Steph C.
Yelp
We spent 36 hours in Singapore last month, landing early in the morning after a short red-eye. Tired and unshowered, with hours to go until we could get into our hotel room, we took the subway to Gardens by the Bay. This was the right call, as it turned out: a morning visit when the heat was reasonable, a few hours before the promised afternoon rain. As first-time tourists, we were also happy to check Singapore's number one attraction off our list.
The place was spectacular, a 260-acre park dense with both plant life and architectural splendor. We'd been to the United Arab Emirates the week before and seen the Dubai Miracle Garden, an expression of floral opulence from the people who brought us the Burj Khalifa. Gardens by the Bay had the same over-the-top ethos, but it made the Dubai garden look like a small, charming amusement park.
Tickets were quite expensive, with most of the individual attractions priced a la carte. We bought combo tickets for the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome, at $59 (SGD)--about $44 (USD)--apiece. We added the Supertree Observatory and the OCBC Skyway, which each cost another $14 (SGD) per ticket. Resident prices were considerably lower, which makes sense. If I lived in Singapore, my kids would grow up playing in the Gardens.
If you've seen Crazy Rich Asians (or, I don't know, googled Singapore, you've probably come across pictures of Gardens by the Bay and its distinctive Supertrees, striking tree-like structures that serve as vertical gardens teeming with orchids and myriad other plants. We started our visit at the Supertree Observatory in the tallest of the eighteen Supertrees, going up to a rooftop deck with breathtaking views of Singapore. We didn't make it to the Marina Bay Sands on this trip, but we did get some good pictures with it from the Supertree (it is, it must be said, a very cool but very ugly building).
We hit the OCBC Skyway next, getting the outdoor stuff out of the way while it was comparatively cool (sweltering hot by most standards) and not raining. This was an aerial walkway suspended between two Supertrees, with more lovely views.
The giant shell-like glasshouses of the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome form the other salient architectural feature of Gardens by the Bay. We spent most of our visit walking through this conservatory complex, which was genuinely astonishing.
The Cloud Forest offered a multi-story walk in the clouds, with a meticulously controlled tropical mountain climate, achieved with the help of periodic misting that gave it a Jurassic Park vibe (there was a light Jurassic Park--or at least Jurassic--motif running throughout the Gardens). We started at the top and wound down through the varying elevations, passing the giant indoor waterfall several times--apparently the second-tallest indoor waterfall in the world, after the Rain Vortex at the Changi Airport, which we saw the next day. The whole place was ragingly lush, with everything from carnivorous plants to countless varieties of orchids. Tons of stuff for the 'gram, what with the waterfall and the plant walls, plus Chihuly glass and a room full of stalagmites and stalactites.
The Flower Dome is the world's largest glass greenhouse, and it was sumptuous and impressive, with a sunny garden party atmosphere. We're from California and enjoyed the California garden, as well as the other regional gardens on display. I especially liked the many baobabs. The plants were interspersed with animal sculptures that were somehow not that cheesy. There was an Alice in Wonderland display, as well as a prominent Yayoi Kusama sculpture of a girl in colorful polka dots. The Flower Dome also has a space for a rotation of seasonal displays. We were there at the end of the Carnival of Flowers, an Australian carnival-themed floral show featuring kangaroos, a ferris wheel, and a merry-go-round (none real, but nice to look at). The Flower Dome ticket included entry into the Monet experience, which is what it sounds like, one of those pretty but soulless art attractions made for social media.
We browsed the gift shop and picked up a few souvenirs, including a post card and magnets and glow-in-the-dark T-shirts for our kids (surprisingly a much smaller selection of these for children than for adults). I loved the two women who helped us out, the no-nonsense older lady who knew exactly what sizes to get for our boys off the top of her head, and the younger cashier who checked us out with the lithe efficiency of a Vegas dealer.
We spent a good two hours at Gardens by the Bay, moving at a fairly brisk clip. It was a marvelous, one-of-a-kind place, a must-visit for anyone passing through Singapore. I kept thinking about how much my sons would enjoy it, and I hope to take them one day. I want to see their faces when they walk into the Cloud Forest and look up at that waterfall.