Flying to Singapore. Stopover ideas? (places, hotel, international, cheap)

[Hal Roach]

those new seats that slide forward to decline are horrible. Did a pair of 12 hour flights on 777 with those....still in pain. 2-4-3 seating on ANA..WTH? And their food was disgusting, too. JAL was much better, but same crappy plane, seats, and add electrical trouble at ORD..after boarding, or course. Always avoid ORD.

[Teak]

Originally Posted by projectmaximus

Those are all really good suggestions by Ian. I would agree that the appropriate length for Singapore is 3 days. Perhaps 4-5 if you want to relax and go slow or need recovery time after traveling. Which means you could either tack on another city for 3 days or make more use of a stopover en route. For an extra destination, Penang and Bangkok are good options. Kuala Lumpur I feel like is a lesser version of Singapore so not necessary to visit. Maybe any place of interest in Indonesia...Jakarta, Lombok, Bali, etc. Or one of the islands in Thailand. Or another wildcard is East Malaysia, to get a nice contrast from Singapore.

Enjoy!!

Good suggestions here. ^

There are boat companies that travel from Singapore to Tioman Island in Malaysia. One can do snorkeling and scuba diving at Tioman. That would be a more interesting side trip than running up to Kuala Lumpur. Having spent 17 years in Malaysia, I would say that KL is not any more interesting than Singapore, and as others have stated, Singapore is really only interesting for 3 days or so.

[kcmo]

Thanks everybody. I think we are narrowing it down to a stopover in Istanbul. Probably one day stopover in Istanbul, then on to 4-5 days in Singapore (with a possible side trip to Kuala Lumpur and or Bangkok).

On the way back I'm not sure if we would go back through Istanbul or a different city. I would like to go to a different city think. Ideas?

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Wow, thanks for all the info. PacoMartin you must be some world traveler. You are very helpful.

Thank you

Originally Posted by kcmo

We were just in London in July for a week and don't really have a lot of interest in visiting again this soon. We also visited the Netherlands and France this past summer. So that kind of eliminates being able to fly from BWI with a direct international flight since the British Airways flight to London is all they have. (other than Iceland flights).

Agreed. From BWI the only reasonable stop is London as of today. BWI cannot support the traffic on dual aisle jets to smaller airports in Europe.

In 7 weeks Wow air will begin flights starting at $200 from Iceland to Delhi India. So if you want exotic trip based around Delhi (including a short 507 mile hop to Kathmandu) to see the Himalayas, that will be possible from BWI.

http://www.gcmap.com/map?P=bwi-kef-d...X=540x540&PM=*
BWI KEF 2,762 miles
KEF DEL 4,749 miles
DEL SIN 2,579 miles


In the very near future the new long range single aisle jets will probably make it possible to fly jets from BWI to other Scandinavian Cities besides Reykjavik. Stopovers in Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki will be possibilities.

BWI-HEL Baltimore Washington International — Helsinki 4287 miles
HEL-SIN Helsinki — Singapore 5762 miles

Originally Posted by kcmo

Your Istanbul stopover sounds like a great idea. What do you mean by the 33 hours vs the 9 hour layover?

Turkish Airlines is possibly the cheapest round trip to Singapore on any airline since base price is so low.
Example 11/8/2018 - 11/14/2018 Flight $189.00 Taxes & Fees $667.41 Trip Total: $856.41

10:55pm to 5:00pm 10h 5m from (IAD) To (IST) Turkish Airlines #8 Airbus A330-300 5,233 mi
Layover 8h 55m in Istanbul (IST)
1:55am to 5:30pm 10h 35m from (IST) to (SIN) Turkish Airlines# 54 BOEING 777-300ER 5,374 mi

All I meant is that you have a natural 9 hour layover. It should probably not be difficult or expensive to add 24 hours (to make 33 hour layover) or to add 48 hours (to make a 57 hour layover) and see the city.

Flying back through a different city will probably more than double the price.

[Hal Roach]

Addis Ababa, anyone?

[PacoMartin]

The closer your transfer airport is to the equator, the longer your total miles will be

EWR-SIN : 9,534 m
BWI-LHR-SIN : 3,634 mi + 6,765 mi = 10,399 mi
IAD-IST-SIN : 5,240 mi + 5,387 mi = 10,628 mi
IAD-ADD-SIN : 7,193 mi + 4,516 mi = 11,709 mi

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

Addis Ababa, anyone?

It is possible to fly from Dulles via Addis Ababa from Dulles, just as it is possible to fly via Istanbul. There are probably no naturally short layovers, which may mean something as it is unlikely that you will stay in the layover city in both directions.

Turkey's literacy rate is around 95.6 percent.
While the male literacy rate in Ethiopia is 49.13%, for females is 28.92%

While Istanbul may seem a little exotic compared to London it is not really third world. Ethiopia has growing tourism, but it really is going to be different.

[Amelorn]

Originally Posted by kcmo

The problem with stopping for more than a day is it would start it really extend the length (and cost) of the trip. I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the all the hassle for a week in Singapore.

A week is too long for Singapore, as it's quite a small, sterile place. Hope that you're not a drinker, as local (Tiger) lager is S$20/pint at a bar these days.

A week in Asia would be better spent in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, Shanghai*, or Seoul.

*visa required

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I'm planning a trip next summer to Singapore. We plan to spend about a week in Singapore with maybe a quick trip up to Kuala Lumpur.

Personally, if I was picking a vacation destination for one week or less, I would carefully consider the nonstop destinations. BWI is unlikely to get an Asian nonstop in your lifetime, but there is a reasonable selection for Asia and Africa from Dulles.

I don't think that Singapore is significantly more interesting than Hong Kong.

BWI International Nonstop Destinations
British Airways London–Heathrow
WOW air Reykjavík–Keflavík
Icelandair Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík
Condor Seasonal: Frankfurt
Air Canada Express Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson
Southwest Airlines Cancún Montego Bay, Nassau, Punta Cana, San José de Costa Rica Seasonal: San José del Cabo
Delta Air Lines Seasonal: Cancún
Apple Vacations Seasonal Charter: Cancún, Punta Cana
Vacation Express Seasonal Charter: Cozumel, Freeport, Punta Cana


IAD International Nonstop Destinations
United Airlines Beijing–Capital, Tokyo–Narita
Air China Beijing–Capital
All Nippon Airways Tokyo–Narita
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong
Korean Air Seoul–Incheon
Air India Delhi
-----------
Turkish Airlines Istanbul–Atatürk
Saudia Jeddah, Riyadh Hajj: Medina
Emirates Dubai–International
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
Qatar Airways Doha
-----------
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa
South African Airways Accra, Dakar–Diass, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca
-----------
United Airlines Amsterdam, Brussels, Cancún, Frankfurt, Geneva,London–Heathrow, Mexico City, Munich, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion (begins May 22, 2019),Zürich
Seasonal: Aruba, Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh, Grand Cayman, Guatemala City,Lisbon, Madrid, Montego Bay, Providenciales, Punta Cana, Rome–Fiumicino, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, San José de Costa Rica, San José del Cabo, Vancouver
Delta Air Lines Seasonal: Cancún
-----------
Aer Lingus Dublin
Aeroflot Moscow–Sheremetyevo
Air France Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Austrian Airlines Vienna
British Airways London–Heathrow
Brussels Airlines Seasonal: Brussels
Icelandair Reykjavík–Keflavík
KLM Amsterdam
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Scandinavian Airlines Copenhagen
Virgin Atlantic London–Heathrow
-----------
Air Canada Express Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson
Porter Airlines Toronto–Billy Bishop
-----------
Aeroméxico Mexico City (ends January 6, 2019)
Aviancaa Bogotá, La Paz
Avianca El Salvador San Salvador
Copa Airlines Panama City
Volaris Costa Rica San Salvador, San José de Costa Rica

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Amelorn

A week is too long for Singapore, as it's quite a small, sterile place. Hope that you're not a drinker, as local (Tiger) lager is S$20/pint at a bar these days.

A week in Asia would be better spent in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, Shanghai*, or Seoul.

*visa required

We won't spend a week there. It would likely be 3-4 days. A day or two in Kuala Lumpur and then some time in Istanbul on the layovers.

The wife is not really into very large dense cities anywhere, so the ones in Asia like Hong Kong and Tokyo would not be a great idea. Baby steps with Singapore!

[kcmo]

PacoMartin, I'm having trouble getting prices for a trip from IAD to Singapore with a stopover in Istanbul. What website would you use? Just the Turkish airlines website? We are probably looking at traveling in July of next year.