Singapore’s Sentosa Island

I made it to Singapore! Read about the flight here --> Flight to Singapore

The word island makes me think of secluded white sand beaches and crystal clear turquoise water. Don’t get your hopes up; Sentosa island is not that! We still had fun, but the islands off the coast are by no means the tropics.

Sentosa Island used to have a village on it, which they uprooted to make way for a tourist attraction. This island is more like Disney Land than a beachy getaway. We went on a cloudy Friday with intermittent raining, which I was happy about because that meant the crowds weren’t quite as thick. Even so, the wait for the gondola from Singapore to Sentosa was a 1 hour+ wait! We decided to Uber instead.

Universal Studios is on the island, as well as a waterpark, an aquarium and a bunch of other touristy attractions. From what we heard, the aquarium is nice. I’m not a huge fan of animals in captivity, but if we had more time we would’ve checked it out.

There are 3 beaches on the island: Siloso, Palawan and Tanjong. Siloso & Palawan are the beaches to visit if you have children. Siloso had a zipline and watersports rentals, along with other attractions that were still being built. This was my least favorite of the beaches.

Palawan Beach had a kid’s park section full of bounce-house slides, which was buzzing with kids. Down the beach a bit was more my style. We stopped at Bora Bora Beach Bar for a drink and a snack before heading to a pretty awesome walking bridge. The beach here was nice enough here for laying out or playing frisbee. The bridge led to a tiny island called Palawan Island, also known as the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. This island had some look out towers to climb up and a Sentosa sign for a photo opportunity. 

Tanjong was the more secluded of the three beaches. It was a nicer beach with less people, children and attractions. Tanjong Beach Club had loungers, a nice pool, beach access and a music. If we had spent a day or a weekend in Sentosa, we likely would’ve spent most of our time at Tanjong.

A notable sight in Sentosa is the Merlion statue, a cross between a mermaid and a lion. There are multiple of these in Singapore, as it is the country’s mascot. Having been to so many other beautiful and tranquil islands in the world, Sentosa was underwhelming(and overwhelming at the same time because of all the tourists). We enjoyed our day, but there are plenty of other things I would suggest over Sentosa if you only have a couple days in Singapore!

~Grateful Travels!~