterfall and Flower Dome are worth the ticket.

The public deck on the boat-shaped roof straddling the three Marina Bay Sands towers, with a clear sweep over the bay and downtown. The famous infinity pool is hotel-guests-only, but the observation deck gets you the same height and view.

The waterfront spot built around the lion-fish statue that spouts water into the bay, facing the Marina Bay Sands skyline. It is a quick photo stop rather than a destination, but the vantage across the water is the best free one downtown.

Singapore's oldest Hindu temple, dating to the 1820s, with a tower of brightly painted deities rising over a street in Chinatown. The juxtaposition of a South Indian temple in the middle of Chinatown captures how the city's neighbourhoods overlap.

A five-storey Tang-style temple in Chinatown built to house a relic, with a rooftop garden and a quiet tea hall most visitors miss. The scale and gilded interior make it the most impressive religious building in the district.

One of the oldest Hokkien temples in the country, built by sailors giving thanks for a safe crossing, on what was once the shoreline of Telok Ayer. The carved beams and dragon-topped roof were assembled without a single nail.

The golden-domed mosque anchoring the Kampong Glam Malay quarter, its base ringed with glass bottle-ends donated by poorer worshippers. The surrounding lanes of Arab Street and Haji Lane make this the most atmospheric district to wander.

A 160-year-old tropical garden and the country's only UNESCO World Heritage Site, with rain-forest remnants, swan lakes and the separately ticketed National Orchid Garden. Locals use it for morning walks and weekend picnics on the lawns.

A hilltop park layered with the city's history, from a 14th-century royal site to a colonial fort and a wartime command bunker. The photogenic tree tunnel down a spiral stairwell has become a local landmark in its own right.

A free, gloriously strange 1930s theme park of painted statues depicting Chinese mythology and moral parables, most famously the gruesome Ten Courts of Hell. It is unlike anything else in the city and skews far from the polished Marina Bay image.

A vivid Hindu temple in the thick of Little India, dedicated to the goddess Kali and densely carved with figures inside and out. It is a working temple, busiest at dusk when worshippers stream in after work.

The glass dome between airport terminals built around the world's tallest indoor waterfall, ringed by terraced gardens and walking trails. Worth a trip even if you are not flying, especially with kids on a rainy afternoon.