Singapore guide

A clean, green, hyper-efficient machine, Singapore is the most user-friendly city Asia. The four-lane freeway from Changi international Airport is bordered with flowering trees and shrubs. The Mass Rapid Transit whisks its way round the island with barely a hint of a rumble or rattle. Taxi drivers help passengers load their luggage into the boot. Glitzy shopping malls rub shoulders with 5-star hotels and gourmet restaurants. It is as if the entire republic is wired on broadband to EasyLife.com.

Yet despite the modernity, what makes Singapore so pleasurable is its very traditional Asian identity. Eddies of smoke from smoldering joss sticks waft the streets of Chinatown, the air has a gentle aroma of spices in Little India and the muezzin's call rings out over Arab Street. Conversations overhead in a lift or a bar might include the sing-song of Mandarin, a lilt of Bahasa, the quickfire jabber of Hindi or the Lion City's own brand of "Singlish", whose quirky expressions often carry the idiosyncratic tag 'lah'. All in all, the island is like one vast and very cosmopolitan buffet.

When the British colonialist Sir Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore in 1819, it was little more than a fishing village. But he realised that the island's position – just off the equator in the Straits of Malacca – could be exploited to make it the mercantile crossroads of the Far East. Advocating free trade and laying out a town plan that is still followed today, he only spent four years on the island, but it was long enough for him to be commemorated as the founder of Singapore. Following the war and later independence, Singapore – guided by the helmsmanship of elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew – carved a niche for itself in financial and service industries. Today it is one of the most prosperous states in the region, a remarkable achievement considering the lack of natural resources on its 646 square kilometres.

Merlion, Singapore

The year-round tropical Singapore attracts two sports of weather – hot and wet. The temperature rarely falls below 23c and it rains most between November and January. Storms tend to be heavy and sudden but blow over fairly quickly. The only antidote for the heat and humidity is the city's ubiquitous use of air-conditioning.

As a city attuned to trade, many visitors come here on business, however it also makes for a pleasant family vacation, as well as a jumping off point to the Malaysian peninsular and Indonesian archipelago. The island of Sentosa has been specifically organized as the city's playground, complete with beaches, attractions and a connecting cable car – although you can get there just as easily by bus. The Singapore Zoo is recognized as one of the best in the world, not simply for its innovative breeding techniques but also for the way in which animals are displayed both by night and in the daytime. Boat Quay and neighbouring Clarke Quay are a mlange of high-rolling bars and restaurants, while Palau Ubin, one of 58 smaller islands surrounding Singapore, is still a relatively undeveloped "kampong".

Shopping is a major Singapore attraction, and while the days of it being a bargain basement are largely gone, there is certainly a wealth of choice, from the smart boutiques of Orchard Road to the nerd's paradise of computer mazes like the Funan Centre.

Tanglin Mall, Singapore

What Singapore does best however is food, largely thanks to its multinational inhabitants who were eating their own brand of fusion cuisine long before anyone thought to put a name to it.The menu ranges from dead cheap and cheerful in thehawker centres, which sell a range of Chinese, Indian and Malay dishes in a no-frills atmosphere, to cutting-edge designer fare in smartly themed restaurants, to absolute gourmet dining with prices to match. Add as garnish African, Middle Eastern, organic and herbal eateries, not to mention Peranakan, a creation derived from early Chinese immigrants and Malay women who married their cuisines.

Singapore's hotels also rank among the finest in Asia. Everyone knows of Raffles, which has been endlessly mythologised, but there are numerous other top-class properties, as well as delightful little boutique hotels nestling in the back streets of Chinatown, providing a dose of the Singapore of yesterday before it became quite so squeaky clean.

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