There’s no place quite like Singapore at night, with the gleaming lights of Gardens by the Bay, the hustle and bustle of hawker centres, and the buzz of late night shopping. That’s been recognised by a new survey; UK travel site Travelbag conducted a study into nighttime tourism – also known as ‘noctourism‘ – a rising trend where tourists are keen to explore cities after dark rather than retreat to their hotels. Looking primarily at long-haul destinations from the UK, and evaluating the credentials of over 100 of the world’s most popular cities, they’ve concluded that Singapore is the fourth-best city in the world to explore at night.
The study ranked a handful of cities in categories including the number of late-night venues, light and noise pollution, safety to walk alone at night, and the number of Instagram hashtags relating to late-night tourism. Singapore graded well on multiple categories, ranking amongst the safer cities to walk alone at night – in fact, it was sixth overall out of all the cities in the study – and scoring highly for the availability of late-night hangout spots, including cocktail bars, karaoke bars, and nightclubs.
Only New York in the number one spot – which as the ‘city that never sleeps’, was probably an inevitable win – Tokyo in second, and Dubai in third can claim to be better cities to explore at night than the Lion City. Other excellent cities to crack the top ten include Muscat, renowned for the stargazing on offer, traditional Kyoto, iconic Sydney, and the bright lights of Seoul.
Trend reports have indicated a massive spike in night festivals, and an increase in tourists looking to take city tours after dark. Singapore is embracing this through events such as Sentosa Night Mode and i Light Singapore, so it looks like it’s time to seize the night!