Border Crossing From Singapore to Malaysia: A Step by Step Guide

It was my first time crossing a border from two different countries (Singapore to Malaysia) and I was solo traveling that time. It made me a bit nervous, no, super nervous to do it since I didn’t have any companion plus it was my first international trip too. Perhaps you might be wondering why I chose to travel alone on my first international trip, well the answer is, I wanna make memorable adventures in my life and by doing so, I’m doing things I’ve never done before and that’s what makes a real adventure.

So if you’re crossing the border soon and you’re chickening out that you might get lost or what, I strongly advise you to not get worried or nervous, take it from me, I’m a solo traveler who sometimes fail to follow simple instructions and I do have a bad sense of direction too. Yeap! Although, the experience was neither hard nor complicated. In fact, everything was smooth and you just gotta learn to follow the instructions and most importantly, STICK WITH YOUR GROUP.

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3 options for you to get to Malaysia from Singapore or vice versa:

Option 1: Via Plane from Singapore to Malaysia

This option is, of course, the fastest way for you to get to Malaysia from Singapore. However, this is also the most expensive option. But if you’re in a hurry and you think you can spare some extra cash, then you can book your flights through the platforms below. The travel time is only about an hour to get to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I highly suggest you book through Skyscanner as it scans all airlines departing from the airport to your desired destination. Also, most of the cheap flights you can get is with AirAsia. You might as well want to check with them.

Skyscanner – click here to check flights.
AirAsia – click here to check flights.

Option 2: Via Train

If you want to save one night hotel fare, crossing the border via sleeper train will be the best option for you. Traveling at night is not new to budget travelers like me. I’ve been doing it to save extra cash rather than spending it for a few hours in a hotel room. The travel time will take 10 hours to 12 hours if you’ll be traveling by train and mind you, it’s a bit tricky and exhausting. But then again, it depends on you if you’re planning to spend the night traveling rather than paying for a hotel room.

I jotted down notes before about how will the route look like:

From Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Opp the Treasury to Woodlands Reg Intl (travel time: 2.5 hours by bus)
Woodlands Reg Intl to JB Sentral – tavel time: 30 minutes via KTM (Book Online)
JB Sentral to Gemas – travel time: 5 hours via KTM (Book Oline)
Gemas to KL Sentral – travel time: 2 hours via KTM (Book Online)

Beginning your journey in Singapore, you have to be at Woodlands by 8am so you can clear immigration for both countries. Also, you have to book each segment separately starting from Woodlands to JB Sentral.

Having said all that, it’s not really the best option to travel in between countries. It’s slower than the bus, it’s not the cheapest way to travel, and you have to change to a lot of bus and train which is very inconvenient if you have luggage with you. But if you have a lot of time to burn, it might still be the option fitting to your situation.

Option 3: Via Sleeper Bus at Golden Mile Complex

This is the easiest and best option to cross the border. By best, I don’t mean through travel time since it’ll take 6 hours from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur compared if you’ll travel by air. However, if you don’t want to spend a bigger money on air fares and you want to avoid the hassle of traveling by train, this option is fitting for you.

The bus terminal in Singapore is located in Golden Mile Complex. It’s a walking distance from EW11 Lavender MRT station and EW12 Bugis MRT station which is on the East West Line (green line). The MRTs in Singapore is the best way to get around and is also very easy to understand even if you’re traveling alone, as long as you know what MRT is near the tourist spot you wanna visit, I guarantee you won’t get lost.

Helpful Downloads: Get your Singapore MRT map here and find the green line to get to EW11 or EW12.

From Golden Mile Complex, there are a number of ticketing office where you can buy your bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur or any destination in Malaysia. If you want to know the bus schedules, you can book online and ahead of time.

Easybook.com – book online for bus schedules and list of bus-liners.

Insider Tip – if you want to get cheaper bus fare, don’t book online. You can find cheaper bus fare lower than 20SGD at the Golden Mile Complex directly. The only disadvantage is you’ll have to adjust with the schedule of the bus with the cheapest fare.

Around the Golden Mile Complex, there are a lot of food stalls, money changer, and convenience store like 7eleven where you can buy 4G sim card for Malaysia. If you haven’t changed your SGD to Malaysian Ringgit, there’s a money changer just beside the ticketing offices. The exchange rate is reasonable, I exchanged PHP2,000.00 to 150 Ringgit. Inside the Golden Mile Complex you can eat first while waiting for your bus.

Travelling with Star Qistna Bus Liner: Golden Mile Complex

A word of advise, find this ticketing office in Golden Mile Complex, they have the cheapest rate. I got my bus fare for 18SGD going to KL Sentral in Kula Lumpur. The other ticketing office offers 20SGD above depending on what type of sleeper bus you want.

The bus of Star Qistna is bigger than the normal bus and some are double deck bus. If I am to compare the sleeper bus to our deluxe buses here in the Philippines, the space is almost just the same wherein you can get a comfortable sleep during your travel.

Insider Tip: Travel at night if you want to skip the long line at the immigration.

My friend in Kuala Lumpur told me that crossing the border at day time is very long and exhausting since it’s the time where most people travel to and from Malaysia. Hence, the long queue. If you wan to avoid that, I highly suggest you travel at night.

Tips on Crossing the border from Singapore to Malaysia

From Singapore, it’ll take an hour before you get to the immigration. Take note that there will be 2 stops, the first stop you just have to bring with you your passport and fill up the form to cross the border. No need to bring your luggage with you, you can leave it inside the bus and after the process inside the immigration, the same bus will be waiting for you outside.

On the second stop, that’s the time you need to bring all your things including your luggage with you. It’ll be checked inside before you cross the border to Malaysia.

DON’T PANIC. Crossing the border from Singapore to Malaysia is as easy as transferring to another bus. Just remember to follow the instruction and most importantly, STICK WITH YOUR GROUP. Don’t worry because the bus won’t leave if one of the passengers got stuck inside the immigration.

Important reminders to speed up the process:

Prepare your passport and fill up the disembarkation form
Remove your cap/hat when inside the immigration
Do not film or take pictures inside the immigration
If you’re a Philippine passport holder, prepare your flight details back to the Philippines. The immigration officer will ask for it to make sure you won’t be staying longer than 30 days in Malaysia.
Just relax and follow the instructions

After clearing the immigration, the bus will now travel to KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur and that’s about it. It’s the easiest and cheapest way to travel of all 3 options provided above.

On your way back to Singapore, proceed to Berjaya Times Square and book your ticket at the ticketing office. Bus fare is 45 Ringgit and travel time is still the same which is 6 hours. If you have to wait for your scheduled departure, you can go inside the Berjaya Times Square and eat before you travel.

Singapore and Malaysia Discounted Vouchers

If you’re planning to tour in these 2 beautiful countries, I suggest booking ahead with Klook! Below are vouchers you can use to get discounted tickets from Klook.

How to use it?

Click here to download Klook app
Search for the product you want to avail using your Klook app
Use the vouchers below

Singapore:

CHASE400 – Get P400 Off for a minimum purchase of P5,000.00 (Tip: ideal for Universal Studios tickets)
SCS19PH – PHP 180 off with 2 adult tickets of Science Centre Singapore + Omni Theatre Movie + Butterflies Up-Close