The city state of Singapore in southeast Asia is a thriving hub for commerce, finance, technology and transport.

The Lion City is made of one main island and about 60 smaller ones dotted around it at the southern tip of continental Asia.

It’s a hotbed of diverse and delicious hawker street food and home to a cross section of the very best cuisine from right across Asia.

Visitors are wowed by the architecture, such as the futuristic ‘stranded sufboard’ Marina Bay Sands with its 495-foot high pool, man made vertical ‘garden trees’, night safari and a wealth of festivals and celebrations.

At the busy Marina Bay is the city’s 26-foot tall Merlion mascot – a beast with the head of a lion and body of a fish – and a park named after it. The area is a busy hub of eateries and a place to board boats to some of the smaller islands and beaches Singapore has to offer.

Paterson Hil, with $42,500-per-square-metre homes, earns the moniker ‘Billionaire’s Row’. It lies within a handy distance of the designer boutiques and Michelin-starred restaurants of Orchard Road and combines peace with luxury. Each apartment in the Marq condominium, for example, features a private pool overlooking the city.

Nassim Road, close to the Botanic Gardens, and Victoria Park also both boast an array of luxury properties to invest in.