Merlion Park and the Marina Bay Waterfront

Every first visit to Singapore passes the Merlion, and the trick is to make it the start of something better than a photo stop. The statue, half lion and half fish, was designed by Kwan Sai Kheong, built by local craftsman Lim Nang Seng and unveiled in 1972 by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. It is 8.6 metres tall, weighs 70 tonnes, and spouts a constant arc of water into Marina Bay from a small park in front of the Fullerton Hotel. The lion stands for the Sanskrit name Singapura, the lion city, and the fish tail for the old fishing village. It originally stood at the mouth of the Singapore River and was moved to its present spot after the Esplanade Bridge blocked the view, which is how it came to face the most famous skyline in Southeast Asia: Marina Bay Sands directly across the water, the lotus of the ArtScience Museum, and the financial district's towers behind you. From here, the best free walk in the city loops around the bay in about an hour and a half. Head north under the Esplanade Bridge to the Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay, whose spiky domes earned it the nickname "the durian", with its free outdoor stage by the water. Continue along the promenade to the Helix Bridge, a double-helix steel walkway lit at night, cross to the Marina Bay Sands side, and walk the Event Plaza in front of the hotel, where the free Spectra light and water show plays in the evening. From there, the Gardens by the Bay are a short walk behind the hotel, and the loop back past the Marina Bay Financial Centre returns you to the Merlion. It costs nothing, and it is the walk that ties together everything you came to see.

The bay walk is a product of planning. Marina Bay itself is reclaimed land; the bay was dammed at its mouth by the Marina Barrage, which turned it into a freshwater reservoir and keeps the water level constant, which is why the promenade feels so tidy and calm. The Fullerton Hotel behind the Merlion was the General Post Office, and the Fullerton Bay Hotel and the Clifford Pier, with its restored arches, sit just along the shore. The waterfront is busy with joggers early in the morning and with families and couples in the evening, and it stays safe and well lit late into the night.

Timing makes the experience. Start about an hour before sunset at the Merlion, when the light is warm on Marina Bay Sands and the crowds are thinner than after dark. Walk the loop clockwise so you reach the Event Plaza in time for the evening Spectra show, then decide whether to continue to the Supertree Grove for the Garden Rhapsody show at Gardens by the Bay. Mornings are the other good time: cool, quiet and perfect for photography. Midday is hot and exposed. Bring water; there are kiosks and restaurants around the Esplanade and Marina Bay Sands but fewer along the open stretches.

Getting there: Raffles Place MRT is about five minutes' walk from the Merlion via the Fullerton, and Esplanade and Bayfront stations serve the other side of the loop. The river cruise boats stop at a jetty beside the Merlion, which makes an easy combination: walk the bay, then cruise up the river to Clarke Quay for dinner. The promenade is step-free, so it works with prams and wheelchairs, and children enjoy the Merlion's spout, the Helix Bridge and the light show.