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Discover the luxuriant glory of the gardens of Singapore, from botanic gardens and nature walks to 21st century urban gardens and the Singapore Garden Festival, the most significant garden show in the tropics.

Singapore Garden Festival 2018 with Helen Young

 

Discover the luxuriant glory of the gardens of Singapore, from botanic gardens and nature walks to 21st century urban gardens and the Singapore Garden Festival, the most significant garden show in the tropics.

 

AT A GLANCE…

• Spend two days at Gardens by the Bay and the Singapore Garden Festival, showcasing landscape, balcony and fantasy gardens – and of course a wondrous display of orchids

• Enjoy a luxurious 5-night stay in the 5 star Park Royal Hotel, the ‘Hotel in a Garden’, whose balconies and walkways are given over to verdant gardens planted with palms and other tropical species

• Wander through the 82-hectare Singapore Botanic Gardens and the National Orchid Garden, which boasts a collection of cultivars named after visiting world leaders

• Traverse the green belts linking the city’s national parks, oases of calm where Singaporeans come to walk with nature

• Cruise the Singapore River and observe the energetic modern metropolis from the languid calm of a riverboat

 

ITINERARY

FRIDAY 20 JULY 2018 / AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND – SINGAPORE

Suggested mid-morning flights from Australia or New Zealand for mid-afternoon arrivals in Singapore. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your travel arrangements.

On arrival in Singapore, make your way to the hotel and check in. At 19:00, join Helen and fellow travellers for a welcome briefing and dinner. (D)

 

SAT 21 JUL / SINGAPORE

After breakfast, begin your exploration of Singaporean flora with a visit to the Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed tropical garden founded in 1859. Its extensive National Orchid Garden contains over 1,000 species, including cultivars dedicated to visiting dignitaries like Queen Elizabeth II, Emperor Akihito of Japan and Diana, Princess of Wales.

After free time for lunch, visit Fort Canning Park, once the residence of a 14th century Raja of Singapura, and now a hilltop park. Breathe in the heady aroma of nutmeg and cloves in the Spice Garden, a replica of the one established by Sir Stamford Raffles in the 1820s. Then return to your hotel for a guided tour of the hotel itself! The Park Royal Hotel contains 15,000 square metres of ‘sky gardens’, with palms and other tropical species cascading across four floors.

The evening is at leisure to enjoy the energy of Singapore on a Saturday night. (B)

 

SUN 22 JUL / SINGAPORE

Spend the day exploring the diversity of gardening in Singapore. Begin with a guided nature walk in Hort Park on Singapore’s Southern Ridges, which is connected to a network of other parks in the area by a system of bridges and raised walkways.

Continue to the Natural History Museum via the National University of Singapore.

In the afternoon, explore some of the ‘urban greening’ of Singapore with a walking tour of the horizontal and vertical gardens of the central city. Part of a concerted effort to bring nature into the heart of Singaporeans’ working and domestic lives, in recent years the city has seen luxuriant growth in the number of ‘garden walls’ and ‘garden roofs’ gracing everything from carparks to museums, malls and government ministries.

Return to the hotel in the late afternoon for an evening at leisure. Suggested dinner in the open-air hawker markets of Chinatown. (BL)

 

MON 23 JUL / SINGAPORE

Enjoy a full-day visit to the Singapore Garden Festival, located at Gardens by the Bay. The festival, now in its seventh iteration, is the world’s premier tropical garden show, exhibiting more than 400,000 plant specimens. Featuring landscape gardens, fantasy gardens, balcony gardens and more, the festival displays the best of Singaporean and international garden design. No floral exhibition in Singapore would be complete without a riotous display of the island’s most beloved blossom, and the Orchid Extravaganza sings a paean to Singapore’s national flower. Enjoy free time for lunch at the festival.
(Singapore Garden Festival dates subject to confirmation.)

Return to the hotel in the late afternoon, and in the evening, enjoy a leisurely cruise on the Singapore River followed by dinner at a local restaurant. (BD)

 

TUE 24 JUL / SINGAPORE

Return to Gardens by the Bay for an exploration of this unique site itself. Built on 101 hectares of reclaimed land and opened in 2012, Gardens by the Bay is testimony to the garden revolution which Singapore has experienced in recent decades.

The centrepiece is two huge, cooled conservatories, each around a hectare in size: a Flower Dome bursting with specimens from the Mediterranean, South Africa, Australia and South America, and a Cloud Forest replicating the cool, moist conditions of the mountain forests of Southeast Asia and South America. Outside, an elevated walkway runs through a grove of ‘supertrees’, 25- to 50-metre tall vertical gardens growing ferns, vines and bromeliads.

Enjoy a farewell lunch atop the Marina Bay Sands Resort, 57 floors above street level, with a spectacular panoramic view of the city, bay and gardens of Singapore.
Mid-afternoon return to the hotel for an evening at leisure. (BL)

 

WED 25 JUL / DEPART SINGAPORE

Tour arrangements conclude after breakfast. For those departing Singapore today, Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your travel arrangements. (B)

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PRICING
Prices in $AUD

Per person, twin-share: AUD $4,250*
Single supplement**: AUD $1,000
Deposit per person (at time of booking): AUD $500
Final payment due: 18 May 2018

**Single travellers may request to share. Please advise as time of booking.

Tour code: GD1804

Fitness level: Moderate
Please see booking conditions for fitness level definitions.

Suggested airline: Qantas
Please contact Renaissance Tours or your travel agent for current airfares and flight reservations.

Visa: Australian and New Zealand passport holders do not require visas for Singapore.

Tour price includes:
• Accommodation in a centrally located 5 star hotel with breakfast daily (B)
• Meals as per itinerary (L = Lunch, D = Dinner), including local beer, juices and soft drinks
• Comprehensive sightseeing including local guides and entrance fees as per itinerary
• Transportation throughout on comfortable air-conditioned coaches
• Gratuities for local guides and drivers
• Hotel porterage (one piece per person)

Tour price does not include:
• International airfares (please contact Renaissance Tours or your travel agent for assistance)
• Airport/hotel transfers on arrival and departure
• Airport porterage
• Items of a personal nature, including telephone, laundry, taxis, minibar, room service etc.
• Travel insurance (a condition of travel; please contact Renaissance Tours or your travel agent for assistance)

Your hotel
Singapore – Park Royal on Pickering *****
The Park Royal on Pickering is a ‘Hotel in a Garden’, with its walkways and balconies transformed into lush, verdant oases of tropical vegetation cascading across four floors. Part of Singapore’s ‘urban greening’ project of recent decades, the Park Royal on Pickering heralds a decisive integration of nature and the built environment in the heart of the city. It provides luxurious five star service, including free afternoon tea and evening cocktails, allowing guests to experience the best of Singaporean hospitality.

NB: A hotel of a similar standard may be substituted.