I strongly believe that any Sci-Fi writer (who has the means) should travel to Singapore at least once in their lives. Walking the streets of Singapore, I found new writing inspiration for my Sci-Fi book at every turn.
It’s also a very luxurious city, especially compared to the rest of Southeast Asia, so you’ll be sure to find spots to write in comfort.
Here are my recommendations.
This article contains affiliate links, which means I may receive commission at no extra cost to you. That being said, I would never recommend anything I didn’t or wouldn’t use myself.
Okay, if you’ve never been to this airport before, hear me out. If you have, you’ll know exactly why this airport made it into this guide.
Changi Airport is- without any close competition- the coolest airport I have ever been to. It has facilities like a swimming pool, butterfly garden and cinema.
My personal favorite, and probably the crowning glory of the airport, is the new indoor waterfall, surrounded by an indoor forest.
Yeah, I know.
This futuristic area of the airport is just a taste of what the rest of Singapore has to offer to anyone writing a Sci-Fi book.
And it’s quite a good one.
And with free Wi-Fi, you can find yourself a very comfortable seat somewhere in the airport to research and write. I’d recommend either flying in early and staying the day at the airport, or planning to fly out late so that you can spend a few hours there before your flight.
You don’t even have to leave the airport to find a good writing spot in Singapore!
But you definitely should leave the airport; there are so many other amazing writing spots in Singapore to explore.
The Marina Bay area is the easiest place to access water in the city, so sit yourself down on a bench near it if water is your ideal place to write- there’s plenty. I’d personally recommend the Starbucks near the Merlion statue. It has outdoor seating with a view of the marina and the futuristic Marina Bay Sands building.
It’s also here where, in addition to the Marina Bay Sands hotel, you’ll find the ArtScience Museum, a place I personally found very inspiring to visit. When I was there, I chose to visit the Future World exhibit and the Alice in Wonderland exhibit.
If you’re in the area at night (which you should be), don’t miss the free Spectra show. It’s a water and light show in front of Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, accompanied with music and is a really cool thing to experience.
In other Writer’s Travel Guides, I’ve recommended city parks as places to take a break from the bustle of cities and get a little writing inspiration from nature to write.
Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay puts all those city parks to shame.
It’s hands down the coolest park I’ve been to, and I was surprised by how much of the gardens you can see for free. You could walk through the whole park, and only have to pay to enter the Skywalk and the two conservatories.
I decided to skip the Flower Dome and only buy a ticket for Cloud Forest. I’m so glad I chose that one, because as a forest lover, it was an amazing experience. It was very immersive and most probably the coolest greenhouse forest in the world.
There were also lots of educational exhibits, and of course I used them as research for my book! (Though I can’t guarantee everyone will find the exhibits as useful as I did.)
After you soak up all the inspiration you can hold, let those ideas explode on your page as you write them all out. You can either sit outside on a bench, or you can grab some food at the food court and eat there while writing.
[Mosque 37]
This place is located in Chinatown, and it wasn’t an easy place to leave. In addition to being a café, it’s also a bookstore.
Before entering, you are greeted with signs such as “Enter door on right to leave Earth,” “Landscapes, cityscapes, dreamscapes; to where do you escape?” and “Here on Earth for the love of books.”
And when you enter, the inspiration for this bookcafé’s name is revealed: “With freedom, books, flowers and The Moon, who could not be happy?”
They have a great selection of books, many I never heard of, and it was a struggle making myself leave and reminding myself I was backpacking and didn’t have room in my backpack for physical books.
The place was perfect for writing, with seating both inside and outside.
[1094 Serangoon Road]
A Harry Potter-themed café and restaurant. Need I say more?
I’ll add in a few more words: the food was great, there were both alcoholic and non-alcoholic magical drinks and they had Hogwarts robes and other props to dress up in take photo shoots with.
Oh, and there was free wi-fi and they didn’t kick me out even though I spent almost the whole day there (though granted, it was a weekday and they had very few customers).
If you’re a Potter fan, there’s no better place for writing in Singapore than Platform 1094.
While extremely luxurious, this also means Singapore is very expensive. It’s not much in comparison to the prices of Europe and the U.S., but if you’re a starving artist, that still means expensive.
I ended up at NNV by accident, and I’m very happy I did. I will admit the rooms were not ideal. They were outdated and the bunk beds were shaky with uncomfortable mattresses.
But they were renovating while I was there, and even so, the rest of the hostel made up for the not ideal beds.
The staff was extremely pleasant and helpful, there was free laundry and, my personal favorite, there was a quiet rooftop. It was on that rooftop where I not only dried the laundry that desperately needed washing, but where I spent many hours sitting at a table and writing.
It’s also in a great location, across the street from a mall’s food court, near public transportation and within walking distance (though a long walk) to most places I recommended in this guide.
It almost feels like cheating to choose this one, because it’s such an obvious choice.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel is the place to stay in Singapore- writing or not. It’s probably the most iconic building in the city, and if you’ve seen pictures of Singapore before, you’ve probably seen it. It’s the three high rises upon which a spaceship-shaped structure balances.
I didn’t even stay at this hotel and was inspired by it. It’s one thing to see it in pictures, but it’s a totally other thing to look up and see a space ship hovering over you.
It’s also in the center of the coolest part of the city. On one side, you have the bay, the Spectra water and light show and the ArtScience Museum. On the other side, you have Gardens by the Bay.
It also has a shopping mall, which is probably the coolest one I’ve been to. It has features like the canal running along one part of it, on which you can take a boat ride pretending you’re in Venice.
On the top of the hotel, in the spaceship part, there’s a garden, bar and infinity pool, the latter of which you can only access if you’re a guest.
Find me a better place to write a Sci-Fi book. This place absolutely has it all.
And if I had the money to stay for a week, I bet I’d have my entire Sci-Fi book finished.
Okay, probably not; I’d be spending too much time in that infinity pool overlooking this amazing city.
As a writer, it’s crucial to read other’s writing to improve your own. And what better way to learn more about Singapore’s culture and history before going than by reading a book set there?
Who knows, maybe one of these will even inspire you to write your own book set in Singapore. At the very least, these books will definitely convince you to visit the country if this guide hasn’t already.
This is an anthology of 14 stories from different writers telling a darker side of Singapore. You’ll likely be enamored by the luxury and beauty of Singapore, but these stories will show what many tourists don’t see.
Including some award-winning writers from Singapore, this book is a must-read before, during or after your visit to Singapore.
For a look at Singapore during World War II, read this historical fiction novel. It tells the story of the women forced into sexual slavery as comfort women for the Japanese troops who invaded the land.
Did you find any other great writing spots in Singapore that didn’t make this list? Share with other traveling writers in the comment section below!
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I love this! What a unique idea for a post. I've never been to Singapore, but for whatever reason it seems so hustle and bustle to me. Great to know you can find some spots to get creative!
I wasn't expecting to love Singapore as much as I did- there were so many cool things to see there! :)
Singapore looks so unique and interesting! I love the writing theme, very cool!
This was such a unique and creative post, loved how you framed it and it bought back memories of my trip to Singapore, thank you! ;)
I have never been to Singapore. This post definitely inspires me to travel to Singapore and write about it. :-)