Singapore: the easy destination with two expensive traps.

Singapore has four mobile operators and one of the densest networks anywhere, and it also has an unusually extensive public wifi programme across transport nodes, malls, libraries and public buildings. Combined with hotel wifi, it means a traveller staying in the city for two or three nights can genuinely function on very little mobile data. That is not true of anywhere else on this list, and it is worth saying plainly rather than selling you a plan you do not need.

The real question is what comes next. Singapore is overwhelmingly used as a hub: a few days here plus Malaysia, or plus Bali, or as a stopover on a longer Asia-Pacific itinerary. If that describes your trip, a regional multi-country eSIM is the sensible purchase — one profile that follows you across borders beats buying a local SIM in each country, particularly when a land crossing to Johor Bahru or a short hop to Kuala Lumpur is involved.

If Singapore is the whole trip, a local tourist SIM is easy to buy at Changi and in convenience stores, or a small eSIM data plan will cover navigation, ride-hailing and messaging comfortably. Either way, keep your Indian number reachable — Singapore's payment and booking flows will trigger OTPs to it constantly.

One practical note: almost everything in Singapore assumes you are online. Transport top-ups, restaurant queue systems, attraction entry and ride-hailing are all app-first. Being briefly offline here is more inconvenient than in most places, even though the network is better.

A typical international policy covers emergency medical treatment and hospitalisation, evacuation or repatriation, cancellation and curtailment, delay and baggage. For Singapore, the medical component is the one that justifies the purchase on its own. Singapore's healthcare is excellent and, for non-residents, among the most expensive in Asia. Public and private hospitals commonly require a deposit or a financial guarantee from uninsured foreign patients before non-emergency admission. A short stay can produce a bill that dwarfs the entire cost of the trip.

The second, less obvious reason is structural rather than medical. Singapore is a hub, and hub trips are frequently assembled from separate tickets — an Indian carrier into Changi, a low-cost carrier onward to Bali or Phuket. If the first flight is delayed and the second is on a different ticket, no airline owes you the missed onward flight. Trip disruption and missed-connection cover is what fills that gap, and it is the specific clause hub travellers should read.

Singapore does not present insurance as a general entry condition for tourists the way Schengen states do at the visa stage, but entry requirements are the government's to set and change. Confirm the current position with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority rather than assuming, and never treat any policy as pre-approved by an authority.

Changi is one of the few major airports in the world where public transport is the obviously correct default. The MRT runs from beneath Terminals 2 and 3, connects into the main network, and puts most of the city within a straightforward ride. It is fast, it is cheap, and it is easier with luggage than the equivalent in almost any other city — which is not something you can say about a suburban rail link anywhere else on this list.

Taxis run from managed ranks with an airport surcharge, and ride-hailing operates from designated terminal pickup points that differ by terminal. Both are perfectly good; they are just rarely necessary unless you are arriving very late, carrying a lot, or heading somewhere the MRT does not reach.

Two Changi-specific things worth knowing. Jewel — the retail and garden complex with the indoor waterfall — is landside, and landside is the opposite of convenient for a transit passenger: it sits outside immigration, so reaching it on a layover means formally entering Singapore. An Indian passport holder needs whatever the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority currently requires for that entry, and a passenger who stays airside cannot reach Jewel at all. Plan a long layover against the authority's current transit position rather than assuming the waterfall is part of the terminal. And if Singapore is a stepping stone to Malaysia, the land crossing to Johor Bahru by coach is a genuine option, with the caveat that immigration queues at the causeway can be very long at peak times.

Singapore's attractions are almost all timed and almost all bookable from India, which makes advance planning unusually effective. The unglamorous but important item is not an attraction at all: the electronic arrival card that every visitor must submit before arriving.

That card is issued free by Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority through its own service. A persistent ecosystem of look-alike sites charges a fee to file the same free form, and they rank well in search. Start from the government domain, and be suspicious of any site that asks for payment.

Indian passport holders generally require a visa to enter Singapore, and applications are normally made through authorised visa agents or an authorised local contact rather than directly at a counter. Processing arrangements and the list of authorised agents are published by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, and starting there avoids the intermediary markup.

Separately from the visa, every arriving traveller must submit an electronic arrival card within a defined window before arrival. It captures health and travel declaration information, it is free, and it must be filed even by travellers who already hold a visa.

Singapore also enforces customs rules that surprise visitors — chewing gum, e-cigarettes and vaping devices are treated far more strictly than in most countries, and duty-free allowances on alcohol and tobacco are narrow. Check before you pack rather than at the red channel. Verify all current rules with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority before booking; approval to travel is not admission.