Recently had a trip to Singapore and decided that before I returned to Dubai to spend a good 6 hours at the well renowned Changi Airport. This was my second trip to Singapore, during my first visit I was impressed by the airport cleanliness and open areas with floor to floor carpets (looked like a hotel not an airport) and had already read of the Jewel an entertainment complex built as part of the airport at a cost of more than $1 billion USD.
Traveling for a good part of my life, I need to tell you that being in the airport is something I like. Just looking at the people and their faces of happiness when they are traveling for pleasure or all this business people trying to make business in a crowded terminal and fighting with their mobile signal is always fun. It does not matter how much travel experience you have Changi airport will leave you impressed, not only to manage the million of people that travel in a year but also into getting them to spend money the 2-3 hours they are in the airport.
A little bit of history on Changi Airport before I describe my experience; is one of the busiest international passenger and cargo airports in the world at it speak it managed more than 68 million passengers more than 10 times the country population. It was ranked by skytrax best airport in the world 8 years in a row until 2020. More than 100 airlines flight to Changi Airport to more than 400 destinations around the world, and due to the strategic location is the flagship cargo hub for Fedex in asia.
The airport has 4 terminals, plus the Jewel complex also three runaways to serve the hundreds of daily flights. I was reading the y are building a 5th terminal to be operational by 2030 and serve the future demand (expect to double the traffic). But what really distinguished Changi to other airports are all the features and services it offers: 100+ stores and shopping malls, 10 garden areas for you to relax, own Singapore tours service if you have more than 5 hours layover, Singapore metro connects directly to the airport and the full entertainment complex called the Jewel.
Once you arrive to the airport you go directly into the terminal, since they have so many connecting flights you don’t need to do immigration quickly. You can walk, stretch, eat, have a drink before going to Immigration and outside the terminal. Both times I have gone it has been an easy procedure. After you are out you can use multiple transit method to get to your final destination. Check in for sure departure flight is also very easy and if you fly in airlines like Emirates you can do early check in (more than 3 hours), so you can enjoy what Changi airport has to offer. On our flight back we did check-in 6 hrs before the flight and set to enjoy all the entertainment options the airport offer.
If you have only have a couple of hours you need to go straight to the Jewel and explore all the green areas and the huge waterfall that will hypnotize you. In its first 6 months receive 50 million visitors or 300 thousand people per day. Designed to maintain the status of a major hub aviation in Asia, opened in October 2019. Some of the attractions that you will enjoy are: Shiseido Forrest valley one of Asia biggest indoor garden, The Rain Vortex (currently the world’s largest and tallest indoor waterfall), Canopy park with adult and kids attractions a top the Jewel, Changi Experience Studio an interactive display of Changi Airport.
The photos don’t make justice of how impressive is Changi airport but give you some idea on what to expect, if you go to my Instagram (Boricuaslivingabroad) account you will find some videos that bring a different perspective or visit http://www.jewelchangiairport.com to get detailed information of activities. Thanks for reading the post, please share it and sign in to receive our updates; also follow us on Instagram, or Facebook look for #BORICUASLIVINGABROAD. Until next time….
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