Pay with the card in your pocket. Every MRT gate and bus reader takes a contactless Visa or Mastercard, or the same card in a phone wallet, under the SimplyGo name. Tap in and out with exactly the same card or device, or you pay two unfinished journeys. Foreign cards pay an admin fee of S$0.60 for each day you ride. There is no daily cap: you pay by distance, from just over a dollar to about S$2.60 for the longest ride.
No eating or drinking on the train. Not a sip of water, not a candy. The fine is up to S$500 and the signs mean it. Durians have their own sign.
At the hawker center. Return your tray and crockery when you finish: since September 2021 leaving them is an offence, a written warning the first time and a S$300 fine the second. A packet of tissues on a table means it is taken (chope); respect it and do the same with anything you do not mind losing. At some centers the tray carries a 20 or 30 cent deposit that the return point hands back.
What is banned. Chewing gum cannot be imported or sold; chewing a piece you brought for yourself is not the offence, though more than a pack goes in the customs trash. Vaping is banned in full: since September 1, 2025 possession alone is a S$700 fine for a first offence, the device is seized, and visitors who reoffend are barred from returning. Throw it out before immigration. Jaywalking is an offence and is fined.
Gardens by the Bay. The outdoor gardens and the Supertree Grove are free, 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. The Flower Dome and Cloud Forest are the paid parts, S$46 for both for visitors, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., booked for a date; each dome closes one day a month for maintenance. Garden Rhapsody at the Supertrees is free at 7:45 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., and Spectra at Marina Bay Sands follows at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Tax. There is no tourist tax. Hotel bills carry a 10 percent service charge and 9 percent GST. Spend S$100 or more in one shop showing the Tax Free sign, have the receipt tagged to your passport, and claim at the eTRS kiosks at Changi before check-in.
Timing. It is 88 to 91°F (31 to 33°C) with a storm most afternoons, so see the outdoors before 11 a.m. and after 5 p.m. and put the malls and domes between; ask Waystop for a rain plan with the indoor stops first for storm days. Tap the same card at every gate and put the hawker center before the Gardens so the 8:45 p.m. show ends your evening.