Singapore

Singapore packs a whole region into one small, dazzling island. On the water, a future skyline glitters — the three towers of Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion spouting into the bay, and the sci-fi Supertrees of Gardens by the Bay lighting up above two cooled glass conservatories. But the soul of the city is in its hawker centres, where the food of four cultures meets under one roof — Hainanese chicken rice, chilli crab, laksa and satay, a tradition so beloved it sits on UNESCO’s heritage list. Walk it all in an afternoon: the temples and medicine shops of Chinatown, the garlands of Little India, the mosque and boutiques of Kampong Glam, the beaches and rides of Sentosa. It is famously clean, safe, green and efficient — a “city in a garden” — and Changi may be the only airport worth arriving early for. Compact, multicultural and tropical year-round, Singapore is Asia at its most effortless: the easiest, tastiest introduction to the continent there is.

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