Singapore to Malaysia, flying not required
Trip dates: November 17, 2016 - November 18, 2016
After visiting Japan and South Korea, we were off to SE Asia. Our round-the-world fare included our flight from South Korea to Singapore, and a flight out of Bangkok in 2017, but the rest was up to us to figure out along the way!
Our first stop was Malaysia, specifically Kuala Lumpur. Now there are lots of flights out of Singapore (it's pretty much the hub for SE Asia) and they can be pretty cheap. But with checked baggage fees on the airlines and what not, we decided to go with the even cheaper option of land transfer just to try it out. We'll have separate posts on our adventures in Singapore and Malaysia, but for now, I'm going to focus on just the transportation piece in case anyone wanders on to this page looking for info.
There's a lot of information available on how to commute by bus/rail from Singapore to KL (seat61 in particular has lots of details) so I won't put all the details here, just the learnings from our trip.
First, decide if a land transfer really makes sense for you instead of flying.
- Are you short on time? Flying will get you there in a couple hours (including time at the airport) whereas bus/train can take anywhere from 8-10hours.
- Do you have a lot of luggage/traveling with small kids? The trains themselves have some space for suitcases but the bus transfers along the way have no space for luggage besides what you carry on your lap. I think you can just stand in the aisle with your suitcase if needed, but it's going to be a huge pain in the butt. If you have a lot of stuff, flying is probably better.
- How budget conscious are you? You can find flights out of Singapore for $40USD per person (before extra fees and taxes) whereas the bus/train option will cost about $28USD per person.
Decided you want to commute by land? Alright then, here's what you gotta do! (sorry, we kinda sucked at taking photos to document. Also, no pictures allowed in the checkpoint area)
- Get from where you are in Singapore to Woodlands checkpoint
- We stayed near the Queen Street bus station in Singapore, which gave us a couple bus options for getting to Woodlands. You can also take the MRT to the Woodlands MRT station (or Kranji or Marsiling which are nearby and slightly less crowded), but then you'll have to catch a bus and/or taxi to the checkpoint.
- When you get to the Queen St. bus station, get in a line. There's not really any signs, just stand where everyone is waiting. There's two big lines next to each other, with some red and yellow lines marking them. The yellow is for the Causeway bus, which comes more frequently but is also more crowded. The red is for the SJE bus. There's also a 170 bus (the line is around the other side of the building/shack); this one barely had a line but apparently it makes a lot more stops so the ride takes longer.
- If you have multiple people in your group, have someone stand in each line for the Causeway and SJE. We saw lots of other groups do this; you can join your group based on which bus arrives first. There's also a separate standing room only line at the front that can be used once the bus arrives.
- You buy your ticket right before you get on. It was about 2.50SGD for the bus. You don't need exact change but try to have small bills.
- Plan for buffer time and for buses running late! We got to the station at 7:30am expecting there to be buses available every 15-30mins. We stood in line for the SJE since it was shorter, and we didn't end up getting on the bus until 8:15am. During that time, there was only one other Causeway bus that had shown up, and that was still not until 8ish.
- Go through immigration to leave Singapore
- As the bus nears the Woodlands checkpoint area, there's just tons of stop-and-go traffic. There will be a point when the bus door will open and people will start getting off. This is your cue to be like sheep and follow suit!
- The buses all have to go through the checkpoint too and it takes them a while to make it through with the traffic. When the doors open, you can get off and follow the crowds of people to Singapore immigration. It was pretty fast for us to get through immigration, the lines all had less than 10people.
- Once you get through immigration, hopefully you can catch your bus on its way out. You make your way outside and stand back in line based on the bus you came in on (there are signs at the top of each line entrance). This is where the Causeway might be nicer than SJE since if you miss it, you'll have to wait longer for another SJE.
- Just show your original bus ticket when getting on, no extra charge.
- Get from Woodlands checkpoint to Malaysia border checkpoint for immigration into Malaysia
- It's about a 5min bus ride before you get off again, this time to go through Malaysian immigration. This was also pretty fast for us with relatively short lines.
- Once you get through immigration, follow the signs to get to JB Sentral.
- Walk to JB Sentral station and catch train to Gemas
- You can book your train tickets ahead of time online and stop by the ticket desk to have them print it for you (about 46MYR or $10USD). You have to have printed tickets, as they hole punch it at boarding time.
- The train doesn't board until like 10mins beforehand, so you'll probably have some time to get a snack.
- Note also, there was an ATM in the station but it was questionable and didn't work for us. There are lots of money exchanges though if you have some extra USD on hand (which we recommend). Otherwise, try to get money beforehand or don't plan on buying anything until you're in KL.
- There's no announcements in the station so when it gets close to your boarding time, go to the gate. There are only two, so just go where the crowds are.
- Switch to ETS train at Gemas to Kuala Lumpur
- The train ride to Gemas is about 4hours, which is the last stop. When you get to Gemas, the train to KL should be on the track right across from where you pulled in.
- We had about a 30min window in between, but they let us board our next train immediately so we didn't check out the station very much. There's not much at this station anyways though; for instance, the closest food option is at a village 1/2km away.
- The ride from Gemas to KL takes about 2hours, and gets you in at KL Sentral station. This cost about 64MYR (~$15USD).
Other random thoughts about the commute:
- We decided to commute back to Singapore instead of flying as well, so did pretty much the same thing but in reverse
- The ticket counter in KL to print your train tickets was really long and we were worried we wouldn't get our tickets printed in time, though it ended up being not a problem at all.
- When you leave Malaysia immigration, look for the bus you want and get in line. You buy your ticket as you're getting on the bus. There wasn't a person collecting money for us so try to have exact change here if possible, though the driver might be able to provide change if not?
- Immigration back into Singapore had a long line and took awhile. We were worried that we missed our bus but it seemed like we still beat it? Or maybe there was another one right behind it.
- Fridays tend to be the busiest commute days but it seems like there are daily commuters, so just expect the buses to always be crowded.
- Bring clothes to layer up for the train! The commuter between Singapore and Gemas was especially freezing.
- In general, this train was not so nice. It was pretty dirty, and it was spewing cold humid air the whole time, and you could feel the rumbliness of the tracks the whole ride. All in all not the most pleasant experience.
- The ETS train between Gemas and KL is much newer and nicer (although it's still not as nice as JapanRail trains). They have TVs that play Bollywood dramas and other family-friendly fare (Big Hero 6), though the only audio is through the display and very faintly, but at least there's some entertainment?
Although we would probably consider flying next time, all in all this was an interesting experience and one that we're glad we tried. Let us know if you're planning on doing the same commute and if you have any questions!
