Plane Spotting Singapore

Crowne Plaza                                 Last Update 2017 
Is probably one of the best all round hotels in the world for aircraft viewing and photography. As an added bonus, from the rooms below the occasional movement from Paya Lebar can seen in the distance.
Location: *** Excellent location, connected to terminal 3 at Singapore airport. The hotel is a short walk from the terminal 3 viewing area. The viewing areas on terminal 1 and 2 are a short 5 minute ride on the airport monorail, the station of which is a 2 minute walk from the hotel. The airport restaurants are expensive, however a wide range of food courts, as well as a supermarket can be found in the terminals. If you decide to order room service to allow you to eat and spot a typical American Style breakfast of ham, eggs and hash browns is around £8, a pizza for dinner is around £11.
Spotting: ***

Excellent. For the ideal views you require a room on the 7th,8th or 9th floor ending in *02,*04,*06,*08,*09,*10,*11,*12*14*16 These rooms give a fantastic view over the right hand runway in front of terminal 3. The hotel corridor is open plan allowing you to walk out of the room into the corridor to see movements on the busy central runway (A Flight Tracker is helpful for you to monitor movements on the central runway as you do need to leave your room to see this runway-don’t forget your key!). Be advised SBS signals are intermittent due to the layout of the hotel, flight radar 24 coverage is however excellent. 

At busy times the right hand runway is used for arrivals only, however in moderate to quiet times a mixed mode operation is in force therefore you do require a means of monitoring the central runway to ensure that you do not miss the movements. Be warned, all runway facing rooms are reported to have the one large queen size bed therefore if there are 2 of you be prepared to get cosy (or a roll away bed is available for a costly £30 a night)

The majority of the above rooms also give partial views over to the ST Aerospace maintenance facility which usually has a rare visitor parked up. Partial views of the Air Force ramp can also be seen from here. 

Rooms ending in *14 and *16 are reported to be an excellent room as it faces terminal 1 and enables traffic on both runways to be seen-this saves the walk into the outside corridor in stifling humidity to see movements on the other parallel.

Report 1 credit John Davis

Currently staying in room 922 at the Crowne Plaza. It does not face the runway but you get great views of all landing and departing aircraft. Free wifi for identifying aircraft and two queen sized beds. Photos on the landing runway possible in the corridor outside. Highly recommended room

Report 2 credit Chris Mahaffy

The hotel is excellent, location is excellent, possible pics are excellent, but jeez is it expensive, as is all of Singapore……#912 is an excellent room…

Photos: ***

Excellent. Photos can be taken from the room although the windows are tinted. A 10 second walk from the room will take you to an opening on the outside corridor where superb outdoor shots can be taken ( 80-200 for aircraft on the taxiway, 200-400 for runway shots). Morning to early afternoons are best with the sun behind you.

Note, due to the humidity, if you take your camera directly outside from the air conditioned room your lens will steam up for around 5 minutes! It best to leave your room door open slightly and place the camera near the doorway to heat up prior to use. 

Value: * Expensive but well worth the money as you have your own private spectators terrace at your disposal!
Book:   The runway facing rooms can be booked as an option at the following link  BOOKING.COM

 

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Plane Spotting Hotels are also pleased to have entered a partnership with an ATOL approved travel agency which specialises in packages for plane spotters (your travel consultant is a fellow aviation enthusiast who understands your needs). An independent travel agency can often find you better deals for your hotels as they can access travel agents exclusive deals, especially when packaged in with flights or car hire as many suppliers offer further discounts.
Quote The Plane Spotting Hotels website when contacting the NOT JUST TRAVEL WEBSITE and you will be dealt with by the Plane Spotting Travel Expert who can assist you with all aspects of planning your trip.

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Above : The rooms have floor to ceiling windows in the Crowne Plaza. As a bonus, many rooms have an outdoor balcony nearby to allow for even better shots. Credit : Airborne Aviation. Please visit their youtube channel for more excellent Aviation related videos


Changi Village Hotel          Last update 2017
Is situated in the Changi area to the north of the airport on the coast. The hotel has good restaurants and cafes, there are also local eateries and shops just a short stroll away. The hotel shuttle bus leaves from terminal 1 every 90 minutes. Report to the hotel desk on the right hand side once you exit customs, they will give you a sticker for the bus and direct you down to the lower level for pick up. Journey time can be around 45 minutes as the bus picks up at all terminals, a taxi may work out a better option if you are pushed for time. 
Location: ** Located around 0.5 mile north of the runway 20R threshold. This hotel is not under the approach but is offset by around 0.5 mile to the north of the airport
Spotting: **

Ask for a room facing north east looking out to the sea. Rooms ending in *256th floor and above have been reported as having a great view. When landing on the 20’s you should be able to read arrivals off on 20R, SBS will tie up arrivals for you once dark. If departing the 02’s traffic will be much higher and SBS would be required to tie movements up on a lot of occasions. Room 740 is reported to have similar views. Ideally you need a room on the 6th floor and above as large trees can obscure certain rooms at lower levels.

Deluxe rooms on high levels facing the sea have balconies, when landers are over the sea, all traffic on the commonly used near runway can be read off easily, traffic on the far runway needs flight tracking to identify. When in this runway configuration, departures can also be seen from the balcony, distant and climbing away however a good number of them turn back through the overhead where they can be easily seen. 

There is also a relatively busy airway which routes over the top of the airport, in clear weather these can be seen easily from the room. 

Note, if you book a club room you gain access to the club lounge which has an outdoor viewing deck with an associated good bar. 

Report 1 Credit Andy Kelly

staying at the changi village at the moment in room 603, on this floor are premier rooms which I was upgraded to at reception on arrival at a cost of £50 for 2 nights. for this you get access to the club room and breakfast, evening snacks and drinks and free internet, the rooms are very nice and clean with a big window to view from, rooms 602 – 623 will give you more or less the same view of arriving aircraft, you will need SBS or FR24 to tie everything up. the beach is only a 10 minute walk away from where you can get some great photos of arrivals but be aware the climate is hot here and the humidity is sometimes unbearable, if you want to go outside spotting go to the rooftop pool where you can cool off in the pool while you spot, theres plenty of sunbeds and hotel towels, 2nd time here for me in this hotel and would definitely stay here again.

Photos: ** Room 617 is reported to have a small balcony enabling photos to be taken of arrivals when approach the Runway 20’s. .Changi Beach Park is only a 10-15 walk away. This location is where the locals hang out to take landing shots when aircraft arrive on the 20’s.
Value: ** Prices starting from around £80 a night.
Book:  
The runway facing rooms can be booked as an option at the following link  BOOKING.COM

Please help support our site. We are constantly checking the links for hotels to find the best price offered for our readers. If the price on this site is the best quote you receive, please help us by booking your hotel from the link provided as we receive a small commission payment from the hotel. This helps contribute to the running costs of this site enabling us to continue to offer a great service.

Comment!   If you want to add or update anything, please use the comment form at the bottom of the page!

Above : Changi Beach is only a few minutes walk from the Village hotel where great landing shots can be had when arrivals are from over the sea.

Below

The view from the infinity pool of the Changi Village Hotel shows that arrivals can be monitored from this location.

Credit Tripadvisor

SIN_CHANGI_VILLAGE_HOTEL

Singapore Changi – Terminal 3 Aerotel Transit Hotel (previously The Ambassodor Hotel T3)

For those planning an extended transit time thru SIN using T3 and without wanting to clear customs to go ‘landside’, this is a good alternative to just sitting around in the terminal itself. There are also similar transit hotels in T1 (opening October 2015) and T2, but I have not tried these ones yet. Report credit Royston Wood

Location: *** Level 3, Departure Transit Lounge, next to the Movie Theatre. Excellent location, situated adjacent to one of the food courts above the main shopping area of T3
Spotting: ** Ask for a room with a runway view, there are only a few of them in the T3 hotel but if you book up in advance you should get one easily enough – I always ask for Room # 357 and am not disappointed. This room overlooks the mid-point of RWY 20R which has seemed to be the primary landing runway during my stays, plus arrivals onto the other parallel runway (20C) can also be seen on short finals just above the terminal building if the visibility isn’t too bad. If the 02’s are in use, then views from this room may not as rewarding (unfortunately I can’t advise as I haven’t experienced it when using this direction).

 

Please note that the Room mentioned here just has one large queen size bed, not sure if other runway view rooms have different configurations.

Also, despite being advised that the free wi-fi throughout the airport terminals cannot be accessed in the Transit Hotel rooms, I have discovered that in Room #357 at least you can in fact still access the free wi-fi by setting up your phone/laptop/tablet right next to the windows that look outside over the terminal itself. This is very handy when it gets dark, as it gets very difficult to identify stuff once the sun goes down.

Photos: * No good from Room #357 at least, and I assume other rooms with a similar view would be the same. Too many layers of glass plus associated ‘shading’ will affect the quality of your photos. The picture below gives a general idea of views available from airport facing rooms
Value: ** Not that cheap but then you are paying for the convenience aspect of not having to clear customs, plus being close to all amenities. Best to book up in 6 hour blocks where possible.
Book:  
The runway facing rooms can be booked as an option at the following link  BOOKING.COM

Please help support our site. We are constantly checking the links for hotels to find the best price offered for our readers. If the price on this site is the best quote you receive, please help us by booking your hotel from the link provided as we receive a small commission payment from the hotel. This helps contribute to the running costs of this site enabling us to continue to offer a great service.

Comment!   If you want to add or update anything, please use the comment form at the bottom of the page!
Above : Ask for a runway facing room at check in at the transit hotel to be rewarded with great views.

For those on vacation visiting the city, many hotels in the center of the city have distant views of movements. Ideally you need a high level hotel looking out to the Marina Bay area. The Peninsular Excelsior Hotel near to City Hall has confirmed views from high level rooms which overlook the cathedral and city area (room 1119 has confirmed views). Arrivals into the military base at Paya Lebar over pass very close over the top of this area.

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Posted in Asia, Singapore, World