Singapore is safe and friendly but too costly to visit

On a recent trip to Singapore, I found the city-state to be clean and welcoming. Beyond its spotless streets and efficient public transportation system, Singapore stands out for its exceptional safety, with surveillance cameras placed strategically in downtown areas and frequent police patrols at popular tourist spots.

Despite its many advantages, I was taken aback by how much it cost to visit what is considered the world's most expensive city.

After a day of exploring the city, I bought a bottle of mineral water from a supermarket food stall, which cost S$4 (US$3). For comparison, the same bottle would cost about VND10,000 ($0.40) in Ho Chi Minh City.

During a visit to Sentosa Island, I also paid US$3 for a cup of lime juice at a food court and S$8 for a fresh coconut. In Vietnam, a cup of lime juice or a coconut costs around half a U.S. dollar.

With such high prices, I found myself skipping a drink at Changi Airport on the return flight to HCMC and waiting until I got home to quench my thirst.

Other tourists I spoke with agreed that Singapore is too expensive for long stays, as it could easily drain one's finances.

According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit earlier this year, Singapore maintained its pole position as the world's most expensive city for the ninth time in the last 11 years.

Numbeo, the world's largest database of user-contributed data on cities and countries, estimates that the average monthly cost for a single person in Singapore is S$1,506 ($1.154).

*The reader's opnions are personal and do not necessarily match VnExpress's viewpoints.