Singapore/Orchard

Orchard Road is the main shopping street of Singapore. North of the Singapore River, within the Central Business District, the Orchard Road passes through the colonial core of the city

Get in

The MRT stations of Orchard, Somerset, Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall on the North-South Line follow the alignment of Orchard Rd. Interchange to North-East Line interchange at Dhoby Ghaut or the East-West Line at City Hall.

Get around

Orchard Rd is walkable, at least allowing if plenty of breaks in air-conditioned shopping centers. There is an air-conditioned underground walkway system linking Orchard MRT to Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City (east), to CK Tang/Marriott (north), and to Shaw House and Wheelock Place (west).

See & Do

There are few tourist attractions as such along Orchard Road. The thing to do here is shop, shop and shop!

Buy

Orchard Road and neighboring Scotts Road form Singapore's premier shopping district. While most malls offer attractive products at costly prices, there are one or two that still cater to the average Singaporean wallets. MRT stations Orchard to Dhoby Ghaut are all on Orchard Rd. A selection of malls, from west (Orchard MRT) to east (Dhoby Ghaut MRT):

Far East Plaza, 14 Scotts Road. This mall is a bargain hunter paradise, you can find unique clothes and accessories at the cheapest price.
Wheelock Place, 501 Orchard Road (Orchard MRT). Notable primarily for the giant Borders bookstore on the ground level, but there's also a Marks & Spencer department store buried in the basement.
CK Tangs, 320 Orchard Road (Orchard MRT), =>. Singapore's very own old-school department store.
Lucky Plaza, 304 Orchard Road, =>. Notorious den of dubious electronics for tourists, best avoided.
Ngee Ann City/Takashimaya Shopping Centre, 391 Orchard Road, =>. Currently in the top slot, at least in terms of sheer size. Expensive branded goods on the first floors, more affordable shopping in the two basement floors. Also features Kinokuniya, Singapore's largest bookstore, on the 3rd floor.
Paragon, 290 Orchard Rd (opp Takashimaya). Singapore's more expensive mall, packed with Prada, Gucci and other expensive brands.
The Heeren, 260 Orchard Rd, =>. Trendy youth clothing plus Singapore's largest music store, a three-story HMV outlet.
Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road (Dhoby Ghaut MRT). Singapore's oldest air-conditioned shopping mall, located just above the MRT interchange and recently given a thorough facelift. Huge Carrefour multilevel hypermarket, numerous eating options and a large cinema complex on the top floors.

Eat

The CBD is the best place in Singapore to sample not just Singaporean food, but food from all over the planet. Prices tend to be slightly inflated by Singaporean standards, so avoid any place that need to use touts to get customers.

Budget

Hawker centres and coffeeshops

Killiney Kopitiam. 67 Killiney Rd (Somerset MRT) and franchises around town, =>. A Singaporean legend, this ordinary-looking coffeeshop continues to pack in the crowds for its famous kaya toast (a steal at $0.80 per slice), with the kaya itself also sold at $3/5 for a small/large jar. For lunch or dinner, try the more substantial chicken curry with grilled French bread ($4.50).
Newton Circus. Near Newton MRT. Known for its seafood but is also one the few places in Singapore where touts and overcharging can be a nuisance. Still, the hawker center has always had a special spot in the hearts of Singaporeans, especially those in the heartlands. Newton Circus is located just at the fringe of the CBD, surrounded by landed property, just a less than 5-minute bus ride from the trendy Orchard Road and beside a main road that is just off the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).
* Closed for renovation October 2005 to July 2006. A temporary hawker stand with 72 refugee stalls has been set up nearby.

Food courts and fast food

Almost every shopping mall has its own food court, but particularly good ones for comfort and variety are in the basement of Takashimaya (Orchard Rd.) and the otherwise rather nondescript Scotts Shopping Centre on Scotts Rd.

Cool Passion. 391 Orchard Road #B2F-11 (in Takashimaya). A small shop serving up all sorts of shakes, slurpees and frozen yogurts, but the most popular item by far is the milky and sweet Taiwanese-style bubble tea with gummy tapioca pearls at the bottom ($2.50).
Food Republic, 4F Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Road. Food court done up as a series of hawker carts and decorated with various nostalgic knick-knacks. The food is a notch above average, and so are the crowds.

Mid-range

Central, Ngee Ann City B2F (Takashimaya), Orchard Rd, tel. +65-6732-8196. Hip Hong Kong-style tea cafe offering both Chinese classics like rickshaw noodles as well as modern fare like baked rice with cheese and the infamous durian fried rice. Mains from S$4, try the thousand layer tofu with pork floss ($4) on the side and wash it down with some yin-yang (tea and coffee mixed together, $3). Open 10 AM to 9.30 PM daily.

Din Tai Fung, Paragon B1F, Orchard Rd. The Singapore branch of a Taiwanese chain, serves some of the best xiao long bao ($8.50 per platter) this side of Shanghai. Expect to queue near mealtimes, but it's a big place and the queue moves fast. Open 10 AM to 10 PM daily.

Shimbashi Soba, Paragon B1F-41, 290 Orchard Road. The best Japanese soba noodles you'll find in Singapore, made by hand in the adjoining glass-walled workshop. They make you pay for them though: a plate of noodles will cost you $10.50 and up. Set meals at lunchtime are better value for $15 or so.

Sakae Sushi, Wheelock Place 2F, 501 Orchard Road. A fairly happy compromise of price and quality, plates $1.90 each (except red premium plates at $6.90). All you can eat on weekdays 6-9 PM only for $16.90++. Tip: order off the menu if you don't see what you want, the price is still the same.

Sushitei, Ngee Ann City 2F (behind taxi stand), 391 Orchard Road #02-13 and other outlets, =>. A popular chain of conveyor belt sushi joints, with the Takashimaya outlet tops for quality and popularity. You pay a slight premium here for the fresh ingredients, but at $2 and up per plate it's still a steal.

Splurge

Orchard Road is brimming with fiercely competitive restaurants.

Crystal Jade is a popular range of midrange Chinese restaurants with outlets in nearly every shopping mall in Singapore, including Suntec City, Shaw House and Paragon.
* Crystal Jade Palace, Ngee Ann City #04-19, 391 Orchard Rd, tel. 6735-2388. The flagship of the chain, which serves authentic Cantonese food. Dinner here is fairly expensive (dishes $10-40 each), but the set lunch for two is good value at $50. Reservations recommended.
Mezza9, Grand Hyatt 2F, 10-12 Scotts Rd, tel. 6730 7189. Famous for their Sunday Munch, arguably the best of Singapore's many extravagant hotel brunches. Worth a splurge at $88 per person, including free-flow champagne. 11 AM to 3 PM on Sundays only, reservations essential.

Drink

Singapore's nightlife is concentrated just south of Orchard Rd by the riverside, but there are still a few notable nightspots. The largest cluster is Emerald Hill, opposite Somerset MRT, a beautifully restored cluster of shophouse-cum-bars hidden away in an alley.

Number 5, 5 Emerald Hill, =>. Friendly bar housed in a 1910 Peranakan shophouse. Downstairs is loud, upstairs is quieter with a pool table. The cocktails are good, but for a fiery kick try their Chili Vodka or its industrial-strength big brother, Chili Padi Vodka.

Orchard Towers, 1 Claymore Drive. Undoubtedly Orchard Road's most notorious nightspot, this building is a Designated Red-Light Area once aptly summarized as "four floors of whores". The first floor bars are borderline legit and not too bad for a noisy drink, but the rest are outright sleazy — and the Thai ladies propositioning passersby in the hallways may not be "ladies" at all. In the back tower is a Rock & Roll themed bar without as many of the "ladies of the night" around. There, as everywhere else in town Tiger Beer can be bought as well as other bar and bottled drinks including Australian imported Hard Cider at 9% alcohol.

Sleep

Accommodation on Orchard Rd incurs a hefty premium for the location and is uniformly expensive (at least by Singapore standards). Cheaper rates are usually offered only by older hotels in varying states of decay.

Mid-range

The Elizabeth, 24 Mount Elizabeth, tel. +65 6738 1188, =>. This somewhat tired tourist hotel doesn't have much of the promised "Old World Grandeur", but the location a short stroll off Orchard is good for the price and there's a waterfall to watch as you munch on the insipid breakfast buffet. Internet rates from S$115 nett.

Splurge

If you want to splurge, there are two major styles to choose from: colonial hotels, harking back to the turn of the century, and modern hotels, firmly in the present.

Goodwood Park Hotel, 22 Scotts Rd, =>. The place to stay if you want the Raffles experience without the crowds (and with a slightly less breathtaking price tag). Supremely lovely garden pool. Be sure to opt for the older main building, not the modern annex.

Grand Hyatt Singapore, 10 Scotts Rd, tel. +65-6738-1234, =>. Hyatt's Singapore flagship is Orchard Road's standard-bearer for sleek modern swank. Among the Singapore's most expensive hotels, with rooms regularly clocking in above S$300.

Marriott Hotel, 320 Orchard Rd, =>. In the perfect location for shoppers, right at the center of Singapore at the intersection of Orchard and Scotts, and with Tang's department store in the basement and an underground walkway to Orchard MRT. Prices surprisingly reasonable (from S$200), but not quite as nice as the five-star options.

Meritus Mandarin, 333 Orchard Road, tel. +65-6737-4411, =>. Slightly older but very centrally located hotel popular among businessmen and sightseers alike.

Shangri-La, 22 Orange Grove Road, tel. 6737 3644, =>. One of the world's most luxurious resort hotels. Beautiful grounds and pools. 755 guest rooms and suites.Contact==
Library@Orchard. Ngee Ann City 5F, Orchard Rd. Offers free browsing of newspapers, magazines and books (including travel guides), plus the cheapest Internet access in town at $0.03 per minute.

Singapore Visitors Centre. 160 Orchard Rd (junction of Cairnhill and Orchard Rds), tel. 1800 736 2000 (tollfree, 24 hours). Oodles of free information on Singapore. Open 8 AM to 10.30 PM daily. Under renovation in 2005, but still operating under the scaffolding.