Garden Hotel

Many people who have been to Singapore are amazed at how organized this small island state is.

Singapore is located on the equator directly below Malaysia. The stable economy of this city has seen many of its citizen lead a wealthy lifestyle. It is one of the riches country in South East Asia.

The best and easiest way to see this city is via the MRT network which is a metro that connects the entire country. You can also take advantage of the Free shuttle bus to places of interest.

Most visitors to Singapore are either on a stop-over trip or on a short vacation. As this is a relatively small country, the maximum number of stays here for most visitors are three days or less.

This country is renowned for its shopping but not every visitors who come here are shopaholic.

If you happen to be on a short stay, here are five of the most interesting places which you must visit.

Sentosa Island

This place has recently had a massive makeover with the integration of The Resort World. You need to spend one whole day here as there are simply too many attractions in this place such as Universal Studios, Marine Life Park, Maritime Xperiential Museum and Festive walk.

Ideally, you should plan a full day here.

There are also beaches, underwater world, Tiger Sky Tower, A giant statue of Merlion and many more. A great way to get here is with the Cable car. There are also designated point to catch a free bus.

If you have the extra budget, stay at one of the hotels located here. Others include shopping, Golf and casinos.

Singapore Zoological Garden

The zoo is one of the best in Asia. The animals are kept in their natural habitat which makes it interesting to view. Tigers, leopard, lions, giraffe, penguins and monkeys are some of the animals which are expected to see.

Night Safari

If you are not excited about day zoo, you should visit the night safari. It is also located in the Zoological garden and it showcase the activities of nocturnal wild life.

Singapore Botanical Gardens

This garden is located in the heart of the city center. Take a stroll through this lush and scenic garden in the morning. Also there are many different breeds of orchids being cultivated here.

Raffles Hotel

This is where the famous sling was being developed by one of the bartender many years ago. Not only that, Raffles hotel is a colonial style hotel which was build in 1887. It is named after the founder of Singapore Sir Stamford Raffles.

Of course, if time is on your side, there are other interesting places such as Jurong Bird Park, Haw Par Villa or Tiger Balm Garden, Little India, Chinatown and many more.

Finding Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England is like stepping into a real garden, in many instances. Many locals refer to this eastern England garden city as WGC rather than its full name. The town was actually planned in this manner in the 1920s, which is what makes it interesting to tourists and sightseers from around the United Kingdom.

First founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s, WGC was designed by Louis de Soissons, and is based off the previously-designed garden city of Letchworth Garden City. At the time (before WGC was built), Howard wrote that it would be an improvement on the idea of Letchworth. Famous people from the town include Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones and pro golfer Nick Faldo.

Welwyn Garden City and others like it throughout the country was the result of a movement which called for the creation of many so-called “new towns,” similar to WGC. And this one – with a current population of around 45,000 people – did not disappoint. The town’s central district is noted for its central mall, or “parkway” (it’s actually known as the Parkway).

The town is notable in breakfast cereal annals as the birthplace and former home of the Shredded Wheat line of cereals. The plant still stands, though production has been moved to a town with a more suitably-sized collection of facilities. WGC also played an integral part in England’s World War II effort, playing host to the country’s Special Operations Executive research branch. Also, the first supercharged Bentley luxury car was produced in a factory in the town’s environs.

Hertfordshire, the non-metropolitan county in which Welwyn Garden City resides, has a population of around 1.1 million people. It is one of the five “home counties” which surround the city of London. Both WGC and Hertfordshire are fine examples of everything worth traveling to England to engage in touring and sightseeing.

Perhaps the biggest joy up on Montjüic is its parks and gardens. It’s amazing to be able to escape on just a short ride on the Funicular from downtown Barcelona, and transport yourself so quickly to an oasis of colour and smells of the botanical gardens which lie below the famous cable car ride. This is a great place to relax and take a picnic, for example, exploring the Japanese bridge, spying tadpoles at the lazy cascades and playing in the central, man-made lake, which due to droughts in recent years have become an excellent children’s playground! With the botanical gardens being a favourite for locals at weekends, if you happen to visit mid-week, you can almost have the park to yourself!

Moving across the road from the botanical gardens and towards the old Port is the Joan Brossa Park, which is great fun for kids and grown ups alike. This park winds around the middle of Montjüic towards the port, and includes children’s play areas and ingenious “musical toys” made entirely from natural elements – for example musical spring cushions for you to jump on, tunnel telephones made from wood, and see-saw wind organs. You have to see it to believe it! There are also some great hidden children’s play areas full of shade and a great place as an alternative to the busy beaches for families with young children in the summer.

Montjüic also houses the Ethnological museum, and another little-known park just behind, known as the Park del Font del Gat – or the Cat’s fountain park, which bears its name as a cat is said to have discovered the fountain. This park is on a gradient, like much of Montjüic, but is still very easily accessible as Montjüic is more like a big hill really, rather than a mountain as its name suggests. This little park has a little trickle of a stream running through its middle and down to the neighbourhood of Poble Sec, and is a great place to explore with a small restaurant in the middle, too. Take shade in the cypress trees and read a chapter from your book, or sketch the pools with lilies you can find here.

A final mention goes to the hotel Miramar next to the cable car which crosses the water to Barceloneta beach. There are plenty of little corners to explore in the garden in front of the hotel, which again rarely fills with people and can offer a great rest before moving along to another spot.