Traveling to Singapore

By plane

Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)

• Frequently ranked as one of the best airports in the world, and for a reason: it's beautiful (you may have seen the Jewel, the world's largest indoor waterfall), has excellent shopping, and is extremely efficient: security at T1, T2, and T3 takes less than 5 minutes to clear even at peak times, at at T4 can *occasionally* surge to ten.

• On arrival, all passport holders with a NFC chip -- even non-Singaporeans -- can use e-gates, so immigration takes seconds to clear.

• Changi also has nonstop routes to every corner of the globe. Singapore Airlines offers direct flights to most major cities, even offering a direct flight to New York (at 18h, also the longest flight in the world... but it's in premium economy and business only, so it's a comfy one too). Every destination in Asia is in easy reach, but you can also fly directly to London, Paris, Amsterdam, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Vancouver on SQ or its Star Alliance partners.

• In addition, Singaporean budget airline Scoot offers extremely cheap fares to destinations like Frankfurt, Athens, and Sydney. Besides that: it's hard to find a major international airline that lacks a route to Singapore, meaning if you're open to a stop on the way, there's often lots of options to get you between Point A and B.

Singapore Seletar Airport (XSP)

A smaller private airport, the Malaysian airline Firefly runs turbo-prop planes between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur that take about 50 minutes. (For Canadians -- Firefly is like the Singaporean equivalent of Porter.) Worth traveling out of if you live in the north or if you want to skip the long drivetime from KLIA to downtown Kuala Lumpur and instead fly into the smaller but closer SZB airport in KL.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)

Just 45 minutes by plane away from SIN... especially when doing long-haul international travel, stopping at KLIA first can often be a good option (also can result in cheaper fares!). AirAsia, the largest budget airline in Asia, is headquartered there, and ANA runs lots of direct flights from KL to Japan. Given that there are anywhere from 2-3 flights per hour from Singapore to KL and vice versa, it's easy to hop up to KL... it just might require needing to recheck your bags.

By bus

While not talked about often enough, doing the bus crossing to Johor Bahru or taking the long-haul bus up to Kuala Lumpur is a great way to explore Malaysia both comfortably and cheaply. Some buses (link to buses) even offer angle-flat seats (like a business-class seat on a plane), and prices for the 5.5h ride to Kuala Lumpur start at just $20 USD. (If you've rode buses in the US, these are a lot nicer if you book the luxury ones and are not sketchy...)