When I planned our trip to Legoland Malaysia, I noticed many people would fly into Singapore and then cross over into Malaysia. I figured we might as well hang out in a new country for a few hours before heading on over to Malaysia. I guess I should have done a little more research on how this process actually takes place. I was under the impression that a taxi could take us over the border, but that is not the case. Most taxis cannot take you over. If you want to do that, you will have to go to a special taxi location somewhere else in Singapore. We opted to head over from Singapore's airport.
Now, I know there must be an easier way. I have since heard there is a bus from Legoland that will take you into Malaysia from Singapore. I wish I would have known that ahead of time. We found a taxi driver to take us to Woodlands, Singapore's immigration station. I was getting a little nervous because our taxi driver kept saying he was not able to help us, but that we should not run into any trouble.
Once at Woodlands, I noticed we were the ONLY people with luggage. This was not a tourist route, this was a local border crossing for people who work in one country and live in another. It took about 10-15 minutes to walk through the immigration station in Singapore. Once through, you will come to a bus station. None of the buses are really labeled and there are no signs in English, so we were not really sure what to do next. We did finally find someone and they said we could hop on any bus and that would take us to immigration in Malaysia. There are free buses to take or if you want to pay a very small fee (4 Ringgit/$1.26 for the whole family), you can hop on the "nicer, less crowed buses". We did take the nicer bus, but were still standing in the aisle with all our luggage. On our way to Malaysia, I just started laughing at how far we have come since leaving the States. I would have been a nervous wreck in this situation before, but now I just hop on a bus with my family and hope it takes us to the right place!
This is what we did:
SMRT public (non-express) buses similarly provide non-express services between Johor Bahru and Singapore. Bus 950 departs from Woodlands bus interchange, which is one level below and opposite the Woodlands MRT station at the Woodlands transport interchange. The bus terminates at Kotaraya II terminal in Johor Bahru. More info HERE
Thankfully, the bus did drop us off at immigration in Malaysia and then we had to have our passports stamped in Malaysia. Once in Malaysia, head to a taxi stand to get where you need to go. Beware of people saying they will take you to your hotel. These are not legit taxi drivers and while many of them may be wonderful people, get in a metered taxi all the time.
Really, the whole process wasn't that bad, it was just that we had no idea what we were doing at every stop. There were no signs telling you where to go next. When in doubt, ask for help (or just follow the crowd) everyone is trying to get out of the immigration station anyway, You can also hop on the metro right at immigration.
So, that was our experience heading into Malaysia. Malaysians are very helpful and will be willing to point you in the right direction if you are unsure of where to go. I also don't really have photos of this process because there were "No Camera" signs up.
Up next: Legoland Malaysia!
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