As someone who prides herself on meticulous travel planning, my four-day reconnaissance mission to Singapore was nothing short of enlightening. The goal? Master the MRT system and pinpoint the best hawker centers, all to ensure that my visit wouldn't involve hemorrhaging money on taxis.
Spoiler: taxis in Singapore are the real budget busters. A ride to a nearby area would cost around 12 dollars, which was equivalent to three meals in a hawker's center or one fancy meal in a sit-down restaurant.
Intimidated by the MRT System in Singapore
The MRT map initially looked like a rainbow spaghetti dish—a chaotic tangle of lines that seemed impossible to decipher. North-South Line, East-West Line, Circle Line... the names alone were daunting.
But my perspective changed as soon as I realized how EASY it was to move around the entire city using this system. It's not lauded as one of the best MRT systems in the world for nothing.
I'll break down the steps I used to use MRT and to find the best places to eat in SG ... hawker's centers!
3 Steps to Use the MRT to Find Hawker's Centers in Singapore
1, Determine which Hawker's center you want to eat in (Lau Pa Sat, Maxwell, People's Center, Albert Hall, etc.).2. Ask ChatGPT or google which MRT station is closest to that Hawker's center. Travel to that MRT station.
3. Use Google Maps for exact directions (as in foot steps) toward the Hawker's center.
Walking, walking. It's all we did. It was tiring but we didn't spend much. The airfare and the attraction fees were the ones that we really spent on. We didn't spend much on food and shopping (we didn't shop). Even the "cheap" foods were DELICIOUS!