Getting from Singapore Changi Airport to the city

Just tap your bank card

Singapore has made this as easy as it gets.

• SimplyGo accepts foreign contactless bank cards and phones directly at the fare gates.
• No ticket, no local card, no machine.
• A S$0.60 daily administration fee applies to foreign-issued cards.

The mistake that costs money

• You must tap out at your destination. The system charges by distance and cannot know where you got off.
• Not tapping out means the maximum fare for the line.
• This catches visitors on their first journey more than anything else in Singapore, and there is nobody at the gate to stop you.

The fares

• About S$1.28 to S$2.57 depending on distance - the top figure is a cross-island journey.
• Changi to the city centre falls inside that range; there is no airport surcharge.
• The Thomson-East Coast Line extension has made the airport reachable more directly, so check whether your destination now needs fewer changes than an older map suggests.

EZ-Link, and when it is worth it

• S$10 total - S$5 usable credit plus a S$5 non-refundable card fee.
• Worth it if you are staying a while, if your bank card is refused, or if you want a card that also works on buses without daily fees.
• Not worth it for a stopover - use your own card.

Taxis and ride-hailing

• Grab is the default and is cheap by the standards of a wealthy city.
• The taxi queue is orderly and metered, with an airport surcharge that is published and legitimate.
• Neither will beat the MRT on price, and in Singapore neither reliably beats it on time.