The Park View building on North Bridge Road has a vast and magnificent neo-Art-Deco bar on the ground floor. A glass cabinet houses the most expensive bottles at ceiling height; if one is ordered, a barman allegedly has to be hauled up on a rope to fetch it.

The bar is open to the public only when it's not being used for business entertainment, so try your luck if you're passing by or phone ahead to enquire.

81 Beach Road
Singapore 189692
Tel: (65) 6338 8558
Take No. 7 bus or MRT to Bugis.

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Malacca is a historic Malaysian town with a less sanitised atmosphere than Singapore. You can see it in a day on a fully escorted coach trip run by RMG Tours. Considering the distance, you get a reasonable flavour of the place as well as an excellent hotel lunch, for a very good price.

The same company do a tour to Kukup but this is comparatively disappointing, with three stops en route and inadequate time at the destination. They offer other tours within Singapore itself, which are less worthwhile as the public transport system is so good and taxis plentiful and cheap.

RMG's address is 109C Amoy Street, Singapore 069929. It has booking desks in the Orchard Road Visitors' Centre and various hotels, or see the website at www.rmgtours.com

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The small outdoor performance area at the Theatres on the Bay on the Esplanade hosts free concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Concerts also take place less frequently on the stage built on Symphony Lake in the Botanic Gardens. Both are idyllic settings in very different ways, and you may get some good music, too.

Events on the Esplanade are advertised there (nearest MRT station City Hall). Enquire at an information centre about concerts in the Botanic Gardens. The gardens are just beyond the top of Orchard Road, and a definite must-see in their own right.

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Singaporeans cross the causeway to Johor Bahru for cheap shopping, but you don't need to as goods in Singapore are already cheap and better quality.

Instead visit the beautiful former palace of the sultans of Johor. Whatever your opinions on hunting trophies, treasure rooms and crystal furniture, it gives an unforgettable picture of the lifestyle of the royal family who now live in another palace in Johor Bahru.

Take a bus across the causeway from Singapore and make sure to fill in the various immigration forms accurately. Then catch a licensed taxi to the museum - the fare should be no more than 5 ringgits (beware of unlicensed drivers who will hassle you as you leave the entry point).

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A programme of morning and evening walking tours led by enthusiastic and knowledgeable guides, giving a good feel of the atmosphere of the different areas of Singapore.

They are run by JOURNEYS PTE.LTD: pick up a leaflet at a visitors' centre or see their website at http:www.singaporewalks.com

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A large and very helpful visitors' centre with courteous staff and a wide selection of free maps and brochures.

While in the neigbourhood, turn off Orchard Road to an eating area on Emerald Hill Road to admire some lovely 'Chinese Baroque' houses on the left-hand side, built in the late 19th century by the Peranakan community.

On Orchard Road at the junction with Cairnhill Road.

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