If the northern winter is starting to feel endless, Singapore Airlines has packaged up a fairly convincing counterargument: several pages' worth of warm-weather routes through Changi, named World's Best Airport at the 2026 Skytrax Awards. From the UK, the carrier flies four times daily from Heathrow, ten times weekly from Gatwick (rising to twice daily from 25 October 2026) and daily from Manchester, all funnelling through Singapore — where a complimentary stopover on multi-city tickets turns a layover into a bonus city break.
Australia gets the deepest coverage. From November 2026, the airline's new Western Sydney International route — an airport operating around the clock — suits fly-drive trips perfectly: a full day exploring, then an evening flight onwards. Sydney itself delivers the classics, from the Opera House to the Bondi-to-Coogee coastal walk, plus a revived cultural space at The Cutaway in Barangaroo hosting a National Indigenous Art Fair and a free month-long concert series. Keen drivers have bigger canvases: the Great Ocean Road out of Melbourne towards the Twelve Apostles (continuing to the Barossa Valley if time allows), or a full crossing of the country from Darwin or Adelaide taking in Kakadu, Kings Canyon, the underground opal town of Coober Pedy and, the centrepiece, Uluru's 348-metre monolith at sunrise.
New Zealand doubles down for the 2026-27 winter season, with up to 25 weekly flights from Singapore to Auckland and up to 15 to Christchurch, plus Air New Zealand connections to 20 domestic destinations. The North Island serves up Hot Water Beach — where you dig your own hot pool in the sand — the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (yes, the Mordor one) and Art Deco Napier. The South Island answers with Queenstown's skydiving and bungee scene, and quieter corners like Akaroa and Arthur's Pass rainforest trails.
Southeast Asia rounds out the map at a different price point. Bali for yoga in Ubud and surf in Uluwatu, with boat hops to the car-free Gili Islands or quieter Lombok; night hikes on Java's Mount Bromo or the blue-flamed Ijen Crater; Malaysia's Cameron Highlands and Perhentian Islands; multi-day boat expeditions around Palawan in the Philippines; Thailand's Koh Samui and Koh Tao for cheap dive courses; and Vietnam from Sapa's rice terraces down to Da Lat's waterfalls. Angkor Wat and Luang Prabang sit within reach too.
Who is this actually for? Anyone booking a long-haul winter escape who wants routing flexibility as much as a destination — open-jaw tickets into one Australian city and home from another are explicitly suggested, and KrisFlyer membership unlocks complimentary Wi-Fi even in Economy. The real takeaway is that one airline can stitch together a multi-country southern summer without backtracking, with Singapore as the hinge point between hemispheres. Source: Wanderlust.