← All articles · Singapore · 28 December 2025

Singapore: What to do in a weekend or a long layover

Singapore in a weekend: the Night Safari at Mandai, the 24-hour Mustafa Centre, Arab Street under the Sultan Mosque, and a wizard cafe with fire at the table.

We spent a weekend in Singapore in December 2025 and managed to pack in far more than we expected. Two days is short, but this city is built for it.

The best of Singapore in a weekend, or a long layover. Watch on YouTube

The whole weekend compressed into one minute. Watch on YouTube

If you want the fast version first, here it is: the shopping, the colours of Arab Street, the stop at the Harry Potter cafe, time at VivoCity and the Night Safari after dark, all in about sixty seconds. Arab Street is the bit that catches everyone off guard. You come round a corner expecting shophouses and get a wall of colour instead. The long version, and the reason we kept saying yes to one more stop, is below.

The headline act was the Night Safari at Mandai Wildlife Reserve, a nocturnal animals show, walking trails and a safari tram that lets you watch animals that only come alive after dark. It’s unlike any zoo visit we’ve done.

Food never disappoints here. Hunting for breakfast we passed a Sri Lankan restaurant before settling on an Indian place serving both North and South Indian food, dosa was an easy choice, and Chinese food is on practically every street. Later we found a Harry Potter-themed café for dessert: magical snacks, cocktails, smoke effects and actual fire at the table.

The itinerary

In between: the Mustafa Centre, a massive 24-hour complex where six floors hold everything from chocolates and electronics to gold jewellery (with tax refunds on site); VivoCity at HarbourFront, Singapore’s largest mall and the gateway to Sentosa, with a festive lunch at a pet-friendly Aussie café; and Kampong Glam’s Arab Street, full of murals and small shops, crowned by the golden dome of the Sultan Mosque.

We wrapped up at Changi Airport Terminal 4, calm, modern and beautifully designed, and honestly a fitting final sight for a city that gets the details right. If you had one weekend in Singapore, what would you add?

Photos from the weekend

Inga and Dileep hugging on the palm-lined pedestrian street in Kampong Glam, the golden dome of the Sultan Mosque rising behind — Kampong Glam, with the Sultan Mosque's golden dome keeping an eye on the souvenir stalls.

The four of us around a white table with blue Iznik-style tiles at a pavement cafe on Arab Street, shophouses, skyscrapers and a rooftop Santa behind — Turkish coffee stop on Arab Street: one tiled table, four takers, and a rooftop Santa across the road confirming it really is December.

Four of us around a table of plates in a curved booth beneath a canopy of hanging greenery at a VivoCity restaurant — The festive family lunch at VivoCity from the video: four plates, one indoor jungle.

The family at a dark brick-walled cafe table with glowing potion bottles, tiny cauldrons and dry-ice smoke, framed portraits covering the wall — The wizard-themed dessert stop: potions glowing, smoke pouring, portraits silently judging our order.

A small brown nocturnal mammal with dark eye markings gripping a horizontal branch above dense foliage, lit softly in a Night Safari enclosure — The Night Safari on 27 December, and the whole point of it: animals that only bother getting up once you would normally be going to bed.

A pale armour-plated armadillo nosing through dry sandy ground beside bleached tree roots in a dimly lit enclosure — An armadillo working the sand over, methodically, like it had lost its keys.

Inga and a family member sitting on a bench between two life-size giraffe models under bunting and hanging greenery at the Surrey Hills Grocer in VivoCity — Outside the Aussie grocer at VivoCity, where the giraffes hold the bench and nobody questions it.

Inga sitting on a tall stool outside a Kampong Glam shop numbered 58, under a painted mural of woven baskets and two cats, with hats and rugs hung on the wall — Kampong Glam again, where even the wall above the basket shop has been painted with baskets. And cats.

The lounge we filmed on the way out has a story of its own: The Blossom Lounge in Terminal 4 at Changi airport, seating pods, quiet zones and a laksa made to order.

This was our second time in the city. The first was a very long while ago and had no film crew attached: Singapore, May 2010.

There’s more from this trip on our YouTube channel, we film the real sights and sounds, no fluff. You’ll also find us on TikTok and Instagram.