This travel photo blog won the 1st Singapore Blog Awards'08 - Best Photo Blog by OMY, S'pore Press Holdings. Welcome to tour around the world in my cyber corner! Sentosa island is not a theme park and is no where near Disneyland; but most tourists visit this key tourist spot of Singapore. One even told me you have not seen Singapore if you have not been to Sentosa!! Ok ok! Sentosa is a relaxing place to go to, but be prepared to pay entrance fees for most of the major tourist attractions. =P
Recently my buddy gave me free tickets to see this island again. So I went with her. Sounds cheapo right? That’s right! LOL! Perhaps because it’s not the first time I went Sentosa…
Anyway, after looking at our photos from Sentosa, who knows? You may want to see Sentosa yourself too!
How to go Sentosa?
We took Sentosa Express monorail at VivoCity shopping mall on the mainland. Fyi, the nearest MRT to VivoCity is HarbourFront MRT Station. The monorail ride only takes around 4 mins.
You can also reach the island via a short causeway from Singapore mainland. If you drive, park at Cable Car Station Car Park or Beach Car Park. If you take a taxi, drop off at Taxi Drop off point just before the Cable Car Bus Stop.
Photo taken from the monorail while crossing to Sentosa. Look at the gigantic Christmas tree at VivoCity. You know Christmas is around the corner!
If you want to enjoy the view from a higher ground, board the cable car at Mount Faber / HarbourFront Centre to Sentosa. Do you also see cable cars in the picture above?
Sentosa means peace and transquility in Malay. It only has an area of 5km². Do you know that it was named Pulau Blakang Mati, which means “Island (’Pulau’) of Death (’Mati’) from Behind (’Blakang’)”? So as to speak, it was called the island of the dead. One account claims that it was due to an outbreak of disease that almost wiped out the settlers of the island. Anyway, now the island is “growing” due to land reclamation. =D
It’s easy to tour around the island by Sentosa Bus, Sentosa Express and Beach Trams. We headed to Palawan Beach and crossed a suspension bridge to an islet which is the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. Sounds exciting right? I still don’t know why it’s called that way. Isn’t that point located in Indonesia? Please enlighten me!
Now we are looking from the observation deck on the islet, the Southernmost Point of Continent Asia! Still wondering why it’s the Southermost point of Asia…
Located at the Imbiah Lookout zone, the Tiger Sky Tower was previously called The Calsberg Sky Tower. Both are beer companies. =D At a height of 110m (~ 50 storeys), it is the tallest free-standing observation tower in Asia! You will enjoy a panoramic view of Sentosa, Singapore, the Southern islands and even Malaysia and Indonesia on a clear day.
The Sentosa Luge & Skyride. The Luge is a non-motorised self-steering, gravity-driven three-wheel cart that allows rider to speed down a hill over short distance of 650 m ending at the Siloso Beach.
Hmm, we took the Luge to travel to Silsolo Beach. Nothing exciting about it, but kids may like the gentle ride down the slope.
One of the Sentosa trams that ferries visitors around the island. It’s free ride (or probably already included in your ticket. XD).
Read posts on Sentosa (Part 1/4) | Merlion @Sentosa (Part 2/4) | Sentosa Beaches (Part 3/4) | Songs of the Sea (Part 4/4)
November 14th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Yeah!!
I planned to go here next semester!!
Supposed this semester..but some technical probs happened..
Gosh!
Eunice, bring me here! ^^
November 14th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
@Zara: Ok, if I also coincidentally bump into you hahaha!! Will see. =) When you coming SG?
November 14th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I’m also writing about Sentosa Island this week until next week. I had scheduled most of my posts. Check some of the photos and videos I had posted this and next week!
November 15th, 2008 at 12:32 am
My kids love Sentosa Island. The place is so clean!
November 15th, 2008 at 1:36 am
i didnt knew it was that nice!! make sure ur pic does not deceive me k hehe. i will go for a visit when i am back in malaysia =)
November 15th, 2008 at 1:38 am
love your blog.. very informative.
added your link in my blog and hope you would link back too.
November 15th, 2008 at 1:43 am
@Borneo Falcon: Read your Sentosa posts! You have done a detailed one! Will visit your blog again for more!
@peteformation: Yeah it’s clean. Generally, tourist attractions in Singapore are clean. Try the housing estates. =P
@Irvine: Haha! Hmm.. I can’t help with that! I use Photoshop you know! kekeke
November 15th, 2008 at 1:49 am
@awesomeheaven: Thanks! I left a comment at your site. =)
November 15th, 2008 at 3:19 am
As always, great travel pics.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:50 am
this place really look nice..sure can relax myself when visit there. From those pics you posted, really seem different from Malaysia..
November 16th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I’d been long time never went to Sentosa Island, is a very nice recreation place.
If i’m planning to visit again, how many days should i spend on the island?
Haha~
November 16th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Wishing you a “Happy, I love To Write Day.” By the way i’m a friend of rajesh which you could observe from my url itself.I would like you to visit my website at your free time.I’ll also return my favor.I’ve also added you in my blogroll.
November 16th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
@TNH: Of cos it’s different, cos it’s man made! XD
@leafless: Thanks.
@Anston: 1 day… stay back at night for the laser show.. will post those pics taken from the show soon.
November 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
who would not love that island! it’s actually popular here in the philippines. singapore is one good destination that filipinos enjoy.
“Southermost point of Asia”>>> maybe because if you look at the greater asian island that includes china, vietnam, laos, cambodia, thailand, malaysia, the tip is singapore. others like the philippines and indonesia are separated by water.
November 16th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
@dong ho: that’s what I thought so too. But Singapore is an island, is also separated by water from Malaysia!!! Unless we include the Malaysia-Singapore causeways hahaha. Hmm maybe I should email Sentosa to find out why. haha
November 17th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Wooow! Sentosa really looks nice. I should have gone there with my friends but I was too cheap and wanted to go to Ministry instead! :( haha oh well Sentosa won’t get washed away any time soon!
November 17th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Great post and pics. I like this site.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
@domesticatedman: Where is Ministry?? Pub? =P Hmm I still feel that the best time to go Sentosa in the near future would be 2010 when the theme park and IR are completed (if no delay?). Now you will see alot of projects, constructions going on..
@Jenny: Thx.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Nice post on Sentosa you got there. I love the island and go there pretty often, either to jog, suntan, or visit their attractions. One of the things which I feel sad about is the huge amount of construction work going on which is destroying the green cover of the island significantly. I hope that the new IR will have enough replanted trees to give it a nice resort feel instead of yet another shopping centre mall clone!
November 18th, 2008 at 9:50 am
@Walter: I agree with you on the construction work issue. Moreover, it spoils the beautiful surroundings during this period. Hope to see a more beautiful island soon.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Singapore is really a shopping paradise with Orchard road and the other retail strips. singapore shopping has really improved over the years, especially the great offers during the great singapore sale
December 8th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
My Husabnd and kids are going to Sentosa Island early next year. Could you give me any travel tips and kids friendly places to visit???
December 8th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
@Michelle: If you like the beach and the sea, you can have some fun along Palawan and Siloso Beaches. Sentosa is a tourist friendly place for both adults and kids as you can travel around the island by buses and trams (free). You can visit Underwater World, which I think is a popular attraction in Sentosa and I heard alot of good feedbacks too. Also, do stay back for the night to watch “Songs of the Sea” (I blogged that too). In case I miss out any good attractions, do visit Sentosa official site http://www.sentosa.com.sg/
Enjoy!
December 8th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Thanks heaps Eunice!!! Maybe we will bump into you sometime when we are there…
December 9th, 2008 at 2:47 am
;)
January 10th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Waste of time and money….like most of the “attractions” in Singapore. You’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the world that compares to Singapore with being so puritanical, materialistic and artificial. But wait you say! The food is so great! I disagree. Visit Thailand, China, Hong Kong or even Japan and you will find much better food. Oh, and by the way, I live in Singapore.
January 10th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
@freddo: You would be surprised many tourists enjoyed themselves in Sentosa. Actually, it really depends, some like it, some don’t, just like anywhere in the world. But then, to be fair, Singapore is one of the smallest countries in the world, without natural resources, so we have to look at it differently, can’t compare to big nations like China, Japan, and the rest. As for food, everyone has different taste buds. As a Singaporean, I would still welcome tourists to come SG to experience our colourful cultures and variety of food here. It’s something new to them.
Perhaps one day if you migrated to any of those countries you mentioned, maybe you might miss our local food? .. But in some ways, I do agree with you that it’s very commercialized here, or perhaps, many cities are like that too. And I prefer Malaysia food, more traditional. :)