Jodi H.
Yelp
Holy mother of pearl, public transport to Sentosa Island...in particular Palawan Beach is such a journey! It's a complete clusterfart of inconvenience, but read on to get the SHORTEST/cheap way to get here.
We planned to either see Siloso or Palawan Beach during our vacation in Singapore, and we honestly didn't do enough planning with public transportation to get there. But we assumed that it was going to be a much smaller island than it turned out to be. Basically, we took a Hilton-esque mini bus (MRT ez-link card approved) to Vivo City, walked towards the signs that said "TO THE BEACH." By this time it was too early for dinner (around 4PM), so we decided to buy a boba from Gong Cha, and enjoy the beach/late tanning time/sunset, before returning to Vivo City for dinner. That was our original plan...
But a few wrong buses later, we ended up at Sentosa Cove, which on the map..totally looks walkable. BUT once you get to the Island IRL, everything is like a giant Jurassic Park. So no. Stick to the buses. We waited forever at this stop--different buses passed by like #1 and a few smaller hotel buses, but all of them told us with sad faces that they were not going towards Palawan. Some taxis also drove by, but around 5:30PM, we were starting to give up on our beach plan. Thankfully, the kind lady driver of Bus #3 finally made it to the Cove, and we were blessed with basically a private beach. The photos will explain it all.
Also, beware...once the sun goes down, mosquitoes WILL attack. We were at the beach until the sun set, and since it seemed like we were also the only ones who weren't staying at the resort, we were the unfortunate ones waiting for the #3 bus to take us back to Vivo City! Pro Tip: The #3 bus takes 30 minutes to arrive once the previous one leaves, but sometimes it's early and other times it's late depending on the traffic of passengers. We didn't have to wait 30 total,
However, don't let the waiting of the buses or the warning of mosquitoes dissuade you from coming here. This was one of our TOP 3 highlights...and there's a reason why it's the best beach...since all the other buses easily access Siloso, Palawan has got to be much cleaner and quieter.