The Cheapest Visa Run Bali to Singapore
- Fletch
- Apr 22
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 28
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This post explains how we did our most recent visa run to one of the worlds most expensive and luxury cities (& Fletch's fave) on a shoestring budget and how you can do 24 hours in 'Sensational Singapore' for under $100. Accommodation, food and travel tips for keeping costs down in Singapore - whether that's for a visa run (like us) or a well costed city break in one of our favourite cities in the world. Other popular visa runs include Bali to Kuala Lumpur / Bali to Bangkok, but our favourite Bali to Singapore.
We've visited Singapore before and love that place. See our YouTube video First Impressions of Singapore here.
But this time we were visiting Singapore as part of a visa run from our slow travel home base in Bali to Singapore. We were doing it as a family and we needed it to be as cheap as possible since this was just a visa run rather than a holiday. We wanted to see whether Singapore could be done on a shoestring budget. Because quite frankly the last time we visited we broke the bank and didn't stick to any budget opting to stay at The Dorsett Singapore as a family of 4 (which was real nice and cost £900 - which is not sustainable on our budget this was a splurge). This time we were travelling as a family of 3 and wanted to keep costs to a minimum knowing how fast they can spiral in Singapore. And this time we stayed in space age sleeping pods to really shave costs and we were pleasantly surprised. Read on to find out how we saved $100's on accommodation staying in one of Singapores cheapest beds (These SpacePods).
The Visa Run has become our excuse to still enjoy travelling South east Asia, whilst being mostly based in Bali, Indonesia. After 2 years of travelling we got travel fatigued (is that even a thing). It's a place in ones life where you just need a break from travelling, sight seeing and you feel an overwhelming urge to nest or lay down some roots. And it happens whilst you're actually mid travelling.
Most full time travel families or solo/couple digital nomads will feel this at some point on their journey. If not at many points. And it's not a moan. Because we chose this life and we feel incredibly lucky to be living this way. But the feeling of travel fatigue for us is kind of like a home sickness but for stillness and staying in one place. We've filled the kids lives with so much travel and sightseeing that we all felt the need and urge to slow things down. Be more present and still on one place with a little bit of travel on the side. And that's how we approach the visa run. It's the right amount of travelling in a 6 month period after so much travelling.
Most Countries have a max time a tourist can stay in the country legally until they must exit before returning again. This will all depend on what visa you travel on. For Indonesia the visa rules are strict and we've been on a few different visa's since our travel journey began back in 2024. I can do a post all about the different types of visas we've had if you would like to know this drop me a comment below. But for now in Indonesia Bali, we're staying on an a B12 Family Visa which is a 2 year visa that allows us to stay in Bali for 6 months, where we have to exit Indonesia, before we can return and get another 6 months stay permit. This works for us as a family and gives us the perfect excuse to travel to another South east Asian Country to explore at a pace that allows settled life with a blob of travel. For more information about how the B12 works drop me a comment and I can do a full visa post about this.
Visa runs are a temporary tool. They are not a long-term residency plan. But for us, this type of visa allows us to try Bali before we commit to a longer term life plan of where we want to settle. At the moment we're happy travelling, exploring and looking at investment options.
And because we have to do a visa run, we mostly decide on where to travel to based on how cheaply we can get flights around that time. Almost every time the cheapest flights that come up are to Singapore. Which is fab because Singapore is bloomin amazing and why wouldn't you want to visit Singapore. Singapore is one of the best visa run destinations from Bali in our opinion because of the high frequency of flights with low costs with budget carriers like AirAsia or Scoot. We flew with AirAsia and the short flight time (~2h 15m) makes it ideal for a quick in & out or as we do a 1-2 day stay. If you're flexible with dates, you can often pick up a bargain flight from Bali to Singapore. Although another option is to fly or get the boat to Batam, then take the ferry to Singapore for a cheap, alternative route, which can be fun alternative adventure. For ease we prefer to fly.
BUT we have found our Singapore trip costs to spiral with a family of 4 and so we're always on the lookout for how we can budget. And the biggest killer to Singapore for us has been the accommodation. Overall public transport and MRT train travel is mega cheap, food can be mega cheap if you know where to look (think Hawker Centres for amazing quality freshness & prices, little India and picnics with a view), and there's so much free stuff to do there, especially with kids, with amazing walks and parks, that you really do not have to spend much if you are happy just pottering around, walking and soaking up the feel of the place. Which we love the feel of the city after having Bali island life. But finding cheap hotels in Singapore really kills our budget. But this time we think we've cracked how to Singapore on the cheap as your next visa run. And whilst we have to accept this is not luxury. This is definitely the best way to do Singapore on a total budget. They're clean and do the job. And were way better than we were expecting. Best of all they are totally do-able for a family with kids (so long as the kids are old enough to know to whisper and be aware of their noise) as the pods are in shared dorms. So they really are a lights off, head down kind of set up with no talking between 11pm-8am to be respectful to others. Our Mr Boo was 9 years old at the time of staying and fully on board with the adenture and chance to sleep in a Matrix pod.
We spent 2 nights staying in These Singapore Space Pods where this double pod and a single pod cost £108 in total for our 2 nights stay. Amazing! These kind of costs are unheard of for us as a family. Especially in a city. Especially in the best city in the world (Fletch's personal favourite). The best thing about these pods was their price (obvs) and next their location, just across the road from the MRT station. And the choice of jazzy lights that you can choose. Meaning that during our 2 night visa stay, we were never far from any of the awesome areas and amazing sights to stop at in the whole of Singapore. The MRT is a super cheap way to get around the main spots of Singapore and you can hop on and off all day long with a tap of your phone or debit card each journey. P.S we never pay for a taxi from the airport to our onward stay. The MRT saves us big here everytime and it's super easy to navigate.
Our Bali Singapore Visa Run Costs:
Flights £113 return from Denpasar to Changi Airport
Space Pods £108 (that's for 2 pods for 2 nights - you could easily cut this cost in half plus some more by staying 1 night and having just the 1 pod as a solo traveller or couple. Since we're a family we have to pay for these bloody extra humans we made. Beds were comfortable and better than expected. As a guide: A double pod is spacious enough for a couple. The single pod is spacious enough for a man. Pods come with free wifi and air con. You get free towels to use, toilet roll supplied, clean but basic shower facilities. These are shared but have lockable doors and are very private. Although 2 of us couldn't have a poo there because we felt too shy. Even better the pods come with self serve washing machines in a shared area which give a great chance if backpacking to get all your washing done for free. I personally would have loved this during our early travel adventures where we travelled with big rucksacks filled with smelly clothes.
MRT travel costs - £12 (incl transfer from airport to the pods and constant travel over 3 days, as well as travel to the airport to fly home) for family of 3. I mean COME ON! How good is this.
Food £20 a day to eat whatever dishes you like at a Hawker Centres. The only way to eat imo in Singapore.
As a family of 3, eating delicious food, seeing amazing sights and getting a good night rest somehwere safe, clean and central and for us this trip is a win for a cheap and AMAZING visa run. As a single person or couple... well you're winning and can expect to half these costs.
Water is free in Singapore as you can drink the tap water. Hooray. Fill up your bottles before leaving for the day.
My Tips for getting the most out of these pods:
Take ear plugs (we didn't need them but if you get noisy travellers, the pods are in shared dorms and ear plugs make sense).
The fact that we could do a family visa run for under £600 was a total win and something we'll be doing again as our next 6 month trip approaches.
Ask me any questions if I can help you decide on your next Singapore trip I'm here for it.
Happy exploring!
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