A really fun day out (Sentosa Island)

Member Name: jenniferjain

Product:	Sentosa Island
Date:	22/12/08 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots to do, beautifully presented

Disadvantages: You have to pay for a lot of the individual activities, which could add up

Sentosa Island is an island resort in Singapore. It's five kilometers square and located half a kilometer off the main island of Singapore. It can be reached by cable car, monorail or by causeway from the mainland. Once on Sentosa you can travel around by bus, but we found we were easily able to walk everywhere we wanted to go. The transport is weather permitting however, it can get pretty hot during the day for walking and the cable car can be shut in bad weather.

We approached Sentosa by monorail from the Harbourfront MRT station in the VivoCity Mall. We bought a combined ticket at the station which included the transport and admission to four attractions. After researching in advance, we chose the Sky Tower, the Sentosa Luge and Skyride, the Merlion and Fort Siloso.

We arrived fairly early in the morning, and the island was almost empty. It had a very "Disney" feel to it, absolutely spotless with beautifully tended vegetation, speakers in the flowerbeds playing catchy themetunes, and dancing fountains.

Our first stop was the Carlsberg Sky Tower (now known as the Tiger Sky Tower). This was an enclosed circular cabin set around a central pole. We sat facing outwards, and the tower rotated gently as it ascended and then continued to rotate slowly at the top. A recorded message told us what we were looking at, which was really interesting. There was a lot of construction going on, including a soon to be Universal Studios. You can see panoramic views of the whole island, and far out to sea. On a clear day you can even see Malaysia and Indonesia.

Then we went on the luge ride down the hill, which was brilliant fun. We rode in a small cart with just steering and brakes. The slope meant that you travelled pretty fast, and the course was long enough to really enjoy it. The chairlift took us back up the hill over trees, with further spectacular views.

Then we went into the Merlion, which was our favourite attraction. The Merlion is a mythical sea creature, half lion and half fish, and is the symbol of Singapore. The attraction was in essence a large statue with a staircase inside, but was extremely well presented and would be great for kids (and big kids like us). First we waited in a holding area with displays about mythical sea creatures, then we watched a little cartoon film about the merlion myth. Then we were given a lucky sand dollar coin to put into a mini merlion's mouth and received a card to claim a prize. Finally we took a lift up to the top and stood in the mouth of the Merlion for views and photographs. At the end we collected our prizes - a set of coasters and an inflatable zip pull (well I think that's what it was!). For the whole experience we were accompanied by a catchy, specially composed theme tune which stayed in our heads long afterwards. Fantastic!

Outside, we walked beside pretty mosaic fountains and down to the beaches at the bottom. It did seem a long hot walk to Fort Siloso, which is a little out of the centre. Fort Siloso guarded Singapore during World War II. There are a number of buildings and outdoor areas which tell the history of the site through life sized models and narrations. It was really interesting to learn about the history of the island and it was presented really well. Also everytime you walked anywhere it triggered sound effects of guns and recorded voices, which was quite funny.

We then spent a bit of time walking around the rest of the beautiful island, there are a number of nature walks, including one with dragon statues that took us back up to the top of the island. In all, we spent almost a day on the island.

Sentosa Island was a lovely day out. There is loads to do, even without visiting any of the paid for attractions. It would be a wonderful family day out, you could spend a lot of time on the beaches and doing the nature walks, and there is lots to see. I would love to return there one day with children.

Something to bear in mind is that the island is being continually redeveloped and has no doubt changed since our visit. So I would recommend checking out the very useful website for the latest information - http://www.sentosa.com.sg/

Summary: Definitely worth spending some time here, especially for families