The Best Airport in the World – Changi Airport
Singapore's World-Beating Airport Makes Stopovers a Pleasure
May 28, 2009
Here’s a short guide to what Changi Airport has to offer the traveller.
Singapore’s Changi Airport has three terminals which are connected by regular driverless Skytrains which take a couple of minutes to travel from one terminal to the other. Each houses a full range of shops, restaurants and other facilities and is home to one or more of the 19 major airlines that fly to Singapore (in addition to the budget airlines that also use Changi, two of which – Cebu Pacific and Tiger Airways have their own, fourth, budget terminal.
Arrival at Singapore Airport
The Singaporeans pride themselves on their efficiency and at Changi they have excelled. This writer has on two occasions spent no more than 15 minutes at the airport after arriving on a long-haul flight before being in a taxi with all luggage intact and having passed through customs and immigration.
Spending Time at Singapore’s Changi Airport
Changi Airport acts as a major hub for many of the cities of South and East Asia and for Australia and New Zealand and many passengers spend some time there. In addition to the usual shopping, the airport has an open-air swimming pool, a very calming butterfly house, separate cactus and bamboo gardens and many very comfortable television lounges catering for all passenger tastes. There is also a free cinema showing major movies all day long. And, as with many of Changi’s attractions (although not the swimming pool) it is free. And for those addicted to nicotine, there is the added bonus that the swimming pool and the cactus garden are outside and thus provide a place where the smokers can indulge their habit while thinking about giving up!
Visiting Singapore Whilst in Transit
If transit passengers have five hours or more to spare whilst passing through Changi, they can sign up for a free bus tour of Singapore. The tour lasts for two hours and shows the visitor what the city-state has to offer. The aim is to persuade people to take a longer stopover at another time and to spend their holiday money in this most enterprising of destinations.
The tours can be booked in either of Terminals 2 or 3 and bookings are taken between 0700 and 1530 daily. The tours themselves run at 0900, 1100, 1300, 1500 and 1600 and are conducted in English.
The Discerning Passenger’s Airport of Choice
For the discerning passenger, Singapore’s Changi Airport offers everything. It is place where air travel, and the inevitable gaps between planes, are themselves part of the journey to be enjoyed rather than something to be got over. Further information on Changi Airport is available on its website.
