Shopping in Singapore: Orchard Road

Singapore is well-known among tourists as a great place to shop. It may not offer the best bargains in terms of price, but it definitely stands out for providing shoppers with great variety and high comfort level as they shop. For such a small country, Singapore definitely has lots of shopping districts such as the Marina Bay area, in Chinatown, and of course, we cannot forget the most famous shopping area in Singapore, the not-to-be-missed Orchard Road. There are many shopping malls located along this road and each of these malls offers different experiences.

Among the many malls, Ion Orchard is one of the newest. It stands out for its unique architecture. Besides that, it also offers a great shopping experience as it brings together duplex flagships of six luxury brands and houses many other popular labels such as Uniqlo and Topshop. It is also conveniently linked to the Orchard MRT station.

The Food Hall at level B4 is also impressive and unlike most food courts, the food there is good. I particularly recommend the Hokkien prawn mee or noodles at the Food Opera food court. The mall also has a permanent art gallery and various sculptural and media installations are placed around the mall. When I was there, there was a exhibition of Harper's Bazaar's winning cover shots.

Similar to Orchard Ion, 313@Somerset is also one of the newly opened malls along Orchard Road. However, it is at the other end and can be reached by stopping at the Somerset MRT station. The flagship shops here include the largest Forever 21 and Zara outlets. These two take up a few floors. In terms of food, Marche Restaurant is a great choice especially if you have never tasted food such as rosti. Do note that the queue for rosti can be pretty long though. For your information, there is another branch located at Vivocity, another great shopping mall.

Orchard Central was also just opened in mid 2009. Since July 2010, there are also weekend flea markets at the Discovery Walk area at Level 1. It makes the place more lively. However, unlike the other 2 malls, this mall attracts a smaller crowd. Nevertheless, it still has some unique features such as its Roof Garden and the world's tallest indoor Ferrata wall which would be of interested to those who would like to do some rock climbing indoors. 

Despite all the new shopping malls cropping up, the older shopping malls are still attracting huge crowds. Some old favourites include Paragon which offers higher end brands like Gucci and Prada. Ngee Ann City also attracted the richer (or rather the willing) shoppers who are willing to fork out more for their goods. On the other end of the spectrum, Far East Plaza is the place to go if you have a smaller budget for shopping. All in all, Orchard Road is a great place to shop regardless of your budget. Even if you do not enjoy shopping, it is still a great place to visit just to people watch while enjoying a cup of coffee or even a meal.

Even on a rainy day, visitors to Orchard Road can still shop comfortably. There are sevceral underground passages which connect the different shopping malls. For instance, there is one connecting Orchard MRT to Tang Plaza, Wisma Atria, ION Orchard, Wheelock Place and Shaw House. On the other end of Orchard Road there is another underpass between Somerset MRT, Orchard Central, 313@Somerset and The Centrepoint. Hence, with this knowledge do not let the rain deter you from heading to Orchard Road on a rainy day!