With my family moving to Singapore, I recently started spending more time in the island country, learning and experiencing more of local life. It made me rethink how I saw the city.

I’ve visited the place countless times for holidays throughout my life, and perhaps Crazy Rich Asians shaped how I saw Singapore: glitzy, glamorous, and expensive.

But now, after experiencing more of everyday life in Singapore, I have learnt it is truly a remarkable city full of heart. Despite the sky-high property prices, I finally understand why the city-state is considered one of the world’s most liveable places.

What surprised me most was how much fun, community, and character I found outside the usual tourist circuit.

Hawker centres are where Singapore’s multicultural life comes together

Hawker centres are an icon of Singapore – community dining spaces where all walks of life come together.

These community hubs are open-air food centres home to stalls selling a range of cuisines. You come across hawker centres in HDB estates and busy hubs in the city.

Despite hawker centres being among the most affordable places to eat in Singapore, the options for food are seemingly endless.

The centres usually sell the multicultural city-state’s cuisine staples, so you could visit one and indulge in Chinese chicken rice, Malay nasi lemak, and Indian naan all in the same sitting.

Often there are halal and non-halal options, and separate areas to place your used dishes and tray when you’re done eating.

But the variety doesn’t stop there. I’ve even seen shops sell tacos, bubble tea, pancakes, steaks, and more.

There are loads of hawker centres around the city, but one place that had an incredible amount of food choices and energy was The Amoy Street Food Centre – a popular place for the office crowd at lunchtime.

Hawker culture is also an important part of Singapore’s identity: it was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020, recognising hawker centres as communal spaces within the country’s multicultural society.

Visit the centre and bring cash! While many hawkers accept digital payments, payment methods can vary between stalls, so having some Singapore dollars on hand is still useful.

A meal at a hawker centre is one of the simplest ways to experience everyday Singapore: sit down, eat what looks good, and watch the city’s different communities share the same space.

Singapore’s public swimming complexes turn exercise into affordable fun

After making some new friends in Singapore, I couldn’t believe it when they invited me to a public swimming complex to hang out.

Singapore has been described as an “engineered” or “manufactured” Blue Zone because of the way government policies, infrastructure, and programmes encourage healthier lifestyles. However, this designation is not part of the original academic Blue Zones research, so it is worth treating the label with some caution.

One example of that investment in accessible recreation is ActiveSG’s network of public sports facilities.

I was invited to try the water slides at Sengkang Swimming Complex, and I was not disappointed. The refreshed complex now has five water slides, ranging from gentler descents to more thrilling rides.

Despite some rides being quite scary (one slide I could not manage to keep my eyes open on, despite how often I went down it!), the facility had lifeguards on duty, and safety was taken seriously.

The best part? My fun-filled afternoon in Singapore only cost SGD2 when I visited. Public sports facilities are heavily subsidised, making them an unusually affordable way to spend an afternoon.

Sengkang Swimming Complex is not the only place you can have a budget-friendly splash – there are other ActiveSG swimming complexes around Singapore, including Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang.

A HelloRide bicycle makes exploring Singapore feel more spontaneous

Whether you want to run some errands or explore the city, HelloRide is a fun way to get around. The bike-sharing service lets you pick up a bicycle through its app and ride around Singapore without committing to a traditional bike rental.

Lately, when I go to cities, I find renting a scooter or bike from an app costs a small fortune. That’s why I was over the moon when I found out that HelloRide charges SGD1 for the first 30 minutes on regular bikes.

I downloaded the app, added SGD10 to my account, and rented a bike to cycle around the picturesque Chinese Garden. Pedalling around the gardens was a wonderful way to admire the fountains in the Sunken Gardens and the park’s endless variety of gardens to explore.

It was also a reminder that seeing Singapore doesn’t always have to mean squeezing another attraction into your itinerary. Sometimes, you just need a bicycle and somewhere green to wander.

Join a Singapore ParkRun and make Saturday a social experience

This past year, ParkRun has been an incredible way to experience my travels. This global event happens around the world every Saturday, where people come together to run or walk a 5km circuit in a park. It is free, timed, and volunteer-run, making it an easy way for travellers to join a local community without needing to know anyone beforehand.

I was thrilled to find out Singapore has several parkrun locations, and I joined in on the West Coast Park ParkRun, where I ran my 5km along a park by the water.

As a newcomer to the city and the run, people were warm and welcoming, and everyone would eat together in a nearby cafe after the run.

For a traveller, that is perhaps the best part: you arrive as a stranger, but a few kilometres, conversations, and coffees later, the city can feel a little less unfamiliar.

Seeing Singapore through everyday experiences

Spending time in Singapore with a more local lens has taught me that the country has an incredible sense of community and warmth. Despite things being pricey, there are also many ways to explore and have fun without spending much money or following the usual tourist itinerary.

The Singapore I knew through holidays was polished, impressive, and expensive. The Singapore I’m getting to know now is also playful, communal, and surprisingly accessible – and sometimes, experiencing a city means simply joining in with everyday life.

All photos are by and courtesy of the writer, Sofia Shamsunahar, unless otherwise stated.