I Visited Singapore With My Toddler-Here's Why It's an Easy, Kid-friendly Destination

"People have long imagined Utopia as a place that's clean, green, and safe, where people of every color, culture, and religion live in harmony. It may sound like an impossibility, but after a week in Singapore, I'm not so sure. In Singapore, public cleanliness is paramount-spitting and chewing gum are illegal. And the City in Nature lives up to its name, with trees and gardens covering almost 50 percent of the small island."

"The vast majority of Singaporeans live in affordable public housing that's subsidized by the government, and the food scene revolves around hawker centers, or food courts with cheap eats and community seating that's so ingrained in the culture, it's recognized and protected by UNESCO. "It's said at least one meal a day in a Singaporean's life is consumed in a hawker center," my guide, Anthony Ang, told me on our first day in Singapore. "It's considered our social dining room."

Singapore presents a model of urban order and multicultural coexistence, combining strict public-cleanliness laws with abundant urban greenery covering nearly half the island. Most residents live in government-subsidized affordable public housing. The hawker-center food culture provides inexpensive communal dining across classes and is protected by UNESCO. The population draws primarily from Chinese, Malay, and Indian ancestries, and four official languages exist; English functions as the de facto dialect while many citizens are bilingual or trilingual. Diverse religious sites sit side by side, and the government promotes equality for all. The city accommodates families and very young children.

Read at Travel + Leisure