My Singapore and Malaysia Tour and Itinerary

Singapore and Malaysia are countries only 5 hours apart by land but they are totally opposite. Travelling here as tourists for us Filipinos require no visa for at least month. From Manila, Singapore is only over 3 hours and Malaysia from Singapore is around 4 hours.  Singapore is very modern while Malaysia is not even half – way judging both through their public transportation and architecture.  

But if there’s one thing about Malaysia that I appreciated is that the remnants of their past are still very visible through their mosques, bridges and houses.   

Instead of staying to a hotel, I opted a hostel for only Sg$32 per night within Chinatown while my travel buddy who arrived hours after booked at Little India. Rates here are cheaper because we chose a 6-bedroom dorm mixed type – meaning my roommates can be girls or boys.  Sharing a room with strangers has some risks like you may get robbed or harassed and hostels are cheap because it has a few inconveniences like  the water faucet may not function and the liquid soap bottle has gone empty so need to ask the coordinators to refill it et cetera.. But then again if you are not that choosy and you are  budget - conscious,  you can opt for hostels and dormitories.

Click  HERE to book  the most affordable accommodations in Singapore through Booking.com WITHOUT paying any booking charge!  

In front of the hostel we stayed my far away selfie shot.  This boutique sells authentic Chinese stuffs!

In Malaysia, I am terribly sorry but I completely forgot the name of this inn we stayed nor we had a chance to take a photo of it but I am very sure that we paid RM40 for two for one night.  Why? We literally just stored our stuffs there and left the whole day.We went back by 9pm to check out and took a bus back to Singapore. This inn is located across the street where the bus from Johor Baru to Kuala Lumpur drops off all the passengers. It is not the kind of we recommend but if you are dirt - cheap budget conscious, you may take this.

Inside the Putra Mosque where all visitors should observe proper Islamic dress code. 

A myriad of architectures

I am more of a culture and heritage junkie so going to Universal Studios Theme Park and Sentosa Resorts are not my priority to see. What I really wanted is to walk down the roads and eat at the local's place inside these: Little India and Chinatown. It is like I am transported to India and China in an instant when I went to these places. 

Click  HERE to book  the most affordable accommodations in Singapore through Booking.com WITHOUT paying any booking charge! 

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Park


Click  HERE to book  the most affordable accommodations in Singapore through Booking.com WITHOUT paying any booking charge! 

Typical house slash store at Little India

We only get to see three places during our 1 day in Malaysia. The Batu Caves, Putra Jaya and the Petrona’s Tower. I will create a separate post for Malaysia  Tourist Spots. 

Click  HERE to book  the most affordable accommodations in Malaysia through Booking.com WITHOUT paying any booking charge! 

The famous Batu Caves. Be prepared to climb the 273 steps behind!

We want to share you a SECRET we discovered for the FASTEST way to get cleared off the Immigration from Singapore – Malaysia and vice versa

The office of the Immigration of Singapore where you need to be cleared off before going to Malaysia is in Woodlands. Usually if you take a bus the fee is Sg $2.40 for you to be taken to Johor Baru (the first town in Malaysia after you cross the border). Before that you will have to get off, fall in line to go to the immigration counter and be interrogated.  I tell you it is time consuming! But if you want to not to go through this hassle, hire a private taxi for Sg $50 that’s already good for two. We were able to haggle the price to $40 since it is way past midnight no traffic. When we passed through the drive-thru immigration counters (usually at the basement) our driver hand over our passports and his as well to the immigration officers, told them we were tourists and they stamped it right away! These  taxis only designed to bring passengers to cross the borders can be found in the other corner where the bus terminal bound to Johor  Baru is. 

You may contact Mr Yani from MV Transport Agency. His contact numbers are:
Singapore: +60197812612

Malaysia: +6591216743

We capped off our trip by watching the beautiful Petrona's Tower - the world's tallest
twin tower at 5pm while it is still daytime and headed to the 33rd floor of Trader's Hotel where their Sky Bar is located. At night, this twin tower looks so majestic that the couches near the windows overlooking these are always on full - reservation. With a live disco music, we ate a bowl of cheesy nacho, fried shrimps and calamares. I was dying to grab a freezing cold light beer but I controlled myself since we have no time, my flight back to Manila is 10AM the next day. We have to be back to Singapore soon! It is better early than miss the flight.

Daytime view

Nighttime view

Tips ,tips and tips!!!

Buy a Singapore Tourist Pass for an UNLIMITED ride to their public train stations and buses and Malaysia has a similar one it is called MYPass tourist prepaid card. You will save a lot.

Singaporeans are so organized that even taking the escalators within train stations, we noticed they follow a certain rule. if you are not in a hurry you have to remain standing on the left side but if you are on a rush you have to walk up at the right side. 

In Malaysia, please have a little more patience while taking their train stations, a number of their trains run so slowly you might fall asleep and ladies, please observe proper dress codes.


Always reserve at least an hour for your itinerary's schedule, delayed departure of the bus or should unexpected things happen, you are prepared.

For my detailed list of itinerary and accommodation about Singapore please click here.
For a detailed feature about the Batu Caves in Malaysia, please click here.

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Hi there :) My name is Maria Rona Beltran, the Founder of this travel blog and shop - Travel Maria you are reading right now. I want to stay connected to you to a lot of other online ways so I am sharing you my other social media accounts.  See y'all online soon:)

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