Singapore basics

Tap water

Safe to drink straight from the tap, with no further filtering.

PUB, the national water agency, says its tap water is well within the Food Safety and Security (Non-Packaged Drinking Water) Regulations 2025 and the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality.

PUB, Water Quality

Electricity and plugs

230 volts, 50 hertz. Most sockets take the 3-pin Type G plug.

13 A Type G three rectangular pins, fused: suitable for most appliances, and important for those with metal bodies, which are earthed through the plug.
15 A Type M three round pins: for power-hungry appliances such as air-conditioners.
2.5 A Type C two round pins, for low-power, double-insulated appliances: connect it to a 3-pin socket through a suitable adaptor, such as a fused conversion plug. Never force a 2-pin plug into a 3-pin socket.

Not suitable in Singapore: Schuko plugs (10 A/16 A, made for the German market), whose round pins strain the socket contacts and overheat and whose side earthing strips cannot reach the socket’s earth; flat-blade plugs, with or without a round earthing pin; and 10 A/16 A round-pin plugs. Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UK use the same plugs as Singapore.

Electricity (Electrical Installations) Regulations, reg 3 · Consumer Product Safety Office

Money

The Singapore dollar (S$), in 100 cents.

Notes S$2, S$5, S$10, S$50, S$100 (the Portrait Series, issued since 9 September 1999). MAS no longer issues the S$1,000 (since 1 January 2021) or the S$10,000 (since 1 October 2014), but both are still legal tender.
Coins 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents, and S$1 (the Third Series, in circulation since 25 June 2013). MAS stopped issuing 1-cent coins on 1 April 2002; those in circulation are still legal tender.

Changing money: MAS-licensed money changers by station. Getting the GST back: tax refund.

MAS, Circulation Currency: Notes · Coins