Singapore may be one of the most expensive cities in Asia, but that does not mean you have to splurge on everything during your time here. There are several free tours available for you to join to experience the best of Singapore without hurting your wallet!

City Walking Tours

Monster Day Tours and Indie Singapore provides free walking tours to explore Kampong Glam, Chinatown, and Little India in the morning. In the afternoon, there are free walking tours that explore Marina Bay Sands + Gardens by the Bay, Civic District + Singapore River, and Bugis and Bras Basah. The morning tours start at 9.30 AM, while the afternoon ones start at 4 PM. The tours last for 2.5 hours, so be sure to wear proper footwear and have umbrella + a bottle of water with you!

Do note that these tours may not run every day, so check out their website for more info on tour schedule! Once you’ve signed up, simply turn up at the designated spot and time, and follow your tour guide! Even though these tours are completely free, a tip to your guide is always appreciated.

For Nature Lovers

If you’d like to see more greenery, Singapore’s National Parks also provides nature walks and walking tours for free! Join them for their learning forest tour, bird watching events, and guided walks. Visit their website for more info!

Extra: For Supernatural Lovers…

If you’re not in the mood for a city or nature walks and you’re looking for something that’s quite different, consider visiting Haw Par Villa! Haw Par Villa best described as “Singapore’s largest outdoor art gallery” filled with quirky and eclectic arts in Asian culture, history, philosophy, and region. Haw Par Villa is famous for its Journeys to Hell tour in which you’ll explore “Hell’s Museum” filled with depictions of the afterlife from the perspective of various religion.

Have fun planning your itinerary and see you soon on WordCamp Singapore 2019!

General

This is the 3rd time we’ve run WordCamp Singapore in recent years. We’ve got a great bunch of speakers, not all from WordPress related business. There are people speaking from big enterprises such as Google, WordPress big names such as WPEngine & SiteGround and local & international WordPress businesses alike.

There are 3 events namely

• Conference Day (16th August)
• Afterparty (16th August – Evening)
• Contributor & Workshop Day (17th August)

All venue information can be found by reading the Venue page

Conference Day

Registration and doors open for attendees at 8:30 am at level 21. A light breakfast and coffee are provided so feel free to drop by early to talk to everyone! Opening remarks kick off promptly at 9:15 am. Talks will begin at 9:40 am sharp!

Take Note: When you arrive, please look for our WordCamp sign to get your building pass. You must bring a photo ID (identity card or passport) to get past building security.

Please look out for our schedule boards that will be inside each of the track rooms, and can also be accessed on this website.

We will have a break for lunch at 12:00 pm afternoon tea at 3:00 pm, there will be two food stations serving some yummy grub and plenty of places to chat with fellow attendees, sponsors and speakers.

If you have any questions throughout the day, then please find an organiser of a volunteer (we will be wearing different coloured t-shirts) and we will do our best to help you out!

WiFi

There is a Microsoft Guest Network that requires no password.

Getting to Microsoft

Venue: Level 21, 1 Marina Boulevard, NTUC Centre, 018989

MRT: Get off at Raffles Place MRT (Green & Red Line) and use our handy guide to navigate the underpass.

Taxi: Just use Grab, take note that the early morning is peak hours so grab your ride early.

Car: If you’re driving, take note that NTUC Centre’s parking charges are $2.20 per hour. If you’re coming via Fullerton / Collyer Quay, you only have one chance to turn into the building which can be easily missed. The next U-Turn is pretty far away and requires you to make 2 U-Turns to get back on track. Consider parking at nearby buildings such as The Sail which offers similar parking charges if you miss the turn-in.

If you are planning on getting to the venue via other landmarks or if you’re coming from overseas, we have a guide here which outlines the best ways to get around, otherwise, you can find map and location data on our venues page.

Read more about the Contributor & Workshop Day here.

After Party

16th August (Conference Day) from 7pm–11pm

Finger food, beers, wine and soft drinks will be provided. Everyone who has bought a ticket is welcome!

The bar is on the rooftop of a 2-storey building, so look for the WordCamp signs, come up the stairs and you will find our section. Join us for a casual evening. Please remember to bring your lanyard from the conference so we can identify you, we will swap it for a wristband.

Lady Wu
Attic Level, 11 N Canal Rd,
The Offshore Building,
Singapore 048824

The after-party is a short 10-minute walk along Marina Bay towards the Singapore River and Boat Quay, if you need directions, this Google Maps link will set you on the right path.

Contributors Day

Contributor Days are held in many WordCamps across the world but this is the second time we’re doing it in Singapore and we’ve added 7 fantastic workshops as well as 3 contributor sessions.

This is a day for people to just bring their laptops, sit down and contribute back to the WordPress project or learn more through one of our wonderful Workshops. No experience is needed.

Registration and doors open for attendees a little later at 9:30 am at General Assembly, followed by a briefing at 10:00 am before we break into separate rooms. We have two classrooms for our contributor day but we have a limited capacity in each room.

Please bring your lanyard from the Conference Day to make registration much easier. For those not able to attend on Friday but are coming only on Saturday, please let us know in advance so we can bring your swag bag with us.

The schedule will be outside of the classrooms, and can also be accessed on this website.

A light lunch and drinks will be provided at 12:00 pm.

Take Note: You must bring a photo ID (identity card or passport) to get past building security.

WiFi

There is a General Assembly guest network that requires a password, we will have that written on the whiteboard in each room.

Getting to General Assembly

Venue: Level 20, 79 Anson Rd, Singapore 079906

MRT: Get off at Tanjong Pagar (Green Line) and it’s a short 3-minute walk.

Taxi: Just use Grab, take note that the early morning is peak hours so grab your ride early.

If you are planning on getting to the venue via other landmarks or if you’re coming from overseas, we have a guide here which outlines the best ways to get around, otherwise, you can find map and location data on our venues page.

Sponsors

There is also a great list of sponsors who have booths in the main concourse. You will get to interact with people from Exabytes, SiteGround, WeGlot, WP Developer, WeDevs and Z.com.

Read more about our sponsors here.

Tickets

We’re happy to announce that for the first time WordCamp Singapore 2019 has SOLD OUT. We’re currently seeing if we can source some more tickets for you, so please check back as they won’t last long.

Social Media

You can follow us on Twitter or Facebook and Instagram. Use #WordCampSG and #WCSG19 to talk about the event.

At the time of writing, about 45% of you who will be coming for WordCamp Singapore 2019 are from out of town. Here’s a quick write up of what you can expect from WordCamp Singapore, and Singapore in general:

Travelling around

Singapore has a world-class public transport network allowing you to get around the island, quickly and comfortably (ahh, aircon!), and it won’t cost you very much either.

MRT / Trains

If you’re coming from overseas, you can get a special STP (Singapore Tourist Pass) EZ-Link card which will allow you unlimited travel on MRT and Bus services for one day (S$10), two days (S$16) or three days (S$20). The pass can be bought at the Ticket Office at most MRT stations. They are also available at the STP Kiosks at Changi Airport MRT.

You can also use your foreign-issued Mastercard and Visa contactless bank cards for public transport, find out more here. Otherwise, you can buy single-trip and return trip tickets at all MRT stations around the island.

Bus

If you’re using the bus, you can pay your fare using your EZ-Link, Mastercard, Visa or STP the same as the trains, you will need to tap on and as you alight the bus. You can also pay for the bus fare in cash, but no change is given so make sure you have some coins.

Taxis/Grab/GoJek

Taxis are everywhere in Singapore and are especially handy if you want to go to places not accessible by the bus or MRT. Cabs are metred and there are various surcharges depending on where and when, and what company you use. All taxis will give a receipt and most drives will give you an indication of the fare. You can pay for most rides with credit cards as well as cash but check with the driver first just to make sure. You can hail a taxi by the roadside at most places, or by queuing for one at taxi stands.

If you wish to book a cab, you can call a common taxi booking number, 6-DIAL CAB (6342-5222), and your call will be routed to an available taxi company’s call centre.

We don’t have Uber here anymore, so those familiar with that experience should look into using either Grab (iOS/Android) or GoJek (iOS/Android). Grab is the most popular and has the largest network of rides, you can use Grab Hitch (Carpool), Grab Taxi (Taxi Bookings), Grab Car (Private cars, including premium vehicles). Grab also offers food delivery and payment for services using Grab Pay. GoJek is a relatively new player in Singapore and rides are generally a little cheaper. It’s worth checking out both apps to work out what one suits you best.

Maps

Google Maps and Apple Maps will both give you up to date traffic and public transport information as well, and if you’re looking for something more local, you can check out Bus Uncle.

For more detailed information, maps, guides and apps, check out the VisitSingapore.com website.

Where to Stay

Singapore has hundreds of places to stay, you will be spoilt for choice on where to lay your head, from low budget hostels to award-winning hotels.

The venue for WordCamp is One Marina Boulevard, Singapore 018989, and the Contributors Day is 79 Anson Rd, Singapore 079906, these are both very central locations close to Raffles Place MRT and Tanjong Pagar MRT respectively.

We’ve put together a shortlist of hotels that are nearby the venue and you can check them out here, otherwise one of our speakers has just let us know of this cool new space called 18by3 (we won’t hold it against them that they’re not using WordPress) which looks really funky, located nearby and reasonably priced, and the brand new Capital Kempinski Hotel and the majestic Raffles Hotel. Otherwise, you can check out any of the usual hotel booking portals like Booking.com

Note: Short-term rentals offered by platforms such as Airbnb are illegal in Singapore.

Connectivity

There are plenty of easy ways to stay in touch and get connected to your friends and loved ones while you are in Singapore.

Prepaid SIM card

If you wish to continue making calls and sending messages on your mobile phone, a good option will be to purchase a Singapore prepaid SIM card. All three local telcos – M1, Singtel and Starhub – offer a wide variety of packages, so take a little time to decide which plan best suits your needs.

Prepaid SIM cards are easily purchased at the telcos’ retail counters and convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Cheers through the island, as well as at Singapore Changi Airport at Changi Recommends, currency exchange and telcos’ retail counters. You will have to produce your passport for registration when purchasing a prepaid SIM card.

Free Public Wi-Fi

Wireless@SG: This is a free public Wi-Fi service across Singapore, with hotspots available at many locations, check out this guide for a list of locations or just look for the Wireless@SG logo, you will need to connect with your phone number to register for an account and get your login details via SMS.

Free Wi-Fi service is offered and available for login at some shopping malls, restaurants and cafes in Singapore, Starbucks and McDonalds have pretty reliable connections.

If you’re staying on after the conference or want to know some great spots to eat and drink, check back next week.