Sentosa Island

Sentosa Island

Sentosa, an island in Singapore, is the city’s most popular resort, with over 5 million visitors a year. It has everything from sheltered white sand beaches, five-star hotels and casinos, to the region’s largest theme park, Universal Studios Singapore, and numerous attractions.

Video: Sentosa

General Information

Sentosa Island (Sentosa; tel: 1800-736-86-72; www.sentosa. com.sg; there is a fee to visit) is located south of Singapore and is connected by a 710-meter bridge (Causeway Bridge; open to cars and cabs daily 7 a.m.-24 p.m.). If you take a cab to the Resorts World Casino stop, there is no entry fee.

A more exciting route is by cable car, which stretches over the harbor at a height of 60m; this is how you get to the very center of the island. Carriages depart regularly from Jewel Station near HarbourFront Tower 2 shopping center daily from 9.00 a.m.; the last carriages return from Sentosa at 9.15 p.m. The Jewel Box Café on Mount Faber offers a “heavenly dinner” from 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. (tel: 6377-96-88; www.mountfaber.com.sg; a tour of Sentosa can be booked, entry fee included). Finally, the fastest way to get to the island is the “light” train, the Sentosa Express. Its departure station is at the VivoCity shopping center on the main island (the first train leaves at 7:00, the last at midnight). “Sentosa Express” makes two stops, Beach and Imbiah; both are within walking distance of many interesting places. You can also get around Sentosa by minibuses and mini-trains (fare is free). There is also the option of getting to Sentosa on foot – via the pedestrian walkway on the bridge.

In the 18th century, the island was a British military outpost. Formerly called Pulau Blakang Mati (Island of Death), it was only in 1972 that it was given its current name Sentosa (Island of Peace and Tranquility), which corresponds to the rapid development of the resort industry here.

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The recreational opportunities on Sentosa are some of the best in Singapore. There are both cultural and historical sights to see.

S$8 million has been invested in Sentosa and its development continues, but even now there is a lot to see here. For example, Resort World Sentosa (RWS; www.rwsentosa.com) is home to Asia’s first and only Universal Studios Singapore theme park (Universal Studios Singapore; tel: 6577-88-88; open daily 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; entrance fee). It has seven zones and 24 themed trails, 18 of which are designed specifically “for Singapore.” The best ones are: “Shrek-4”, “Jurassic Park” and Madagascar tropical jungle, based on DreamWorks cartoons, as well as numerous casinos and several restaurants, where famous chefs work. The Marine Life Park, considered the world’s largest oceanarium, and the Maritime Xperiential Museum are also very popular here.

Unlike the RWS, most of the other attractions on the island are fee-based. Comprehensive tickets for all or a few of them can be purchased at the stations of the cable car and Sentosa Express.

Almost all the main attractions are concentrated in a place called Imbiah Lookout, it is near the station of the same name ground transportation and cable car. Here stands the 131-meter-high Tiger Sky Tower (Tiger Sky Tower; open: daily 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; entrance fee), which offers unforgettable views of Singapore and the nearby southern islands. You can also take a special elevator up to the Sea Lion statue (daily 10.00-20.00; admission fee), to its mouth or mane, and get a bird’s eye view (37m) of the island and the busy harbor.

Visitors with children may want to delight their little companions with attractions such as the Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom (open: daily 9.30-19.00; admission fee). There are more than 1,500 butterflies and many amazing insects, and there are also interactive cinemas such as Sentosa 4D Magix (first show 10 a.m., last show 9 p.m.; entrance fee), Sentosa CineBlast, where you can become the heroes of your favorite movies (open daily 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; entrance fee), and Skyline Luge Sentosa (daily 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; entrance fee). The best attraction at Imbiah Lookout is Images of Singapore (open: daily 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; admission fee), a beautiful wax museum occupying a colonial-style building – a former military hospital. You can learn a lot about Singapore’s history and the culture of its people; life-size dioramas, artifacts, films and street scenes help you visualize the country’s past.

Another tourist attraction on Sentosa is a tour of Fort Siloso (Fort Siloso Tours; open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; entrance fee), built by the British in the 1880s to defend Singapore. Its tunnels house interactive displays as well as cannons and other weapons, and the exhibit tells the history of the fort, from its construction to its fall. Visitors will see the so-called “Surrender Chambers” (“Surrender Chambers”), the place where the ceremony took place in 1942.

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Audio-visual backdrops, artifacts from the era and skillfully crafted wax figures of the participants make this scene as realistic as possible.

Also visit Underwater World (Underwater World; Siloso Road, 80; tel: 6275-00-30; www. underwaterworld.com.sg; open daily 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; admission includes Dolphin Lagoon), a small but wonderful oceanarium; its main tank has a transparent underwater tunnel. Visitors move through it on an escalator while watching 2,500 aquatic creatures above, below, and to the sides: turtles, sharks, sea cows, stingrays, and giant eels. Sentosa’s “underwater world” also includes the Dolphin Lagoon (open daily 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.) at Palawan Beach. Here you can watch a show of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also called pink dolphins because of their unique coloration. We also recommend visiting the reflexology center, where you will be offered to dip your feet into a pool of warm water in which fish swim: they will remove all dead skin from your feet by nibbling a little at a time (open daily 10.00-19.00, tel: 6279-92-29, by appointment).

Sentosa is also known for its beaches, most notably Palawan Beach and Siloso Beach with soft, clean sand, great bars and canoe, catamaran and windsurfing board rentals.

Siloso Beach is home to an extravagant multimedia show called Songs of the Sea (for a fee), conceptualized by renowned designer Yves Pepin. The show literally dazzles the audience with its brilliance every night at 19.40 and 20.40. Actors perform among shooting fountains of water, illuminated by multicolored lasers and repeating the musical rhythm.